Panditat, J Mass Communicat Journalism 2013, 4:1

http://dx.doi.org/10.4172/2165-7912.1000170

Mass Communication and Journalism

Research
Research Article
Article Open
OpenAccess
Access

Scenario of Print Media in Jammu & Kashmir (India): An Analytical

Study
Ramesh Pandita*
Central Library, BGSB University, Rajouri, Jammu and Kashmir, India

Abstract
Purpose: The present study is an attempt to understand the various aspects of periodical publishing in general
and newspapers in particular in the state of Jammu & Kashmir India. The study is an analysis of secondary data with
the main aim to put forth the actual scenario of the print media industry of Jammu & Kashmir, lasting around five
decades viz. for the period 1964-2013.
Scope: Although, the scope of the study is limited to the state of Jammu & Kashmir India, but shall prove of
great help to understand the scenario of print media at global level, especially in an IT era, which is being ruled by
internet in every respect.
Methodology/Approach: The study has been undertaken on secondary data, retrieved from the official website
of the Registrar of Newspapers for India on October 10, 2013. Aspects like, periodicity, registration distribution,
languages covered, district level distribution, year and decade wise growth and registration of newspapers were
studied. The study lasts around 1013 registered newspaper titles with RNI, published across the 22 districts of the
Jammu & Kashmir state having 12.54 million population, with 68.57% literacy rate.
Findings: In terms of periodicity a maximum 44.61% of the total newspapers published in Jammu & Kashmir are
weekly and the maximum titles 149 were registered with RNI during the year 2012. Urdu apart from being the official
language of the Jammu & Kashmir has also emerged the most popular language by having a maximum share of
40.47% percent of total newspapers published across the state, followed by English with 38.30% share percentage.
In terms of population Jammu & Kashmir state has 0.139 average titles to per 1000 literate persons, better by 0.008
titles to national average share of 1000 literate persons.
Other observations: Print is still the preferred news media across the globe especially to 65% global population
which is still deprived of the technological blessing in the form of internet. Print news media is bound to grow stronger
both in terms of readership and business and internet is no immediate threat to it.

Keywords: Newspapers; Periodicals; Jammu & Kashmir; India; RNI
Introduction
There is no denial in it that print is one of the oldest mediums
of news delivery and is still going best despite coming into being of
number of other modern, faster and better electronic mediums of
news delivery. The industry so far has survived at its own and is still
showing growth in readership that too in an era where people most of
the time remain hanged to internet for online sources of information,
be it online version of newspaper or any other sources of information.
The industry is very well organized across the length and breadth of
globe, wherein readership taste has been always taken care of. The
industry has always adhered and fulfilled its basic aim & purpose, to
keep general masses informed about the developments taking place in
and around the society they dwell in.
gets delivered to netizens through these social networking sites. Some
of the prominent social networking sites of which even newspaper
industry do makes use of to exchange and distribute the news content
includes Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Blogs, Flicker etc. By embracing
technology to its optimum is the art which can be best learnt from
newspaper industry, which has made best use of social networking
sites for two ways communication of their content by overcoming the
geographical barriers and the trend has grown beyond proportions
among web-loggers.
The present study is aimed to understand the scenario of print
news media in the state of Jammu & Kashmir India, when online
sources of information have almost become the order of the day.
Access to internet, like rest of the world is no more a constraint to
the people of Jammu & Kashmir, thanks to technology which has

Internet is being always seen as potential threat to conventional

means of news delivery, but by showing constant and continuous
growth in both readership and circulation of newspapers all across the
globe, the argument gets itself refuted. Newspaper industry is perhaps
one of the largest in the world which has started publishing its content
in hybrid form, viz. both print and online version and either way the
aim is to not to lose the readership at any cost and even if there is lose
on one front it should be gained on another front. Internet supplement
by social networks has given good run to newspaper industry, whereby
people feel more empowered and more connected with both in and
outside world. Social networking sites, which are multiplying like
anything and have somewhat intruded into the domain of newspaper
industry to such an extent that most of the news content of any sort
*Corresponding author: Ramesh Pandita, Assistant Librarian, Central
Library, BGSB University, Rajouri, R/O 274-C, Durga Nagar Sector No. I,
P/o Roop Nagar, Jammu (J & K)-180013, India, Tel: 0191-2464402; E-mail:
rameshpandita90@gmail.com
Received October 28, 2013; Accepted December 07, 2013; Published December
13, 2013
Citation: Pandita R (2013) Scenario of Print Media in Jammu & Kashmir (India):
An Analytical Study. J Mass Communicat Journalism 4: 170. doi:10.4172/2165-
7912.1000170
Copyright: © 2013 Pandita R. This is an open-access article distributed under
the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted
use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and
source are credited.

