The Newspaper Owners’ Association of Bangladesh on Friday appealed for government intervention to save the country’s newspaper industry amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

NOAB made the appeal in a statement.

It said, ‘Like many other economies around the world, the economy of Bangladesh too is at a standstill and the crisis has seriously affected the newspaper industry and it is nearly on the verge of collapse. The sale of newspapers has sharply plummeted, so did the amount of advertisements.’

‘The survival of the newspaper industry has become a matter of grave concern. In such dire times, we feel that government intervention — in the forms of a stimulus package, incentives, bank loans on easy terms — is crucial to save this industry. At the same time, we are urging the government to take immediate steps to pay the large sums of advertisement bills which are long due,’ the statement read.

‘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 said.

It said that many newspapers across the country ceased publishing and shifted online and, as a result, many of the newspapers are unable to maintain the regular payment to their employees.

‘The newspapers that have decided to continue publishing have had to adopt cost-cutting measures in order to survive by reducing the number of pages, volume of printing and colourful pages as well as by cutting down on other administrative expenses,’ it said.

‘Newspaper sales have dropped by two-thirds and the revenue by even more. Due to the overall decline in sales, it has become difficult for the newspapers to pay the salaries of their employees. While some are paying half of the actual amount, others are struggling to do that. Despite all the efforts to reduce costs, the survival has become extremely challenging. Due to such instability, the printing and distribution of all newspapers in Chattogram was in a hiatus for a good while,’ the statement said.

‘NOAB has held multiple meetings with the Information Minister regarding the situation amid the ongoing pandemic in which several proposals were put forward by the newspapers to tacle the crisis. However, the outcome has not been 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,’ it read.

‘It is to be noted that amidst the crisis, newspaper owners, editors, journalists, agents and hawkers are in discussion amongst themselves to help ease the burden. They have made various demands from the government. Noab has always tried to raise awareness about the crucial state of the newspaper industry so that the government would pay heed during the allocation of budget and formulation of policies,’ it said.

‘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 statement said.

‘Ahead of the proposed national budget for 2020-21, a five-point written proposal was submitted to Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal where it was emphasised that without government support, it would be nearly impossible to survive the current crisis, but there was no positive outcome. However, the Ministry of Information has recently taken steps to pay some arrears,’ the statement said.

‘In 2014, under the labour law, the newspaper industry was declared as a service industry. NOAB demanded that due to the dire state of the industry, the corporate tax on newspapers be reduced from 35 percent to 10 percent. At the same time, there was also a demand to omit the 15 percent value added tax (VAT) on the import of newsprint,’ the statement said.

‘The other demands included reduction of the Tax at Source (TDS) on advertising revenue from four percent to two percent, and reduction of the advance tax (AIT) on raw materials to zero percent instead of five percent. As a service industry, the newspapers are void of any special benefits and have to pay corporate tax at 35 percent, whereas despite being a for-profit sector, the RMG industry’s corporate tax stands at 10 to 12 percent. In this year’s budget, corporate t