In India, COVID-19 arrived about a month later compared to many parts of Europe. Currently, the pandemic is on the verge of entering its peak in the country. With all the challenges of the total lockdown since 25 March, newspapers are trying to maintain their production and distribution of copies door-to-door.
The Times of India owns 14 presses at different locations across the country and has around 20 print partners at various locations in India. The page-making is done from Mumbai or New Delhi. On regular days, the newspaper prints and circulates 7 million copies of its various dailies. However, this number has fallen substantially during the COVID-19 lockdown across the nation because of distribution challenges.
Challenges for printers during COVID-19
India is a populous country. It is very densely populated, and people enjoy the company of one another. During the initial days of the lockdown, productivity was a huge problem. “When we started working from home, we realized that our productivity came down by at least 25% to 30%. In the last month, we have learned how to keep the business running. Print production requires manual intervention. Hence the plants were running at 60% to 70% capacity.
“Ever since the outbreak, the government restrictions kept evolving with restrictions being imposed and subsequently lifted, which posed many challenges for newspaper distribution. There were rumors on social media that newspapers may carry COVID-19 infection. That rumor spread fast, and it hurt us a lot. The entire publishing industry had to fight against the rumor and instill a belief that newspapers cannot and do carry the virus,” says Snehashish Roy, technical director of The Times of India.
Mitigation steps by TOI
Around 80% of the prepress work was moved into the homes of employees. For pressroom related work, the company formed two teams, each comprising 50% of the staff strength. Each team works in shifts to print newspapers and magazines. “Since the demand has come down drastically, we decided to run a minimum number of presses and involve fewer people in production. We made thermal screening mandatory for each person entering the printing plant,” adds Roy.
The Times of India also took self-declaration from its plant employees stating none of them came in contact with family members or relatives who have a travel history to COVID19 affected countries or states within the country, or in contact with people who exhibit flu-like symptoms. Every staff member not involved in any pressroom work has been advised to work from home.
Since most of the presses of various publishers were running at lowered printing capacity, newspaper competitors united in agreeing that in case of a breakdown, they may print copies at a competitor’s printing plant. Arrangements were also made for specific teams to camp in the printing plant to ensure uninterrupted production.
Newspaper distribution challenges during lockdown 2.0
During lockdown 2.0 starting on 14 April and supposed to end on 3 May, the state and central governments identified more than 200 hotspots throughout the country where the newspapers could not be distributed. These no go areas posed another challenge for the publishers.
Unlike other countries in the world where newspaper distribution shot up during the lockdown, India saw a sharp decline in the distribution and circulation numbers, especially in Mumbai (where printing was allowed but distribution prohibited by the government) and also in parts of New Delhi.
In areas where newspapers couldn’t get an entry, publishers started using pharmacies, local kiosks, and grocery shops for distribution. However, in the end, the anxiety and superstition about newspapers being a potential carrier of the deadly coronavirus remain amongst many people in several parts of the country. The same people are happily handling milk pouches, raw vegetables, and currency notes that have passed from hand to hand. This irrational behavior is adding to the woes of newspaper publishers.