J Mass Communicat Journalism

ISSN: 2165-7912 JMCJ, an open access journal Volume 4 • Issue 1 • 1000170
Citation: Pandita R (2013) Scenario of Print Media in Jammu & Kashmir (India): An Analytical Study. J Mass Communicat Journalism 4: 170.
doi:10.4172/2165-7912.1000170
empowered every common man to access internet on their palmtops
available in the form of cell phones. The present study includes,
newspapers, newsmagazines, serials, and other periodicals published
form the state of Jammu & Kashmir. The present study is also aimed
to understand the distribution of newspapers across the state, and the
various conventional aspects which the industry is still carrying on
with. Sterling [1] is of the view that basic model of newspaper industry
could be still preserved because of publishing scholarly content in the
form of articles and other business literature.
The present study which is purely based on analysis of secondary
data, retrieved from the official website of the Registrar of Newspapers
for India (RNI) on October 10, 2013. RNI is sole authorized agency
established by the Govt of India with the aim and purpose to take
care of the periodical publishing industry of the country by assigning
registration numbers to each individual title applying for it with the
Registrar office. It was on the recommendations of the first press
commission of India, the RNI got established on July 01, 1956 by taking
amendments to the Press and Registration of Books (PRB) Act 1867
[2]. RNI has been entrusted with both statutory and non-statutory
functions, whereby apart from acting as watchdog over periodical
publishers, it compiles and maintains a register of newspaper and other
periodical titles issued with registration certificates, along with other
particulars.
About Jammu & Kashmir
Jammu & Kashmir is the state of Union of India, located in the
northern part of the Indian subcontinent, spread over 101,387 square
km and as per 2011 census, state is having 1,25,48,926 population with
68.70% literacy rate. The state was one of the princely states of India
and acceded to the Union of India in 1947. The Jammu and Kashmir is
boarding with countries like Pakistan & Afghanistan from western side
and China & Tibet from north eastern side and from southwest side
Himachal Pradesh & Punjab are its two adjacent neighboring states.
Jammu & Kashmir is one of the least densely populated states of the
Union of India standing at 28th rank among the listed 35 states and the
union territories of India. As per 2011 population statistics, density of
population in Jammu & Kashmir is 124 persons per square kilometer,
which was 100 persons during the 2001 census [3]. Himalayas and
Pir Panjal are the two great mountain ranges in the state of Jammu
& Kashmir which separates it from the rest of the country. The
geographical topology of the state of Jammu & Kashmir is quite unique
for being divided into three regions, Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh with
all the three regions having different cultures, languages and temperate
zones.
Review of Literature
From time to time researchers all across the globe have undertaken
a good number of studies revolving round newspaper industry. Each
individual study has been undertaken with specific purpose mostly
suiting the taste of a researcher. Nearly 13.7 million people prefer to
read print newspapers at the weekend observes CNA [4]. Baxter [5]
in his study talked about the death of print media around 50’s but
newspapers continued to survive only for the fact that the industry
constantly kept on catching up with new publishing modules and
trends. Edmonds [6] studied how Sunday editions of most of the
newspapers are chosen by agencies for their advertisements over other
week days for the fact that even online news readers prefer to read print
newspaper on Sundays to enjoy better readership.
Clair [7] undertook study of newspapers spanning over the period
J Mass Communicat Journalism
ISSN: 2165-7912 JMCJ, an open access journal
Page 2 of 9
1970-2009, only to understand about the depression in journalism,
Adika [8] undertook study on the book reviews published in Ghanaian
newspapers during the period (1950-2006). Musson [9] studied the
newspapers to collect data about the history of earthquakes recorded
in Britain. Ghachem [10] undertook study on the online branding in
Newspapers. Gul & Islam [11] studies the adoption of social media by
online newspapers of Kashmir to make the news reading as a two way
communication and how it has helped newspaper industry to reach
expanse readers all across the globe
Accessing online version of newspapers by people having access to
internet is a common scene these days, owing this fact, Indian Institute
of Mass Communication (IIMC) in its study about the pattern of
newspaper consumption among Indian masses observed that 53% of
total internet users among the respondents prefer to read newspapers
on net out of which 75% users were alone from four metropolitan
cites while as the percentage of people from non-metropolitan cites
was far low. Rainie [12] in PEW survey observed that everyday nearly
23% Internet users in US go online for news. Sabga [13] in his study
discussed about how internet has grown into fastest news delivery
channels, which in fact has given a good run to conventional means
of news publishing. Wilnet [14] in his study argued that online version
of newspapers or for that matter other hybrid publications act as a
supplement to its print version and it does not refrain readers from
consuming news through traditional means. Li [15] argued that
despite manifold increase in the online newspapers and its subsequent
increase in readership doesn’t have any profound impact on print
newspapers. Johnson and Gutierrz [16] in their master degree thesis
quoted Loebbecke, that any decline in readership of print newspapers
is actually compensated by increase in readership of its online versions.
Electronic sources of information have become an integral
component of teaching learning process argues Pandita [17,18] who also
undertook study on growing use of electronic sources of information
among Students, Scholars and Teachers. Blackman [19] internet has
give better and broader choice to readers and has also helped to raise
the standards of publishing industry. Johnson and Kaye [20] in their
study made observations about the growing trend towards the micro-
blogging, whereby people have started getting actively involved in two
way communication process.
It is also being observed that online newspapers and other
e-documents are not only showing growth in terms of readership but
also in revenue. So online is not just a mere switchover of readership
but also in revenues as observed Association of Newspapers of America
in 2011 [21] when the advertising revenues of online newspapers grew
by $ 207 million and its print revenues declined by $ 2.1 billion.
Objectives
 To understand the scenario of print news media in the state of
Jammu & Kashmir, India, confined to newspapers and other periodicals
spanning over the period 1961-2013 and duly registered with Registrar
of Newspapers for India.
 To understand the periodicity distribution of periodicals published
across 22 districts of state and to assess the growth of periodicals both
year and decade wise, Languages covered by each individual district etc
in correlation with the literacy rate and population.
Methodology
The present study is an analysis of secondary data retrieved from
official website of the Registrar of Newspapers for India (RNI) on Oct
Volume 4 • Issue 1 • 1000170
Citation: Pandita R (2013) Scenario of Print Media in Jammu & Kashmir (India): An Analytical Study. J Mass Communicat Journalism 4: 170.
doi:10.4172/2165-7912.1000170

