K Raja Prasad Reddy elected Indian Newspaper Society president

K Raja Prasad Reddy from Telugu daily Sakshi was elected the president of the Indian Newspaper Society (INS) at its 83rd annual general meeting on Friday, the media body said. He succeeds Mohit Jain of The Economic Times.

Rakesh Sharma from Aaj Samaj, a Hindi language newspaper, was elected the INS deputy president, Mathrubhumi Arogya Masika's M V Shreyams Kumar as its vice president and Tanmay Maheshwari of Hindi daily Amar Ujala as the INS treasurer.

The 41-member INS executive committee includes K N Tilak Kumar (Deccan Herald and Prajavani), Mohit Jain (The Economic Times), Viveck Goenka (The Indian Express), Jayant Mammen Mathew (Malayala Manorama) and Atideb Sarkar (The Telegraph). The INS is an apex body of the newspapers, magazines and periodicals published in the country.

In his address, outgoing president Jain complimented INS members that they have slowly but steadily overcome the economic effects of the pandemic. He said the INS is currently facing its most challenging test because of the recent geopolitical events and the changes in the economic landscape. He said the print media industry did not receive any relief from the government to help with the economic viability of the publishers, pointing to the continuous increase in the price of raw materials and related costs that have affected the bottomline of the print media industry.

Jain said the Indian print industry confronts the double whammy of a shortage of newsprint and an unprecedented increase in the prices of imported and indigenous newsprints, causing an enormous financial burden on publishers. He requested the government to withdraw the residual five per cent customs duty on imported newsprint.