The government is likely to increase print media advertisement rates by 26% after the Model Code of Conduct for the Bihar Assembly elections is lifted next month, according to a source in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
Government advertisement rates for television will also be revised later, it is learnt.
The decision comes at a time when conventional media is undergoing changes, a source said, adding that the government seeks to support the print media particularly to prevent job losses.
The rates were last hiked in 2019, when a 25% hike was implemented. At that time, the I&B Ministry had said the decision was based on several factors, “including the increase in price of newsprint, processing charges and other factors which go into the computation of advertisement rates”. It had said the rate hike would particularly benefit small and medium newspapers.
The government is also working on TRP rating agency guidelines for television channels, with the first round of consultations complete, the source said. A second consultation paper will be published soon, it is learnt.
At the same time, the Ministry is working to integrate the Registrar of Newspapers in India, the Press Information Bureau and the Central Bureau of Communication to improve coordination and media outreach.
Meanwhile, I&B Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said 100 part-time PhD seats will be offered at the Indian Institute of Mass Communication to journalists who wish to undertake advanced research.
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The PIB’s fact-checking mechanism will soon get a chat-bot feature to help users verify the authenticity of videos and other content online.
Apart from conventional media, the Ministry was working on strengthening the creator economy, Vaishnaw said, adding that industry-oriented courses are being offered at the new India Institute of Creative Technologies in Mumbai.
The new campus of IICT is being built on a 10-acre plot at an investment of Rs 400 crore. Through the government’s WAVES Bazaar global outreach programme, Indian creative content worth Rs 300 crore is said to have found markets abroad.
Speaking on the efforts to boost train travel, particularly in the festive season, Vaishnaw, who is also the Railways Minister, said over 13,000 special trains were being operated in the current Diwali and Chhath period, as opposed to 178 special trains during the tenure of former Railways Minister Lalu Prasad.
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He said 1.5 crore passengers had travelled during the season so far, a number which was likely to exceed 2.5 crore by the end of it. Thirty stations had been equipped with large holding areas for crowd management, he said. The construction of tracks had increased from 400-600 km/year to 4,000 km/year, while accidents had gone down from 170 in 2014 to 31 in 2024-2025.