Page 3 of 9

10, 2013, lasting over the period 1961-2013, available at http://www.rni. New Registration & (%) Old Registration & (%) Total
nic.in/rni_search_language.asp. Data retrieved from the website was Share share
totally unstructured and in raw form, hence was put to structuration 593 (57.90) 420 (42.09) 1013
as per the objectives of the study. In all there were 1227 verified titles, Table 2: Periodical Registration Distribution.
out of which 1019 were registered with RNI, but while analyzing data,
six titles were found published from outside Jammu & Kashmir as such
were excluded from analysis and accordingly analysis was taken over Registration Distribution %age
1013 titles only.

Scope and Limitations of the Study 42.09

Scope of the present study is purely confined to the state of Jammu 57.9
New Registration
& Kashmir only and has been restricted to those titles only which are
Old Registration
registered with the RNI, lasting over the period 1961-2013. However,
to assess the overall scenario of print media in country, the study can
be extended to each individual state of the country and can help to
develop better understanding of the concept with more exactness.
Except for date of registration of 19 titles and the place of Figure 2: Periodical Registration Distribution.
publication of 23 titles no other major limitation came to fore, had
these facts been established results could have been presented in more S.No Periodicity No of Titles Percentage
exact and precise manner. Beside since the data being totally raw and 01 Annual 5 0.49
unstructured, as such it was difficult to establish individual statistics 02 Bi-Monthly 9 0.88
about the regularity & nature of periodicals. 03 Bi-Weekly 3 0.29
04 Daily 348 34.35
Data Analysis 05 Fortnightly 63 6.21
Keeping in view the objectives of the study, data after structuration 06 Half-Yearly 8 0.78
was put to excel format for executing simple operation like, addition, 07 Monthly 96 9.47
subtraction, division, drawing percentage etc. In order to ensure that 08 Monthly Three 1 0.09
accuracy of figures, (Table 1, Figure 1) data was put to double cross 09 Once in Two years 2 0.19
check, with percentage drawn up to two decimal places mostly, however 10 Other Periodicals 4 0.39
wherever required percentage was drawn beyond two decimal places. 11 Quarterly 21 2.07
12 Tri-Weekly 1 0.09
Since the present study is based on the registered titles as such
13 Weekly 452 44.61
it was imperative to reveal the total titles published from state, duly Total 1013
verified by the office of Registrar of Newspapers for India. Accordingly
Table 3: Periodicity Distribution of Periodicals in Jammu & Kashmir.
of the total periodicals published from Jammu & Kashmir only 82.55%
titles stand registered with RNI which constitute 1013 titles only (Table
500 50
2, Figure 2).
450 44.61 45
Since the RNI has lately initiated process towards assigning the new 400 40
registration numbers to titles already in its holding list, accordingly 350 34.35 35
300 30
57.90% titles of Jammu & Kashmir state have been assigned with
250 25
new registration numbers and still 42.09% are registered under old 200 20
registration numbers (Table 3, Figure 3). 150 15
No of Titles

100 10 Percentage
As per data, all the periodicals published from Jammu & Kashmir 6.21
9.47
50 5
0.49 0.88 0.29 0.78 2.07
0 0.09 0.19 0.39 0.09 0
Total Verified Titled Registered Titles & share (%)
1227 1013 (82.55)
Table 1: Distribution of Total Verified & Registered Periodicals.

Figure 3: Periodicity Distribution of Periodicals in Jammu & Kashmir.

1400 1227
1200 1013 are published under thirteen (13) different periodicities, out of which
1000
a maximum 44.61% are weekly, followed by 34.35% daily and 9.47%
800
Verifed titles Monthly publications. A minimum one title each is registered under
600
the periodicity Monthly Three and Tri-Weekly (Table 4, Figure 4).
400 Registered Titles
200 As per the tabulated data, in the year 1964 only one title was
0 registered from the state of Jammu & Kashmir with RNI which can
Periodical distribution be also considered as the beginning of era of newspaper industry in
state. Except for the year 1965 titles were registered each year thereafter
Figure 1: Distribution of Total Verified & Registered Periodicals.
till 2013. While correlating figures for corresponding growth from

J Mass Communicat Journalism

ISSN: 2165-7912 JMCJ, an open access journal Volume 4 • Issue 1 • 1000170
Citation: Pandita R (2013) Scenario of Print Media in Jammu & Kashmir (India): An Analytical Study. J Mass Communicat Journalism 4: 170.
doi:10.4172/2165-7912.1000170

