NOAB urges govt to stand beside newspaper industry

Newspaper Owners’ Association of Bangladesh (NOAB) has said the country's newspaper industry is facing a grave crisis due to the coronavirus pandemic as the sale of newspapers and the amount of advertisement have severely slashed.

“In this age of digital globalisation, the newspaper industry suffered gravely and the pandemic just made it all the more severe. Newspaper sales dropped by two thirds and revenue even more. Due to the overall decline in sales, it has become difficult for the newspapers to pay the salaries of their employees," a NOAB statement issued Friday said.

The statement said newspapers' survival has become extremely challenging despite taking various cost-cutting steps by the newspapers.

NOAB said newspapers put forward several proposals to overcome the situation in multiple meetings with the information minister Hasan Mahmud, but those were not fruitful.

“Many other sectors have received government support at various levels. We are hopeful that the government will take special initiatives to address our problems too.”

“The survival of the newspaper industry is a matter of grave concern. In these dire times, we feel that government intervention—stimulus packages, incentives, bank loans on easy terms—are all crucial to save this industry.”

The statement also urged the government to take immediate steps to pay the large sums of advertisement bills which are long due.

NOAB said it always tried to raise awareness about the crucial state of the newspaper industry so that the government could pay heed during the allocation of budget and formulation of policies.

“Like last year, this year too, prior to the budget formulation, NOAB voiced out its concerns regarding tax, value added tax, etc to the National Board of Revenue, ministry of finance and ministry of information, but in vain. In order to overcome the crisis, members of NOAB have met with finance minister AHM Mustafa Kamal, information minister Hasan Mahmud and private industry and investment adviser to the prime minister Salman F Rahman. They considered the issues with urgency and assured to take the required initiatives."

The NOAB said it submitted a five-point written proposal to the finance minister ahead of the proposed national budget for 2020-21, where it was emphasised that it would be nearly impossible for the industry to survive without government support.

But there was no positive outcome, said the statement.

The information ministry, however, recently took steps to pay some arrears, the NOAB said.

The statement said NOAB demanded reduction of corporate tax to 10 per cent from 35 per cent, omission of 15 per cent value added tax (VAT) on the import of newsprint. The other demands included reduction of the Tax at Source (TDS) on advertising revenue from four per cent to two per cent, and reduction of the advance tax (AIT) on raw materials to zero per cent instead of five per cent.

As a service industry, declared under the labour law in 2014, the newspapers are void of any special benefits and have to pay corporate tax of 35 per cent, whereas despite being a for-profit sector, the RMG industry’s corporate tax stands at 10 to 12 per cent, read the statement.

“In this year's budget, corporate tax has been reduced by 2.5 per cent for all industries. In that case, it was necessary to reduce it to at least 10-15 per cent for the newspaper industry.”

The statement also said the ninth Wage Board for the newspaper industry declared by the government is unacceptable.

“At a time when newspapers were already going through extremely difficult moments, such an announcement will only worsen its woes. It was not feasible in any manner and thus it was not acceptable. Multiple writs are still pending in the High Court in this regard," it added.

The statement said the previous wage board too was unrealistic and only a handful of organisations were able to grant it.

NOAB statement said newspapers are unable to take the initiative to increase their revenues in the age of digital media in today's competitive market.

“We urge the government to resolve the complications related to duties, VAT, etc. In these difficult times, we also urge all readers, journalists, advertisers, agents and hawkers to take a stand. Your collective cooperation is essential for the survival of the newspaper industry. We appeal to all concerned, including the government, to come forward to protect our withering newspaper industry,” the statement read.