Paper abstract

[Kamal R. Adhikary]

Dear Colleagues:
        The paper abstract of the talk, "INDIAN MEDIA SINCE INDEPENDENCE"
by INDER MALHOTRA  given at the South Asia Seminar, Asian Studies, UT
Austin, is posted below:


                                     INDIAN MEDIA SINCE INDEPENDENCE

                                            --By INDER MALHOTRA


India, the world's largest democracy, also has a remarkably free press
which should be understandable because of the symbiotic relationship
between democracy and an unfettered media. Except for the 19 months of
Indira Gandhi's Emergency during the mid-Seventies, when the entire
democratic process was in suspended animation, the Indian Press has been
the freest between Tangiers and Tokyo. Like Indian democracy, the Indian
Press also has its flaws and shortcomings. But, by and large, it enjoys the
confidence of its readers at home and respect abroad.

Hitherto newspapers and journals have dominated the Indian scene,
overwhelmingly during the first four of the five decades since independence
and substantially at present, even though fast-expanding radio has been a
part of the country's life since 1927(now reaching almost the entire
population) and TV, too, has made rapid strides after a late start in the
late Sixties and is said to be accessible to 80 per cent Indians. The
reason for this is the Government's ownership and strict control of the
electronic media. Under protracted and mounting pressure of public opinion,
some functional autonomy is now being given to All India Radio and the
Indian TV, called Doordarshan, but the change seems more cosmetic than
real.

A more effective engine of change might turn out to be the quantum leap in
information technology which has, so to speak, already burst open the
Indian skies and inundated the country with dozens of independent TV
channels. These have brought to the millions, not just in cities and towns
but also in the remote countryside, tantalizing soap operas like Santa
Barbara, The Bold and the Beautiful, Baywatch, Dynasty and so on, as well
as round- the- clock news and views from CNN and the BBC. More importantly,
Indians and foreigners have collaborated to telecast national news
bulletins which are livelier and vastly more credible than the fare put out
by official TV.

This could well have influenced the Government's recent bow to the doctrine
of autonomy for official media but a number of crucial and often
controversial issues persist. One relates to the share in equity that
foreigners wanting to invest in TV in India may be allowed to hold. More
prickly is the question of "up linking rights" from within India. At
present the bulk of telecasts are beamed from Hong Kong or other outside
centers. The source of the biggest trouble is the insistence of foreign TV
owners on Direct to Home (DTH) telecasts to which official India is
resistant.

Yet another unresolved issue arises from the Indian print media's own
reaction to the independent TV channels boom. Several major Indian
newspapers, led by The Hindustan Times, have started TV companies of their
own and appear to be doing well. But the Government, and vocal public
opinion, taking a leaf from America's book, are bent on banning newspapers
from owning TV channels or stations and vice versa. There is also strong
resistance to the move, backed by some within the Government, to allow
foreign newspapers to start Indian editions. No wonder a draft Broadcast
Bill that the Government has prepared has pleased hardly anyone.

To nobody's surprise, a lot of consumer goods advertising has shifted from
newspapers and periodicals to the sexier medium of TV. But no one should
rush to write an obituary of the Indian print media. Classified and other
advertising in newspapers has soared. Only some of the glossy magazines are
feeling the pinch. Most newspapers are flourishing. Overall the Indian
Press is bigger and richer than it was, say, even at the start of the
Nineties when the TV onslaught had begun. Its expansion and enrichment
since
independence is nothing short of phenomenal. To give only one example, The
Times of India's profit before tax today exceeds its total turn over in
1971 when I had the pleasure of joining it.
There are nearly 40,000 publications of all kinds in India today of which
4000 are daily newspapers in nearly 18 languages including English.
Although English is read and spoken by only 2 per cent Indians, until the
Eighties, English newspapers had the largest circulation. This has now
become a thing of the past because the circulation of papers published in
Hindi, the language understood by nearly 40 per cent Indians, has shot past
that of the English papers and is rising fast. Other regional languages,
more developed than Hindi, have even a longer tradition of having solid and
successful papers.
Quality of Hindi journalism has not unfortunately kept pace with quantity.
On the contrary, most Hindi papers being published from small towns have
tended to pander to the readers' lowest taste. There has also been a close
relationship with the expansion of the Hindi papers and the rise of Hindu
nationalism with the easily foreseeable result that while circulations have
soared, the reputation for accuracy and fairness has slumped.
Some English newspapers, with the once most prestigious Times of India in
the lead, have also diluted their quality apparently in response to the
TV's challenge. From authoritative reporting and stimulating comment,
emphasis has shifted to fashion, films, beauty contests. Time was when
English papers used to be staid, even stodgy. Some of then now try to be
glib, flippant and occasionally prurient. Even so, cumulatively, the
English Press retains its influence and prestige. In influencing ordinary
voters, Hindi and regional language papers are evidently doing better. A
notable trend in some of the most important English language papers has
been the eclipse of the Editor by the younger generation of the
proprietors.
Economic liberalization has spawned a large number of purely business or
financial dailies called the "pink papers" because, like London's Financial
Times, they are published on salmon-colored newsprint. A disastrous
consequence of the boom in business journalism has been the spur to greed
and a shocking increase in corruption among journalists. The profession has
not become bereft of honesty. But far too many are now acting unethically
and unprofessionally. There were other sources of corruption and crass
behavior earlier, such as collaboration between unscrupulous politicians
and pliable editors and reporters. This dismal trend has also worsened. The
most disgusting case was of a Chief Minister of U.P., the most populous and
politically key state, who used the state treasury to bribe favored
journalists with millions of rupees and allotment of lucrative real estate.
The case is being examined by the Press Council, headed by a retired
Supreme Court judge, which has the power only to censure, not punish.
On the other hand, there is no dearth of honest, intrepid editors and
journalists who even risk their lives to expose wrongdoing. Initially
dominated by politics, the Indian media has now shifted its focus on
economics, of course. But it also takes interest in human condition and
vigorously champions human rights, especially those of women and children,
poverty alleviation, prevention of environmental degradation and so on. In
short, like the country itself, the Indian media is a complex mix basically
projecting a picture of itself which is upbeat. ENDS

***

The abstract is also posted at:
        http://asnic.utexas.edu/asnic/conseminar/IndianmediaInd.html

Thanks.

Kamal Adhikary