Page 4 of 9

Year No. of Corresponding Cumulative Cumulative Year No. of Corresponding Cumulative Cumulative Year No. of Corresponding Cumulative Cumulative
periodicals % age Growth growth % age periodicals %age Growth growth % age periodicals % age Growth growth % age
Growth Growth Growth
1964 1 - 1 - 1981 3 -57.14 196 1.55 1998 20 185.71 358 5.91
1965 - - 1 - 1982 6 100 202 3.06 1999 8 -60.00 366 2.23
1966 1 - 2 50.00 1983 4 -33.33 206 1.98 2000 11 37.50 377 3.00
1967 10 900 12 500 1984 6 50.00 212 2.91 2001 29 62.06 406 7.69
1968 14 40.00 26 116.6 1985 18 66.66 230 8.49 2002 23 -20.68 429 5.66
1969 24 71.42 50 92.30 1986 14 -22.22 244 6.08 2003 21 -8.69 450 4.89
1970 18 -25.00 68 36.00 1987 4 -71.42 248 1.63 2004 23 9.52 473 5.11
1971 17 -5.55 85 25.00 1988 5 25.00 253 2.01 2005 9 -60.86 482 1.90
1972 7 -58.82 92 8.23 1989 9 44.44 262 3.55 2006 16 77.77 498 3.31
1973 29 314.2 121 31.52 1990 7 -22.22 269 2.67 2007 30 87.50 528 6.02
1974 12 -58.62 133 9.91 1991 5 -28.57 274 1.85 2008 31 3.33 559 5.87
1975 11 -8.33 144 8.27 1992 11 120.00 285 4.01 2009 43 38.70 602 7.69
1976 12 9.09 156 8.33 1993 9 -18.18 294 3.15 2010 53 23.25 655 8.80
1977 3 -75.00 159 1.92 1994 12 33.33 306 4.08 2011 76 43.39 731 11.60
1978 18 500 177 11.32 1995 15 25.00 321 4.90 2012 149 96.05 880 14.13
1979 9 -50.00 186 5.08 1996 10 -33.33 331 3.11 2013 114 -23.48 994 12.95
1980 7 -22.22 193 3.76 1997 7 -30.00 338 2.11 *NA 19 1013 1.91

*NA-Date of Registration Not Available

Table 4: Year wise Growth Distribution of Newspapers & Other Periodicals.

160 1000
No of titles
140
Corresponding %age growth 800
120 Cumulative %age Growth
600
100

80 400

60
200
40
0
20

0 -200

Figure 4: Year wise Growth Distribution of Newspapers & Other Periodicals.

S.No Decade No of Titles corresponding Cumulative Cumulative

& Share (%) Growth Growth Corresponding No of Titles
Growth %age 19 68
125
01 1961-1970 68 (6.71) - 68 -
339 1964-1970
02 1971-1980 125 (12.33) 83.82 193 183.82
76
03 1981-1990 76 (7.50) -39.20 269 39.37 1971-1980

04 1991-2000 108 (10.66) 42.10 377 40.14 1981-1990

108 1991-2000
05 2001-2010 278 (27.44) 157.40 655 73.74
2001-2010
06 2011 on 339 (33.46) 21.94 994 51.75
wards 278
2011 on wards

07 *NA 19 (1.87) 1013 Not Available

1013

*NA-Date of Registration Not Available

Figure 5: Decade wise growth distribution of periodicals.
Table 5: Decade wise growth distribution of periodicals.

previous year negative growth was observed 22 times. Maximum year 2012, followed by 114 titles in the year 2013 and 76 titles during the
number of titles registered with RNI from the state were 149 during the year 2011. There is every possibility that 2013 may outnumber the year

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ISSN: 2165-7912 JMCJ, an open access journal Volume 4 • Issue 1 • 1000170
Citation: Pandita R (2013) Scenario of Print Media in Jammu & Kashmir (India): An Analytical Study. J Mass Communicat Journalism 4: 170.
doi:10.4172/2165-7912.1000170

Page 5 of 9

Language→ & Hindi English Bilingual Urdu Multani Punjabi Sanskrit Kashmiri Dogir Gogri Total
Periodicity↓ With
share (%)
Daily/Daily Evening 38 (10.91) 159 (45.68) 28 (8.04) 119 (34.19) 1 (0.28) - - 2 (0.57) 1 (0.28) - 348 (34.35)
Weekly 32 (7.07) 133 (29.42) 34 (7.52) 237 (52.43) 9 (1.99) - - 4 (0.88) 2 (0.44) 1 (0.22) 452 (44.61)
Bi-Weekly - 1 (33.33) - 2 (66.66) - - - - - - 3 (0.29)
Fortnightly 9 (14.28) 32 (50.79) 6 (9.52) 14 (22.22) 2 (3.17) - - - - - 63 (6.21)
Monthly 11 (11.45) 37 (35.54) 10 (10.41) 31 (32.29) 2 (2.08) 2 (2.08) 1 (1.04) 1 (1.04) 1 (1.04) - 96 (9.47)
Monthly Three - - 1 (100) - - - - - - - 1 (0.09)
Bi-Monthly - 4 (44.44) 2 (22.22) - 2 (22.22) - - 1 (11.11) - - 9 (0.88)
Quarterly 2 (9.52) 12 (57.14) - 3 (14.28) 1 (4.76) 1 (4.76) - - 2 (9.52) - 21 (2.07)
Half-Yearly - 5 (62.50) 1 (12.5) - 2 (25.00) - - - - - 8 (0.78)
Annual/Yearly - 2 (40.00) - 2 (40.00) 1 (20.00) - - - - - 5 (0.49)
Once in two years - 2 (100) - - - - - - - - 2 (0.19)
Other Periodicity 1 (25.00) - 1 (25.00) 2 (50.00) - - - - - - 4 (0.39)
Tri-Weekly - 1 (100) - - - - - - - - 1 (0.09)
Total 93 (9.18) 388 (38.30) 83 (8.19) 410 (40.47) 20 (1.97) 3 (0.29) 1 (0.09) 8 (0.78) 6 (0.59) 1 (0.09) 1013
Table 6: Language wise periodicity & their Share percentage.

