2007年VOA标准英语-India's Printing Presses Roll on Newspaper Boom

By Steve Herman
New Delhi
21 March 2007

While many newspapers in Western countries are going out of business, consolidating¹ or cutting staff, the industry is exploding in India. National circulation rose 33 percent between 2001 and 2005. The World Association of Newspapers reports India now has nearly 2,000 daily newspapers - a growth of nearly 25 percent during this decade. VOA's Steve Herman in New Delhi takes a look at what is behind India's boom.

 
India has an estimated 2,000 daily newspapers
India's printing presses have never been busier.

Industry analysts² estimate total daily newspaper circulation has hit 80 million copies, divided among almost 2,000 different papers. The country's newspaper registrar³ lists more than 62,000 publications, including weeklies, monthlies and corporate⁴ newspapers.

Subir Ghosh, editor of the web site Newswatch India, says the market has tremendous room for growth as both the economy and literacy expand.

 
Hundreds of millions of people who are literate⁵ but don't read newspapers are among India's newspapers' potential customers
"There are about, what? Roughly 396 million people here in India who can read and write, but do not read newspapers," he says. "Now that's almost … twice the existing market, so there is a lot of virgin⁶ territory there."

While much of the focus is on the elite⁷ urban English-language readership, Ghosh says the real boom is in the countryside.

"You have a big market there," he notes. "Now to see who are the people who are capturing this market, these are all (local) language dailies, these are not English newspapers.

But new English-language papers are also appearing, in large part because of the amount of advertising⁸ targeted at well-heeled, English-reading urbanites. Studies by Indian research firms show that advertising is growing by 15 to 20 percent annually⁹.

 
Hindustan Times has entered into joint¹⁰ venture with Wall Street Journal to launch new English-language busy daily 
One new English-language entrant is Mint, a joint venture of India's Hindustan Times and the United States' Wall Street Journal.

Mint has entered a marketplace already crowded with four major business dailies.

One of the Mint's journalists is Mitra Kalita, who worked for the Washington Post in the U.S.

"Our core audience is dealing¹¹ with the West in a lot of cases on a daily and, in some cases, hourly basis," she explains. " And I think that's creating a shift in the whole country."

Kalita is the type of reader Mint wants: multilingual, well-traveled, highly educated and Internet savvy¹². Her boss, Raju Narisetti, predicts it will be some time before the Internet cuts into Indian newspaper sales, as it has in the West, noting that less than five percent of Indian households have Internet connections.

"There's no question that 10, 15 years from now the media cycle will be very similar to what's happening in the West," he says. " But until then it's a good ride. Circulation is still growing and growing in high single digits¹³, and sometimes double digits."

 
 
Not everyone can get in on the ride, however. The market is not fully¹⁴ open to all players.

Indian law limits foreigners to 26 percent ownership of newspapers. And papers must limit content purchased from outside India to 20 percent.

Narisetti says that puts newspapers at a disadvantage to cable TV stations, which face no such restrictions¹⁵.

"I think it's much more of a knee-jerk, political reaction, and when the ruling coalition¹⁶ is supported and stays in power because of the left parties, it's very hard for anybody to come forward openly and say I'm going to go to bat for a foreign media company. It's political suicide," he says.

Still Western media companies have an eye on the money to be made here. Analysts say watch the headlines for news that India will come under greater pressure in trade talks to open its media market further.

1 consolidating   

v.（使）巩固， （使）加强( consolidate的现在分词 )；（使）合并

参考例句：

• These measures are meant for consolidating the system of basic medical care. 这些举措旨在夯实基层医疗体系，让老百姓看大病不必出远门。 来自互联网
• We are consolidating the Chinese and English versions of our homepage. 我们将为您提供中英文版本一起的主页。 来自互联网

2 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

3 registrar   

n.记录员，登记员；(大学的)注册主任

参考例句：

• You can obtain the application from the registrar.你可以向注册人员索取申请书。
• The manager fired a young registrar.经理昨天解雇了一名年轻的记录员。

4 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。

5 literate   

n.学者；adj.精通文学的，受过教育的

参考例句：

• Only a few of the nation's peasants are literate.这个国家的农民中只有少数人能识字。
• A literate person can get knowledge through reading many books.一个受过教育的人可以通过读书而获得知识。

6 virgin   

n.处女，未婚女子；adj.未经使用的；未经开发的

参考例句：

• Have you ever been to a virgin forest?你去过原始森林吗？
• There are vast expanses of virgin land in the remote regions.在边远地区有大片大片未开垦的土地。

7 elite   

n.精英阶层；实力集团；adj.杰出的，卓越的

参考例句：

• The power elite inside the government is controlling foreign policy.政府内部的一群握有实权的精英控制着对外政策。
• We have a political elite in this country.我们国家有一群政治精英。

8 advertising   

n.广告业；广告活动 a.广告的；广告业务的

参考例句：

• Can you give me any advice on getting into advertising? 你能指点我如何涉足广告业吗?
• The advertising campaign is aimed primarily at young people. 这个广告宣传运动主要是针对年轻人的。

9 annually   

adv.一年一次，每年

参考例句：

• Many migratory birds visit this lake annually.许多候鸟每年到这个湖上作短期逗留。
• They celebrate their wedding anniversary annually.他们每年庆祝一番结婚纪念日。

10 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

11 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

12 savvy   

v.知道，了解；n.理解能力，机智，悟性；adj.有见识的，懂实际知识的，通情达理的

参考例句：

• She was a pretty savvy woman.她是个见过世面的漂亮女人。
• Where's your savvy?你的常识到哪里去了？

13 digits   

n.数字( digit的名词复数 )；手指，足趾

参考例句：

• The number 1000 contains four digits. 1000是四位数。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The number 410 contains three digits. 数字 410 中包括三个数目字。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

14 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

15 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

16 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。