Newspaper owners seek government help to survive coronavirus crisis

The Newspaper Owners’ Association of Bangladesh or NOAB has urged the government to help the struggling newspaper industry with incentives amidst the coronavirus crisis.

It says the survival of the newspaper industry has become a matter of “grave concern”.

“Many other sectors have received government support at various levels. We are hopeful that the government will take special initiatives to address our problems too,” NOAB said in a statement on Friday.

“In these dire times, we feel that government intervention—stimulus package, incentives, bank loans on easy terms—are all crucial to save this industry,” it added.

The association also appealed to the government to take “immediate” steps to pay the “large” sums of advertisement bills which are “long due”.

Newspapers that decided to continue publishing have had to adopt cost-cutting techniques in order to keep up by reducing the number of pages, volume of printing, coloured pages, as well as cutting down on other administrative expenses.

“In this age of digital globalisation, the newspaper industry suffered gravely and the pandemic just made it all the more severe,” the statement said.

Newspaper sales dropped by two-thirds and revenue even more.

Due to the overall decline in sales, it has become difficult for the newspapers to pay the salaries of their employees, NOAB said.

“While some are paying half of the actual amount, others are struggling to do that as well. Despite all the efforts to reduce costs, survival has become extremely challenging.”

TAXES

In 2014, under the labour law, the newspaper industry was declared as a service industry.

NOAB demanded that due to the dire state of the industry, the corporate tax on newspapers be reduced from 35 percent to 10 percent.

At the same time, there was also a demand to omit the 15 percent value added tax or VAT on the import of newsprint.

The other demands included reduction of the Tax at Source or TDS on advertising revenue from four percent to two percent, and reduction of the advance tax or AIT on raw materials to zero percent instead of five percent.

As a service industry, the newspapers are void of any special benefits and have to pay corporate tax of 35 percent, whereas despite being a for-profit sector, the RMG industry’s corporate tax stands at 10 to 12 percent.

In this year's budget, corporate tax has been reduced by 2.5 percent for all industries.

NOAB said it was necessary to reduce it to at least 10-15 percent for the newspaper industry.

It urged the government to resolve the complications related to duties, VAT, and other taxes.

WAGE BOARD

The government announced initiatives to grant the 9th Wage Board for the newspaper industry, which will only “worsen its woes” at a time when newspapers were already going through “extremely difficult moments”, the statement said.

“It was not feasible in any manner and thus it was not acceptable,” NOAB said, noting that multiple writs are still pending in the High Court in this regard.

It termed the previous Wage Board “unrealistic”. Only a handful of organisations were able to grant it, the association said.

“Even in the past, neither was there any special assistance or grant from the government, nor any significant amenities. Given that we are in the age of digital media in today's competitive market, newspapers are unable to take the initiative to increase their revenues.

“As the owner's opinions are never taken into account, the Wage Board remains limited to salaries and allowances only, which is having a grave impact on the industry. Newspapers have been forced to cut back on essential expenditures as they were unable to cope with the impractical financial pressure,” NOAB said.

“There is a possibility that the industry will not be able to implement the new Wage Board or might award it partially, and that will push it to the verge of closure,” it added.

NOAB urged all readers, journalists, advertisers, agents and hawkers to “take a stand”.

“Your collective cooperation is essential for the survival of the newspaper industry. We appeal to all concerned, including the government, to come forward to protect our withering newspaper industry.”