Media analysts back newspapers on cover price increase

Media analysts have justified the 37 percent increase in cover prices of various national newspapers, saying it is the sign of the difficult operating environment.

The Punch, Nation, Vanguard and Daily Sun have increased their cover prices citing high operational costs occasioned by escalating price of newsprint and other printing consumables.

For instance, Daily Sun said, “We are constrained to announce an upward review of our cover price from N150 to N200 with effect from Monday, March 28, 2016.” In the same vein, Punch increased its cover price from N150 to N200, saying, “We appreciate that times are hard, but we are constrained to increase the cover price because of the huge rise in the cost of production over the months, a direct consequence of the current economic challenges.”

Vanguard said: “Due to skyrocketing prices of newsprint and printing consumables, we have come to the painful conclusion to slightly raise our cover price to N200 for week days and N250 for weekends.

According to the Nation, which increased its cover price from N150 to N200 for weekdays, “The economy is in turmoil. Prices of practically all valuable items have skyrocketed. Foreign exchange to bring in essential materials for production is hard to come by. The exchange rate has spiralled out of control. Many manufacturing concerns are producing far below their installed capacities and jobs are threatened.

“Our industry is hard hit as most production materials are imported. With forex difficult to source, there is scarcity of production materials, particularly newsprint. Expectedly, the prices of the limited quantity available have soared astronomically. We have absorbed the huge extra cost in our resolve to serve you, our most esteemed readers. We have no other desire than to serve you most faithfully, timely, unobtrusively and in a most robust manner. But the reality of the times demands that few adjustments be made in our collective interest.”

Those who spoke with BusinessDay Tuesday said though newspapers were contending with online publications but believed the increase was not frightening to act as disincentive to newspapers readers.

Bayo Elegbe, a media analyst and CEO of Sponge, a digital platform, said the increase was understandable due to high cost of raw materials for the production of newspapers, saying, “it makes sense that the publishers increase their cover price.”

In his comment, Akonte Ekine, a Lagos-based public relations practitioner, who also justified the increase, said media houses do not exist in isolation in the society, “they are affected by everything that is affecting other organisations. This is a reflection of the times.”

Also assessing the development, Tola Bademosi, CEO of BD Consult, a PR firm, believed that the increase might cause a drop in circulation as some readers might switch to digital.

He however said nobody could blame the newspapers as cost of production had gone up, “as they need to break even in their businesses.”