Saving daily newspapers

Daily newspapers are sending appeals to the government, Parliament and the Social Security Corporation, which is a major investor in the publishing industry, seeking help and support to surmount the financial burdens brought by weaker sales, increased costs and failed investment decisions.

The managements of these newspapers are now looking for solutions, attempting mainly to cut costs, without any serious efforts to maximise revenues.

A major problem in cutting costs is the overstaffing, the result of interference by consecutive governments in hiring decisions.

At the same time, newspaper managements are appealing to the government for help, rightly asking, mainly, for exemptions from taxes and customs.

The government can certainly do more to help two of Jordan’s daily newspapers, Ad Dustour and Al Rai, particularly as consecutive governments have, since the 1990s, been interfering heavily in the work of the managements, including investment decisions, of these two leading dailies.

This interference took the two newspapers where they are now, with Ad Dustour unable to pay salaries of employees for almost four months, and Al Rai’s publisher, the Jordan Press Foundation, stuck with a mega printing press project that has been gobbling its revenues, leaving little for shareholders, and even employees.

For the first time in its history, Al Rai has sustained losses, and insiders say that no improvement to the situation could be expected without outside help, particularly in regard to the printing press project.

Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour’s government is playing by the book by avoiding any attempt to interfere in the affairs of the two papers. So does the SSC’s investment fund, which owns 60 per cent of the JPF’s shares and a good percentage of Ad Dustour shares, ignoring the fact that its appointed board members have, over the past years, taken the papers to their current quagmire.

The SSC’s investment fund and the government should own up to the succession of mistakes and failed investment decisions that led to the current situation and take moral responsibility by attempting to redress the situation, not only for the shareholders and the employees, but also for the media industry as a whole.

The two newspapers need real guidance as to ways to improve revenues, focusing more on the digital market but also maintaining their print editions. 

The fact that more and more people are resorting to the Internet and to social media to get access to news has not been addressed adequately by newspaper managements which are unable to convert online readership into a feasible source of income. 

This is a problem that needs fixing. 

That said, newspapers might do a bit of mea culpa.

Improved and more varied content, in-depth analyses and investigative journalism, but above all credibility in reporting could go a long way towards attracting readership and maintaining its loyalty.

But again, in order to give quality, newspapers have to pay, and money is in short supply.

Here is where the government and SSC can come in.

There is no reason why the government cannot relax the heavy tax burdens on newspapers, at least until they are able to stand on their feet again.

Newspapers employ thousands of people directly and indirectly; sure no one wants to see these people thrown out in the street.

The SSC, as a major shareholder, should seek to maximise the papers’ revenues by focusing more on the digital market and increasing advertising revenues, not just by focusing on cutting costs. Investors sometimes need to take brave decisions to make profits.

Whatever it takes, all stakeholders must act together to save newspapers, the ones that deserve, no doubt.

It is a sad day the one that sees a newspaper fold down, especially the iconic ones that grew with the country and are part of its history as much as they have documented it.