450 45
400 40.47 40
38.3
350 35
300 30
250 25
200 20 No of titles
150 15
share %age
100 9.18 10
8.19
50 5
1.97 0.78 0.59
0 0.29 0.09 0.090

Figure 6: Language wise periodicity & their Share percentage.

2012 in terms registration of titles. Cumulative growth percentage can
be seen maximum during the early years of registration and keeps on
decreasing as we move down the table for the fact that a good number of
titles were registered during the subsequent years. Date of registration
of 19 periodicals could not be ascertained, as no registration dates were
assigned to them by the registry concerned, as such have been put at the
bottom of the table (Table 5, Figure 5).
Above table is more an extension of Table-IV, in this table attempt
has been made to segregate things on basis of titles introduced during
each individual decade, wherein registration of newspapers and other
periodicals has been classified in five decades and early three years of
sixth decade. A maximum of 339 titles, which alone constitutes 33.46%
share of the total registered titles were registered alone during the early
three years of sixth decade and if this trend kept on moving same way,
the share percentage of the present decade may cross more than 50%
mark. This is followed by 27.44% share during the decade 2001-2010,
12.33% during 1971-80 and 10.66% for the period 1991-2000. Titles
with registration date not available constitute 1.86% share. Except for
the period 1981-1990 when negative growth of 39.20% was observed,
otherwise growth percentage remained positive during other decades
(Table 6, Figure 6).
Periodicals in the state are published under 13 different periodicities
in 10 different languages, including Urdu, Kashmiri and Dogri the
official languages of Jammu & Kashmir State. Periodicities like Daily
& Daily Evening and Yearly & Annual have been clubbed together as
both serve the same periodic purpose. Of the total periodicals published
from Jammu & Kashmir state, 44.61% are published as weeklies,
followed by 34.35% dallies and 9.47% as monthlies. Except 6.21%
Fortnightlies and 2.07% Quarterlies rest of the periodicities publish
less than 1% periodicals. Among the daily newspapers published from
state English language has a maximum share with 45.68%, followed
by Urdu and Hindi with the share percentage of 34.19% and 10.91%
respectively. Among the weeklies, Urdu language leads the table with a
share percentage of 52.43%, followed by English and Bilingual papers
with share percentage of 29.42% and 7.52% respectively. English, Urdu
and Hindi languages in their standing order share the publication
distribution among monthly publications with the share percentage of
35.54%, 32.29% and 11.14% respectively. At the language front of the
total periodicals published in different languages, Hindi and English
has a maximum share in dailies with 40.86% and 40.97% respectively,
followed by Urdu having 57.80% publication as monthlies. Periodicals
published in other languages include Multani, Punjabi, Sanskrit,
Kashmiri, Dogri, Gogri and Bilingual papers (Table 7, Figure 7). .
The state of Jammu & Kashmir is divided into 22 districts, Jammu
district is leading the table with maximum 525 titles registered with
it, constituting alone 51.82% share. Jammu is followed by Srinagar,
Baramula and Badgam with 325, 22 and 18 registered titles with a

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ISSN: 2165-7912 JMCJ, an open access journal Volume 4 • Issue 1 • 1000170
Citation: Pandita R (2013) Scenario of Print Media in Jammu & Kashmir (India): An Analytical Study. J Mass Communicat Journalism 4: 170.
doi:10.4172/2165-7912.1000170

Page 6 of 9

Name of the Time Interval with share (%) District (%)→/Decade (%)↓ level Total &
District 1961-70 1971-80 1981-90 1991-2K 2001-10 2011- 13 NA* Share (%)
KUPWARA - - - - 2 (22.22)/(0.71) 7 (77.77)/(2.06) - 9 (0.88)
BADGAM - - - 2 (11.11)/(1.85) 8 (44.44)/(2.87) 8 (44.44)/(2.35) - 18(1.77)
LEH - - - - 2 (100)/(0.71) - - 2 (0.19)
KARGIL - - - - - - - -
PUNCH - 1 (50.00)/(0.80) - - - 1 (50.00)/(0.29) - 2 (0.19)
RAJAURI - 3 (20.00)/(2.40) 2 (13.33)/(2.63) 3 (20.00)/(2.77) 5 (33.33)/(1.79) 2 (13.33)/(0.58) - 15 (1.48)
KATHUA - 1 (14.28)/(0.80) 1 (14.28)/(1.31) - 3 (42.85)/(1.07) 1 (14.28)/(0.29) 1 (14.28)/(5.26) 7 (0.69)
BARAMULA - - - 1 (4.54)/(0.92) 8 (36.36)/(2.87) 13 (59.09)/ - 22 (2.17)
BANDIPORA - - - - - 1 (100)/(0.29) - 1 (0.09)
SRINAGAR 29 (8.92)/(42.64) 27 (8.30)/(21.60) 28 (8.61)/(36.84) 36 (11.07)/(33.33) 81 (24.92)/(29.13) 117 (36.00)/(34.51) 7 (2.15)/(36.84) 325 (32.08)
GANDERBAL - - - - 5 (41.66)/(1.79) 7 (58.33)/(2.06) - 12 (2.28)
PULWAMA - - - - 2 (13.33)/(0.71) 13 (86.66)/(3.83) - 15 (1.48)
SHUPIYAN - - 1 (50.00)/(1.31) - - 1 (50.00)/(0.29) - 2 (0.19)
ANANTNAG - 1 (11.11)/(0.80) - - 4 (44.44)/(1.43) 4 (44.44)/(1.17) - 9 (0.88)
KULGAM - - - - - - - -
DODA - 2 (33.33)/(1.60) - 1 (16.66)/(0.92) 1 (16.66)/(0.35) 2 (33.33)/(0.58) - 6 (0.59)
RAMBAN - - - - - 2 (100)/(0.58) - 2 (0.19)
KISHTWAR - - - - - 1 (100)/(0.29) - 1 (0.09)
UDHAMPUR - 3 (37.50)/(2.40) 2 (25.00)/(2.63) 1 (12.50)/(0.92) 2 (25.00)/(0.71) - - 8 (0.78)
REASI - - - 1 (33.33)/(0.92) - 2 (66.66)/(0.58) - 3 (0.29)
JAMMU 35 (6.66)/(51.47) 77 (14.66)/(61.60) 36 (6.85)/(47.36) 61 (11.61)/(56.48) 154 (29.33)/(55.39) 151 (28.76)/(44.54) 11 (2.09)/(57.89) 525 (51.82)
SAMBA - - - - - 6 (100)/(1.76) - 6 (0.59)
OTHERS 4 (17.39)/(5.88) 10 (43.47)/(8.00) 6 (26.08)/(7.89) 2 (8.69)/(1.85) 1 (4.34)/(0.35) - - 23 (2.27)
Total 68 125 76 108 278 339 19 1013
Percentage Drawn is =District →/Decade ↓=(%)/(%)
Table 7: Decade wise growth of Newspapers & Other Periodicals at District Level.

