Differing political voices, same message: Facts not spin

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: The Covid-19 pandemic has taken a toll on every sector. But its impact on newspapers was immense.

Many publications have cut down on pages and print days, and almost every media outlet has reduced salaries, while some had even laid off or furloughed employees.

The virus induced economic slowdown had gnawed into the overall finances of newspapers and many are on the verge of closing down. Amid this bleak scenario, a new newspaper News Trail has started publication to reclaim the reader’s trust.

Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai shared the stage with opposition leaders Siddaramaiah and D.K. Shivakumar during its launch in Bengaluru on Thursday.

Lauding the efforts of the News Trail team, the Chief Minister encouraged them to preserve the quality by covering actual news and stories for the people.

Former Chief Minister and leader of opposition Siddaramaiah said, “Our society is very much in need of quality journalism and news which will help reconnect the users to the content instead of all that other low-grade and even misleading reports clogging up the information arteries,” he said.

In her address, Mandya MP Sumalatha said, “Being a public personality, it feels every day is like a war with all the rumors and fake news surrounding people. I’m sure this newspaper would bring the much needed balance and don’t get sucked into the sensational strategies,” she said.

Many Covid warriors who worked selflessly towards those affected by the pandemic were felicitated during the event. They had played a stellar role in supplying medicines, oxygen cylinders, food packets, ration kits, and even funerals of those unfortunate ones who succumbed to the virus. Even their close relatives were hesitant to carry out funerals, for fear of the virus.

Shivajinagar MLA Rizwan Arshad expressed high hopes with News Trail which has shown a neutral ideology and a platform. “Being a reader myself, I don’t want to read any kind of masala or sensational stories in the newspaper. The reader takes up a newspaper just to read what is happening around him. I’m confident that the team which has come together as News Trail will uphold the hopes of its readers,” he said.