RNI report on Indian media

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Registrar of Newspapers G.D.Beliya presented the report to Pawan Chopra,
secretary in the ministry of information and broadcasting. According to the
report, the electronic media has not hampered the growth of the print media.
"The Indian reader still relishes detailed analysis in addition to hourly
news bulletins and talks shows (on TV)," the report contended. Uttar Pradesh
had the highest newspaper circulation of 28 million, followed by Delhi with
21.85 million, the report said. "On March 31, 2003, the total figure of
registered newspapers stood at 55,780, an increase of 7.35 percent over the
previous year," it added. Among multi-edition dailies, the Hindi-language
Dainik Bhaskar with 18 editions had the "largest claimed circulation" of
1.72 million followed by The Times of India with 1.39 million. "For
single-edition dailies, Hindustan Times claimed a circulation of 1.12
million while The Hindu came second with 922,407 copies," the report added.
"The circulation pattern also revealed that while big publishing houses
dominated the metropolises, the medium and small newspapers with their local
content influenced small towns and rural areas. "Big newspapers claimed a
circulation of 51.17 million while medium newspapers had 52.6 million copies
and small newspapers 38.2 million," it said but noted that since many small
newspapers perhaps do not send annual statements, the figures do not reflect
their actual share in the circulation scenario. Out of 7,156 newspapers that
sent their annual statements in 2002-03, individuals owned 5,371 and joint
stock companies held 950. Language-wise Hindi dominated with 3,410
newspapers followed by English (750). In circulation too, Hindi newspapers
led with 61.76 million while English newspapers accounted for 26.2 million.

Source:
Indo-Asian News Service