They Are Bad For Our Business – Newspaper Vendors Ask Govt To Limit Online Media

Newspaper vendors says the proliferation of online media is threatening the existence and sustainability of their businesses.

Speaking during an interview with NAN, Emeka Nweze, the Chairman of the Anambra Newspaper Distribution Association in Awka in Awka on Saturday, appeal to government to regulate the activities of online media and limit their scope.

Nweze, who said online media was capable of sending their businesses into extinction, disclosed that activities of online media publications have had devastating impact on the newspaper sales and led to low patronage from customers.

“This development has seriously threatened our businesses as we hardly sell up to 100 papers in a day,” he said.

He told NAN that he used to sell all the newspaper stock in a day, but people prefer to source news from online publications these days without verifying their authenticity.

“Our businesses are presently sustained by paid advertorials, job vacancy placements and other forms of advertorials.

“We earnestly hope for a change in fortunes and still believe that newspapers have more merits than online publications.

“Government should consider the fact that newspaper vendors depend on commissions and when newspapers are not sold, they might be induced to seek alternative means of survival,” he said.

He said that he had been engaged in newspaper sales for 34 years and has not experienced the sort of ‘sales drought’ currently being experienced.

By the same token, Nancy Okoye, another newspaper vendor also told NAN in an interview that the government could enact laws that would sustain newspaper sales while enabling online publications to thrive.

“I appeal to news publishers to curtail their online publications among other news contents, to keep newspaper vendors in business,” she said.

Okey Ifebunna, an ardent newspaper reader, told NAN that he has stuck with reading newspapers  to authenticate the news sourced from online publications.

“I agree that it is easier to access news from online sources, but efforts should be intensified to verify their sources in order to check the spread of fake news,” he said.

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