Credibility, resilience and sustainability and the COVID-19 pandemic: A study of Kannada print media.

Abstract

The Indian Media industry was affected by the pandemic circulation, and revenue started declining. Print media organisations devised ways to cope with the financial instability by cutting down their workforce, closing down editions, merging various editions, reducing the number of pages and salary cuts of their employees. Print revenues declined by a 41% fall in advertising and a 24% fall in circulation revenues. (FICCI, 2021) The regional newspapers could recover a large part of their circulation. Print in India is thriving in Tier II & Tier III cities due to the opportunities available for literacy, economy, and population size. Diversity in India fuels the growth of traditional media. This paper seeks to analyse the Kannada Print media during the pandemic. Kannada is the official language of Karnataka, situated in the south-west part of the Indian Union. The study analyses how the Kannada Newspaper organisations operated during the pandemic. In-depth interviews with the management and the editorial team were conducted to understand their coping strategies to deal with the pandemic. The analysis points out that the print media organisation’s credibility and resilience have helped them sustain themselves in the market.