Indian media in a globalised world

This book explores the transformation of Indian media in the context of two major developments: globalisation (which Sociologist Anthony Giddens terms as being ‘revolutionary’) and advances in communication technologies. It is rich in empirical details of how the Indian media has evolved in the past two decades, particularly in the context of potential to transform, construct and nurture particular identities in response to globalisation. The study of the transformation of Indian media is significant because not only has globalisation allowed access to a host of things hitherto represented as ‘foreign’ to Indian culture by the media, but it has also opened the floodgates for foreign media.

Adopting a multi-disciplinary approach, this book looks at the role of media in purveying political, economic and cultural identities, the current definitions of ‘we’, ‘they’, and the ‘other’, and how the ‘other’ is perceived in contemporary India. The discussions cover all forms of media, that is, newspaper, films, radio, television and online media, along with media policy and other economic challenges facing the media.

Commercial influence on Indian public-service broadcasting

In the UK, the Conservative Party has been drafting a proposal to withhold part of the consumers' broadcasting licence fee from the BBC and place it in a contestable fund for public-service programming. In Australia, the ABC continues to struggle to meet its funding requirements just when the Federal conservative coalition government is considering a bid to use public funding to engage a commercial consortium to run the country's Asia-Pacific television channel and so take it away from the ABC. These struggles for independence and for an appropriate level of funding are part of the landscape of public-service broadcasting in many developed countries. Those who believe in the public-service ethos are concerned about the potential diminishing value of these great broadcasting assets because of the privatisation and commercialisation. However, this is the story of another public-service broadcaster - Doordarshan in India - which has had to live with severe competition from the skies since 1991. As the former dominant broadcaster in the largest democracy in the world, Doordarshan has survived and revived itself many times in the past four and a half decades. However, it continues to struggle to fulfil its role as a mass medium for education and entertainment. This paper explores the role of public-service broadcasting using Doordarshan as a case study. It asks: Does commercialisation of this public broadcaster mean privatisation by stealth or does it provide healthy distance between the broadcaster and the government of the day?

Bucking the trend : Indian print media

At a time when circulation of newspapers in the USA, Europe and other developed countries, making some media expert declare that ‘newspapers are dying? (Greenslade 2008), the Indian print media industry has been bucking the trend in the past decade. According to the World Association of Newspapers’ report Indian newspaper sales increased by 35.51 per cent in the five year period between 2003 and 2007. The Indian Media and Entertainment sector is said to be twice as profitable as its global counterparts, according to an analysis of 37 publicly traded Indian companies whose gross profits grew by 31 per cent between 2003 and 2007 (Press Council of India 2008). Overall, in 2008, about 100 million copies of newspapers were sold in India (WAN 2008), whereas according to National Readership Survey as many as 222 million readers read an Indian newspaper in 2006 (Press Council of India 2008). This expansion of newspaper readership is at a time when television viewership and radio listener numbers too are rapidly multiplying in India. This paper takes a critical look at the reasons for this expansion in India, at a time when online media seems to be threatening the survival of newspapers in more advanced economies. The paper discusses current trends and strategies employed by media proprietors to maintain and expand their market share in a competitive environment. The paper also raises questions about the quality of journalism, and whether it is being compromised in these times of boom, in a rush to make money from this ‘sunrise industry’ in India.

Impact of fermented mulberry leaf and fish offal in diet formulation of Indian major carp (Labeo rohita)

Large quantities of fish offal and mulberry leaf are generated globally. The present study aimed to understand their potential utilization in aqua diet formulation, after proper fermentation, as raw materials to replace fish meal in Indian major carp (Labeo rohita) compounded diet. Fish offal meal (FOM) and mulberry leaf meal (MLM) were used in a 2 × 3 factorial design, to evaluate (i) two different fermented mixtures with the inclusion of both FOM and MLM or only MLM and (ii) to replace three different level of dietary fishmeal: 50, 75 or 80 %. An indoor trial, to evaluate diet intake and digestibility and an outdoor trial to evaluate growth performances were impended in Indian major carp fingerlings. The results showed that FOM and MLM are promising raw materials that can be successfully used in the formulation of diet for the Indian major carp. Specifically, the addition of a proper amount of MLM in the fermentation of FOM produced a fermented mixture that could successfully replace up to 80 % of FM in the diet formulation.