MUMBAI: Continuing the trend from the preceding quarter, Dainik Jagran and The Times of India are the most read publications in the Hindi and English language dailies respectively, according to the IRS (Indian Readership Survey) first-quarter report released by the Media Research Users Council (MRUC) and Hansa Research.

Among the Hindi dailies, Dainik Jagran?s average issue readership (AIR) has surged marginally while second ranked Dainik Bhaskar has lost out on readers. Hindustan comes in on number three having increased its readership as has fourth place holder Amar Ujala.

There was no change in the pecking order of the Hindi dailies. Dainik Jagran?s AIR has grown marginally to 16.412 million in Q1 from 16.410 million in the previous quarter. Dainik Bhaskar (AIR of 14.55 million), Hindustan (12.16 million) and Amar Ujala (8.69 million) followed.

Among the English dailies, the Times of India continues to hold its numero uno position.

TOI has garnered a total AIR of 7.65 million, slightly lower than the trailing quarter report. It is followed by Hindustan Times (AIR of 3.81 million), which is maintaining its strong growth. The Hindu (AIR of 2.23 million) saw a marginal dip.

Economic Times and Mumbai Mirror swapped places from the previous quarter with AIR of 792000 and 777000 respectively.

In the regional dailies, Malayalam Manorama continues to top the chart, though it has experienced a slip in AIR from 99.37 million last quarter to 98.75 million in Q1 2012. The only change in the ranking from the previous quarter is the interchanging of ranks of Gujarat Samachar and Dinakaran with the latter slipping ground.

MUMBAI: Jagran Prakashan Ltd (JPL), publishers of Dainik Jagran, has reported a 14.18 per cent fall in its consolidated net profit for the fiscal ended 31 March 2012 even as its advertising revenue went up 9.89 per cent.

JPL posted a net profit of Rs 1.78 billion, down from Rs 2.08 billion in the previous fiscal. The company said net profit is after accounting for steep increase in newsprint prices (Rs 570 million), increase in circulation of Dainik Jagran (9.37 per cent), initial loss from Punjabi Jagran (Rs 120 million), higher depreciation (Rs 90 million) and interest cost (Rs 70 million) during the fiscal.

Operating revenues jumped 11.02 per cent to Rs 13.56 billion, from Rs 12.21 billion in the previous fiscal.

Advertising revenues accounted to Rs 9.38 billion, compared to Rs 8.54 billion in the previous fiscal, while circulation revenues were up 11.29 per cent to Rs 2.65 billion (from Rs 2.38 billion). The revenue from event and outdoor business jumped 20.49 per cent to Rs 1.13 billion (from Rs 939.5 million), while digital revenues were up by 23.17 per cent in the fiscal to Rs 82.4 million, from Rs 66.9 million.

The company?s expenses also surged 19.32 per cent to Rs 11.1 billion, compared to Rs 9.30 billion a year ago.

perating profit fell to Rs 3.17 billion, from Rs 3.56 billion in FY?11.

JPL CMD Mahendra Mohan Gupta said, "After registering a growth of 15 per cent in Q3, there was again a growth of 11.5 per cent in ad revenue in Q4. Similarly, other revenues too recorded robust growth in the most economically difficult circumstances prevailing during the year."

"We are cautious and we are taking all necessary steps to keep our cost under strict control as the external environment has worsened and is, in fact, a hurdle in the way of progress. Nobody knows what is further in store but I am confident that the company will continue to perform incredibly."

The consolidated results include 96.19 per cent of Midday Multimedia, 48.64 per cent interest in Leet OOH Media and 39.2 per cent in X-pert Publicity.

During the fiscal, JPL also acquired Suvi Info-Management (Indore), the 100 per cent holding company of Naidunia Media, publisher of Nai Dunia and Nav Dunia. However, it was not consolidated as Subi became subsidiary of JPL at the close of business on 31 March 2012, JPL clarified.

It also said that dues of Suvi of Rs 2.99 billion were included in long-term borrowings since settled as part of acquisition.

NEW DELHI: Even as the Group of Ministers studying the report of the Press Council of India on paid news is still to give its final report, statistics show no decline in the cases of allegations of paid news.

The Council received 11 complaints against 10 newspapers alleging cases of paid news during the current year 2011-12.

While eight of these complaints have been filed by District Election Officers in different regions, there is one complaint by a Member of Parliament and another by a worker of a political party.

In comparison, just two complaints were filed in 2010-11, and 17 complaints in 2009-10.In nine complaints, show-causes notices were issued by the Council and the matter s are pending.

Interestingly, both the complaints by the Member of Parliament from the Telugu Desam Party and the Congress worker are against the same newspaper - Saakshi. Other newspapers against whom complaints have been filed during 2011-12 are ‘Hindustan‘, ‘Dainik Jagran‘, ‘Prabhat Khabar‘, ‘Rashtriya Sahara‘, ‘Hindustan Times‘, ‘Poorvanchal ki Raah‘, ‘Dainik Aaj‘, ‘Dainik Udyog Vyapar Times‘, and ‘The Herald‘ of Goa. Thus, only two complaints have been filed against English newspapers.

The report prepared by a group constituted by the Press Council of India on the issue had initially been given out to the media as a short release, and the full report was uploaded on the Council‘s website only after a question had been asked under the Right to Information.The report has asked for more powers to the PCI deal with such cases, amendment of the Representation of People Act 1951 to make incidence of paid news a punishable electoral malpractice, and reconstitution of the Council to include members of the electronic and other media.