Long accustomed to opening up the pages of the print version of a daily newspaper first thing every morning, I longed to do the same in Hanoi, when I visited Vietnam recently. Surprisingly, the hotel I was staying in told me that they did not subscribe to any newspaper. Surf the internet, they said helpfully, and if I still wanted a print copy, I could get it at any bookstore in the bazaar.
I was surprised to find even bookstores were next to impossible to find; not only in Hanoi but in Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City, other cities in Vietnam where I had repeated my request.
So why is it that in a country like Vietnam, daily newspapers have already vanished? Will this eventually happen in India too?
It is not as if people no longer want news; they eagerly await the thud of a newspaper at dawn. It isn’t just news; it is life! People want cricket scores, market prices, government decisions, celebrity scandals, lively debates and investigative pieces, but the world has changed too quickly for newspapers to catch up, and daily newspapers are gradually vanishing, swept away by the tides of time.
The trend started with mobile phones becoming affordable and cyber cafés popping up in every neighbourhood. Youngsters started reading their news online; quick headlines, colourful forums, and heated debates on blogging sites caused the first crack in the dominant world of newspapers. Smartphones, cheap and ubiquitous, an exploding internet, and dozens of online news portals broke news not only at dawn but every second, flooding screens with updates in the palms of people’s hands. Why wait until morning for news of a fire, a scandal or a government reshuffle?
When it broke online minutes after it happened, by the time daily newspapers reported a story, people had already shared, commented, and forgotten about it. With the younger generation preferring short videos, memes, and sharp headlines, reading an editorial over breakfast belonged to another era!
Will this trend of decline of print media foreshadow trends in India? A rapid digital shift shows that once mobile internet becomes cheap and accessible to the majority, even deeply ingrained habits like newspaper reading can change very quickly.
India already has one of the cheapest mobile data rates in the world and a huge base of smartphone users. Rural and small-town populations might abandon newspapers faster, with regional languages seeing readership erosion earlier than urban readers. Poignantly, how people value information has changed.
Owning a subscription to a newspaper was a sign of education and sophistication. We clipped articles, mailed them to each other, discussed them in offices and coffee shops. Now, information is free, endless, and disposable.
News has become entertainment, making the daily ritual of sitting with a paper and savouring it patiently an anachronism.
Reliable print newspapers are a bulwark against the rise of unverified, fast-moving information through social media, which may lead to misinformation.
Traditional newspapers play a role in verifying and contextualising, thereby countering the challenge of misinformation.
Already grappling with a fake news problem, the weakening of traditional media gatekeepers could intensify social tensions and political polarisation.
Daily newspapers are the centrepiece of a cultural ritual — morning tea with a newspaper, debates over editorials, clipping relevant news articles — a daily brings about a social richness in family reading habits, intellectual debates, and accessible civic education through editorials and op-eds.
Running a newspaper has become expensive, with printing costs soaring and paper, ink and distribution costs becoming prohibitive.
Print ad revenue has dried up too, with advertisers following readers to digital platforms where cheaper, targeted online ads reach millions instantly.
The loss of advertising revenue to online platforms can be swift and devastating.
Given the reliance on advertising, often more than subscription revenue, this can lead to severe financial stress as advertisers move towards digital platforms like Google, Facebook and Instagram.
Here too, smaller and regional papers may face greater economic struggles compared to their urban peers.
With a digital transition happening faster and more disruptively, the battle for public opinion is no longer fought at the news-stand but in algorithm-driven newsfeeds. With younger audiences preferring short, visual, fast news over long editorials,
Indian newspapers are adapting to a different journalism style with more visuals, shorter articles, and quick updates in print, which could actually win over young readers, calling for greater investment in digital infrastructure, changing content formats, and building trust online.
As India modernises, we must find ways to preserve the depth, reliability, and civic spirit that traditional newspapers provide. The ink and paper may have faded, but the need to understand the world remains stubborn and alive.
