A circulation audit, conducted by the Audit Bureau of Circulations from India, found that seven of the nine print media houses in Bhutan are either dishonest or negligent, when it comes to circulation.
The 11-day auditing studied circulation pattern of the print media houses for six months, starting from July till December, 2015.
Agents of some print media houses were not billed for the copies supplied. Some papers were found to be still supplying copies even after expiry of subscription period.
There were some, who had not collected payments from subscribers at all. The copies of unsold papers were high and some had not even printed a few issues.
“If you are doing any business including media, the records has to be perfect to take an informed decision by the management. If your records are not there, how is the management going to make a decision?” said Auditor A. J. Kasad of Audit Bureau of Circulations, India.
In some cases, the number of unsold copies given by a print media houses and the agents did not match. There were some papers showing copies supplied for issues not printed.
Some records showed agents had paid for copies that were not even supplied. Some papers had shown the receipts issued to agents for money collected but the agents had confirmed that they have not made any payments.
Many print media were found to have not collected money from agents outside Thimphu.
“If there is no improvement at all, it also shows lack of commitment. It is pure negligence. Even after six years, if there is no change, we may have to resort to certain more strict measures,” Bhutan Info-Comm and Media Authority’s Director General, Chencho Dorji.
Similar issues had been pointed out six years ago when first circulation audit was conducted. Two print media were put under a circulation scanner, then.
Information and communications’ Secretary, Dasho Kinley Dorji said there is a need to discuss such issues with the print media proprietors and BICMA. “Such issues needed to be properly analyzed to come out with appropriate measures.”