languages. As per 2011 population census of Govt of India, the State

Registration Distribution of Jammu & Kashmir has a population of 12.54 million out of which
400 7.24 million are literates, having 68.74% literacy rate, which is less by
350 339 5.3% to that of national literacy rate of India. Jammu & Kashmir has
300
278 0.139 average titles available to per thousand literate persons, which
250
200
are 0.008 titles higher to that of national average. Except for Jammu
150 and Srinagar districts which have 0.458 and 0.415 average titles
125 108
100
68 76 Registration available to per thousand literate persons of their respective districts,
50 Distribution
0
no other district is not even nearer to the gross state or national level
average of the titles available to per thousand literate persons. Though
there may be marginal difference in the literacy rate of population of
different districts, but that has no direct bearing upon the publication
of newspapers or periodicals from a particular district, on the other
Figure 7: Decade wise growth of Newspapers & Other Periodicals at District hand Jammu and Srinagar are the two capital districts of the state of
Level. Jammu and Kashmir and are also the home of maximum number
of periodicals, given this fact one can clearly argue that urban areas
share percentage of 32.08%, 2.17% and 1.77% respectively. During the especially state headquarters are the hub of publishing industry and not
analysis two districts Kargil and Kulgam were found with no registered the other fringe areas (Table 9).
titles. Place of publication of 23 titles, constituting 2.27% share
Jammu is the largest district publishing maximum number of
percentage could not be established as they were simply registered as
periodicals and is also the only district which publishes titles under all
published form Jammu & Kashmir, with no mention of district. Details
the 13 different periodicities, followed by Srinagar, under 9 different
of these periodicals have been put at the bottom of the table under the
periodicities. Rajouri, Baramula & titles under others category are
category of others. Rest of the districts publishes titles ranging from being published in 5 different periodicities. Jammu district leads the
1 to 15. Jammu and Srinagar districts together publish nearly 84% overall tally by publishing maximum titles under various periodicities
periodicals in the state. Jammu leads the table by having maximum which include 54.44% dailies, 48.23% weeklies, 74.19% fortnightlies,
registered titles during all decades, followed by Srinagar. Of the 19 47.95% monthlies, & 50% Bi-Monthlies. Apart from these, there are
undated registered titles 57.89% are registered with Jammu district, periodicities where under titles are 100% published from Jammu
36.84% with Srinagar and 5.26% with Kathua district. A maximum of district and these include, monthly three, once in two years & tri-
339 titles were registered during the period 2010-2013 Table 8. Jammu weeklies. Jammu and Srinagar districts publish equal number of titles
and Srinagar are the two leading districts which publish periodicals in under quarterly and half-yearly periodicities. Srinagar leads the tally
9 and 7 different languages respectively, followed by Badgam, Kathua, under the bi-monthly and annual periodicities with 50% & 80% share
Baramula and Pulwama each of them publish periodicals in 4 different percentage respectively. Anantnag district publishes maximum 50%

J Mass Communicat Journalism

ISSN: 2165-7912 JMCJ, an open access journal Volume 4 • Issue 1 • 1000170
Citation: Pandita R (2013) Scenario of Print Media in Jammu & Kashmir (India): An Analytical Study. J Mass Communicat Journalism 4: 170.
doi:10.4172/2165-7912.1000170

