June 25, 2002 | 1737 IST
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Money > PTI > Report June 25, 2002 | 1737 IST |
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FDI in print may kill small papers: INS chiefThe government's move of allowing 26 per cent foreign direct investment in print media would sound the death knell for small and medium newspapers besides badly affecting the country's large newspapers, president of Indian Newspapers Society Pratap Pawar said in Pune on Tuesday. "The move is also an open attack on India's sovereignty as now the multinationals would start dictating what should go into the newspapers," Pawar said. The government's argument that they have allowed only 26 per cent FDI did not hold any water because it gives them (foreign investors) enough power to control the content and policies, he said. Pawar said considering the fact that the Somnath Chatterjee Committee, appointed by the government to look into the aspect of FDI, had expressed strong reservations on the idea of FDI, government's move came as a surprise. "If England could rule India through ICS officers then one can only imagine how the multinationals would control the contents in the print media. "If a foreign print media could cast so much aspersions on India's Prime Minister, then one can only imagine what will happen if they are given a free hand in India," the INS president added. Strongly attacking the Union government, chairman of the Mathrubumi group of newspapers and vice-president of the Indian Newspaper Society M P Veerendra Kumar said with this decision India was selling "a part of its sovereignty". In a statement in Kozhikode, he said the Vajpayee government had succumbed to American pressure in taking this "disastrous and ill-advised decision" which was a "dangerous and catastrophic move" Veerendra Kumar said: "Foreign investors will not care what we hold dear. They will be driven only by commercial considerations." "All those who believe in the sovereignty of the country must continue to oppose the decision," he added.
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