'Dedicated journalists for agriculture issues needed'

He was speaking at a function organised to release a book ‘Agriculture news in Kannada newspapers’ by Suresh Kumar at the department of mass communication and journalism here on Wednesday.

Vanalli said, “Like scientists publish papers about science, farmers should write about agriculture. This would reduce the number of internet-based articles, written without practical knowledge.”There is an allegation that Kannada journalism doesn’t have any writers on agriculture. The maximum news published in a newspaper is 6.62 per cent about agriculture. Editors should answer if publishing news on agriculture is not profitable, he said.

He said news about agriculture is taken on inside pages. Editorials on the problems faced by farmers are also rare. New technology used in farming is also rarely shown in newspapers, he added.

However, he said advertisement to editorial ration should be 60:40 and none of the Kannada newspapers have crossed 30 per cent. This is a consolation, comparing Kannada newspapers with their English counterparts, he said.

Journalism department head N Usharani, journalist Ravindra G Bhat and Kannada Book Authority member D N Lokappa were present.