Page 7 of 9

S.No Name of the District *Total Population Literacy *Literature Population Titles per 1000 literate Total & Language
In millions Rate* In millions persons Share (%) Covered
1 KUPWARA 0.87 66.92 0.45 0.020 9 (0.88) 3
2 BADGAM 0.75 58.39 0.35 0.050 18 (1.77) 4
3 LEH 0.14 80.84 0.10 0.020 2 (0.19) 2
4 KARGIL 0.14 74.49 0.09 - - -
5 PUNCH 0.47 68.69 0.26 0.007 2 (0.19) 2
6 RAJAURI 0.61 68.54 0.34 0.043 15 (1.48) 3
7 KATHUA 0.61 73.50 0.39 0.017 7 (0.69) 4
8 BARAMULA 1.01 66.93 0.57 0.038 22 (2.17) 4
9 BANDIPORA 0.38 57.82 0.18 0.005 1 (0.09) 1
10 SRINAGAR 1.25 71.18 0.78 0.415 325 (32.08) 7
11 GANDERBAL 0.29 59.99 0.14 0.081 12 (1.18) 3
12 PULWAMA 0.57 65.00 0.30 0.048 15 (1.48) 4
13 SHUPIYAN 0.26 62.49 0.14 0.014 2 (0.19) 2
14 ANANTNAG 1.06 64.33 0.55 0.016 9 (0.88) 3
15 KULGAM 0.42 60.33 0.21 - - -
16 DODA 0.40 65.97 0.22 0.026 6 (0.59) 2
17 RAMBAN 0.28 56.90 0.13 0.015 2 (0.19) 2
18 KISHTWAR 0.23 58.54 0.11 0.008 1 (0.09) 1
19 UDHAMPUR 0.55 69.90 0.33 0.024 8 (0.78) 3
20 REASI 0.31 59.42 0.15 0.019 3 (0.29) 2
21 JAMMU 1.52 83.98 1.14 0.458 525 (51.82) 9
22 SAMBA 0.31 82.48 0.23 0.025 6 (0.59) 2
OTHERS - - - - 23 (2.27) 5
Total 12.54 68.74 7.24 0.139 1013 10

*Note:-Figures of Population, Literacy Rate, Literate Population are as per the 2011 Census of Govt of India
Table 8: Periodical Distribution as per the population of Districts.

600 60
525
No of Periodicals
500 50
%age Share
400 Linear (No of Periodicals) 40
325
300 30

200 20

100 10

0 0

Figure 8: District Level distribution of periodicals on the basis of language.

titles under other periodicities, while as rest of the districts show mere
presence in publishing titles under different periodicities (Table 10,
Figure 8).
Apart from Urdu, Kashmiri and Dogri are the other two official
languages of the Jammu & Kashmir state but do not enjoy much
popularity among the state masses. Kashmiri and Dogri have got more
reduced as vernacular languages for being region specific for the fact that
only 0.78% Kashmiri & 0.59% Dogri newspapers are published across
the state. Urdu being the main official language of Jammu & Kashmir
state as such enjoys fair amount of popularity. Of the total periodicals
published across the state of Jammu & Kashmir, a maximum 40.47%
titles are alone published in Urdu language, out of which 42.92% are
alone published from Srinagar district, closely followed by Jammu with
38.53% publication percentage. Urdu is followed by English with gross
38.30% publication share of which 58.50% are published from Jammu
district and 28.35% from Srinagar district. Hindi is the third largest
periodical publishing languages with 93 registered titles, constituting
9.18% of the total publication share, out of which 86.02% are alone
published from Jammu district and 3 each are published from Kathua,
Srinagar, and Samba districts. At district level, languages enjoying
maximum publication share percentage in rest of the districts include,
Kupwara 55.55% English titles, Badgam 50% Urdu titles, Leh 50% each
English & Multani titles, Punch 50% each to English & Urdu titles,
Rajauri 46.66% English, Kathua 42.85% Hindi, Baramula 45.45% Urdu,
Ganderbal 50% English, Pulwama 60% Urdu, Shupiyan 50% Urdu,
Anantnag 44.44% each English & Urdu, Doda 66.66% Urdu, Ramban
50% each English & Urdu, Udhampur 75% Urdu, Reasi 66.66% Hindi,
and Samba 50% each Hindi & English. Kargil and Kulgam are the two
districts with no periodicals published form there, while as Bandipora

J Mass Communicat Journalism

ISSN: 2165-7912 JMCJ, an open access journal Volume 4 • Issue 1 • 1000170
Citation: Pandita R (2013) Scenario of Print Media in Jammu & Kashmir (India): An Analytical Study. J Mass Communicat Journalism 4: 170.
doi:10.4172/2165-7912.1000170

Page 8 of 9

Name of the Periodicity Total

District Daily Weekly Bi-Weekly Fortnightly Monthly Monthly Bi-Monthly Quarterly Half Annual/ Once Other Tri-
Three yearly Yearly in Two Periodicity Weekly
Years
KUPWARA 6 2 - - 1 - - - - - - - - 9
BADGAM 8 8 - - 2 - - - - - - - - 18
LEH - - - - - - 1 - 1 - - - - 2
KARGIL - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
PUNCH - 1 - - 1 - - - - - - - - 2
RAJAURI 1 6 - 6 1 - - 1 - - - - - 15
KATHUA 1 4 - 1 - - - 1 - - - - - 7
BARAMULA 6 11 - - 1 - - 3 1 - - - - 22
BANDIPORA 1 - - - - - - - - - - - - 1
SRINAGAR 118 145 2 5 37 - 3 8 3 4 - - - 325
GANDERBAL 6 6 - - - - - - - - - - - 12
PULWAMA 5 8 - - 2 - - - - - - - - 15
SHUPIYAN - 2 - - - - - - - - - - - 2
ANANTNAG 3 3 1 - - - - - - - - 2 - 9
KULGAM - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
DODA 1 4 - 1 - - - - - - - - - 6
RAMBAN - 2 - - - - - - - - - - - 2
KISHTWAR - 1 - - - - - - - - - - - 1
UDHAMPUR - 7 - - - - - - - - - 1 - 8
REASI 1 1 - 1 - - - - - - - - - 3
JAMMU 190 219 1 46 47 1 5 8 3 1 2 1 1 525
SAMBA - 4 - 1 1 - - - - - - - - 6
OTHERS 2 20 - 1 6 - 1 - - - - - - 23
Total 349 454 4 62 98 1 10 21 8 5 2 4 1 1013
Table 9: District Wise Periodicity Distribution of Periodicals.

Name of the Language Distribution Total

District & Language Hindi English Bilingual Urdu Multani Punjabi Sanskrit Kashmir Dogri Gogri
Share (%)
KUPWARA - 5 (55.55) 2 (22.22) 2 (22.22) - - - - - - 9
BADGAM 1 (5.55) 6 (33.33) 2 (11.11) 9 (50.00) - - - - - - 18
LEH - 1 (50.00) - - 1 (50.00) - - - - - 2
KARGIL - - - - - - - - - - -
PUNCH - 1 (50.00) - 1 (50.00) - - - - - - 2
RAJAURI - 7 (46.66) 4 (26.66) 4 (26.66) - - - - - - 15
KATHUA 3 (42.85) 1 (14.28) - 2 (28.57) - - - - 1 (14.28) - 7
BARAMULA - 8 (36.36) 3 (13.63) 10 (45.45) 1 (4.54) - - - - - 22
BANDIPORA - - 1 (100) - - - - - - - 1
SRINAGAR 3 (0.92) 110 (33.84) 26 (8.00) 176 (54.15) 2 (0.61) 1 (0.30) - 7 (2.15) - - 325
GANDERBAL - 6 (50.00) 2 (16.66) 4 (33.33) - - - - - - 12
PULWAMA - 1 (6.66) 3 (20) 9 (60.00) 2 (13.33) - - - - - 15
SHUPIYAN - - 1 (50.00) 1 (50.00) - - - - - - 2
ANANTNAG - 4 (44.44) 1 (11.11) 4 (44.44) - - - - - - 9
KULGAM - - - - - - - - - - -
DODA - 2 (33.33) - 4 (66.66) - - - - - - 6
RAMBAN - 1 (50.00) - 1 (50.00) - - - - - - 2
KISHTWAR - 1 (100) - - - - - - - - 1
UDHAMPUR 1 (12.50) 1 (12.50) - 6 (75.00) - - - - - - 8
REASI 2 (66.66) - - 1 (33.33) - - - - - - 3
JAMMU 80 (15.23) 227 (43.23) 37 (7.04) 158 (30.09) 14 (2.66) 2 (0.38) 1 (0.19) - 5 (0.95) 1 (0.19) 525
SAMBA 3 (50.00) 3 (50.00) - - - - - - - - 6
OTHERS - 3 (13.04) 1 (4.34) 18 (78.26) - - - 1 (4.34) - - 23
Total 93 (9.18) 388 (38.30) 83 (8.19) 410 (40.47) 20 (1.97) 3 (0.29) 1 (0.09) 8 (0.78) 6 (0.59) 1 (0.09) 1013
Table 10: District Level distribution of periodicals on the basis of language.

and Kistwar publish one title each in Bilingual and English Language is the 23rd largest periodical publishing state of the union of India and
respectively. is better by average 0.008 titles to that of national average of 0.139 titles
In terms of number of titles registered with RNI, Jammu & Kashmir to per 1000 literate person.

J Mass Communicat Journalism

ISSN: 2165-7912 JMCJ, an open access journal Volume 4 • Issue 1 • 1000170
Citation: Pandita R (2013) Scenario of Print Media in Jammu & Kashmir (India): An Analytical Study. J Mass Communicat Journalism 4: 170.
doi:10.4172/2165-7912.1000170
Conclusion
Owing to fact that there is constant and continuous increase in
the registration of new titles with the RNI, one can easily refute any
immediate potential threat to the print media in the state of Jammu
& Kashmir. Jammu and Srinagar being the two capital headquarters
of the state have emerged as the two largest newspaper publishing
districts of the state in their standing order in almost every respect.
Although, Urdu, Kashmiri and Dogri are the official languages of the
state of Jammu & Kashmir, but it is the Urdu language which enjoys
more popularity over the other two official languages.
Geographical difference in the three regions of the state has
confined the publication of Dogri periodicals to the Jammu region only
and Kashmiri language periodicals to Kashmir province only. Hindi the
third largest language concentrated in Jammu division only. Publishing
periodicals in 10 different languages across the 22 districts of the state
speaks about the linguistic diversity of Jammu & Kashmir. Kargil and
Kulgam are the only districts where from no periodicals are published
as yet and the reason can be owed to the fact that these districts have
been recently carved out from Anantnag and Leh districts. Jammu
being the most populous district of the state do has highest number of
literate persons with highest literacy rate in the state can be argued as a
reason for Jammu being the dominant in periodical publishing.
Technology has bought revolution in many ways and newspaper
publishing industry is no exception to it. Without any denial technology
is efficient in many ways and delivering faster and accurate information
and overcoming the barriers of space and time are just a few. Most
of the newspapers have adapted to hybrid publishing only to uphold
the interest of their readers and not to lose their patronage. Public
arguments towards the approaching death of print newspapers got
refuted from time to time, whether when correlated with the coming
into being of electronic gadgets like Radio, TV etc to the present day
internet. As of now one can argue that there is no approaching death
to print media in general and in the state of Jammu & Kashmir in
particular when internet has penetrated only up to 34.3% population at
global level and 11.4% in India.
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J Mass Communicat Journalism
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