Instances of “paid news” getting highlighted in recent months, especially in vernacular media, by tailoring reports to promote business interests are a matter of grave concern, Chairperson of Prasar Bharati Mrinal Pandey said.

The difference between news and advertisements have come down as advertising agencies have begun “enticing” editors to publish reports to promote their products by offering sops to tide over crisis, she told a meet-the-press programme in Kozhikode .

The concept of a wide range of human rights ranging from personal to social and political rights. Several international treaties, conventions and the constitutional and legal measures recognize the human rights. Right to education , health , right to life , right to privacy, right to free speech, fair trial ,right against abuse, right to form an association, right against illegal detention, right of movement, right to information , etc., form a wide spectrum of human rights that need to be zealously protected .  Media play an important role in this crusade against violation of human rights. State and non state actors resort to violation of human rights.

E-media telecasts in Andhra Pradesh created legal, social and political controversies besides ‘provoking’ arson against a corporate giant, Reliance. A TV debate laced with rumours of conspiracy, around mysterious and accidental death of Dr Y S Rajasekhar Reddy on September 2, 2009 in a helicopter crash kicked up troubles raising doubts about responsibility of media, political parties and the response of the Rosaiah Government. Finally at least three channels of vibrant electronic media in Hyderabad are going to face both criminal and civil litigation from Reliance corporate body.

Top news managers from Pakistans eight television channels have voluntarily evolved and agreed guidelines, governing terrorism coverage.

Representatives of KTN, Samaa, DawnNews, Dunya, Express News & Express 24/7, ARY, Geo and Aaj television met in Karachi to successfully conclude a debate on how best to respond to viewer feedback on reporting incidents where large-scale loss of human life has occurred.

Review of the year – 2009

The Ministry of I &B as the facilitator for the media in Broadcast, Film and Print sectors carried forward its mandate, taking significant policy initiatives and administrative measures in the year 2009. Global attention in 2009 was focussed on Indian film sector when ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ and ‘Smile Pinky’ Team bagged the prestigious Oscar Awards. The year also saw completion of 50 years of Public Service Broadcasting, 50 years of setting up of Directorate of Field publicity as also commemoration of 75 years of Assamese Cinema at the 40th edition of International Film Festival of India.

Team of ABN Andhra Jyothi Media channel can legitimately take the credit for sending a Governor out of office, by stirring up the public opinion, especially through women’s organizations. Tiwari bowed down and resigned on ‘health’ grounds. Congress party claimed that he resigned on moral grounds. This contradiction proves the media’s allegation ‘morally’ though, legally to be proved.  Even as the Tiwari was stepping out of office, the ABN Andhra Jyothi, and various other websites including google and youtube, went on publishing the content forcing the powers that be at Delhi to ‘advise’ Tiwari to leave Raj Bhavan. The content exposed involve serious allegations that Tiwari was at the center point of bringing women from Uttaranchal and exploited in Raj Bhawan, where in the Channel alleged that some MPs were also involved in exploitation.

Professor Madabhushi Sridhar

Coordinator, NALSAR Proximate Education &Center for Media Law Studies, NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad

Media’s relationship with all important three Estates – Judiciary, Executive, Legislature, and the civil society, which is now regarded as fifth Estate (as Media is regarded as the fourth) is dynamic. Between media and society, the impact on and reaction to social happenings are mutual. The media reflects greed of globalization, needs of private bodies under privatization and hold of rich in the name of liberalization. Besides, falling honestly levels of society could be seen in the character, content and ownership of the media institutions.

At no time in the foreseeable future will digital advertising revenues replace those lost to print, making the search for new business models – including paid-for online access for news – a pressing concern for the news publishing industry, the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) said in its annual world press trends update.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan spent a mere Rs. 5,379 on newspaper advertisements during the recent State Assembly election, by his own claim. And he spent another Rs.6,000 on cable television ads. These figures are clearly at odds with the unprecedented media coverage the Chief Minister got during the election campaign. The Hindu  has gathered 47 full newspaper pages, many of them in colour, focused exclusively on Mr. Chavan, his leadership, his party and government. These appeared in large newspapers, including one ranking amongst India’s highest circulation dailies. However, they were not marked as advertisements.

FOR FULL TEXT: THE HINDU

“Young dynamic leadership: Ashokrao Chavan,” read the headline of a prominent news item in the Marathi daily Lokmat (October 10). That was 72 hours before the people of Maharashtra went to vote in the State Assembly polls. The item was attributed to the newspaper’s “Special Correspondent,” making it clear this was a news story. The story showered praise on the Chief Minister of Maharashtra for having achieved so much for so many in so few months. The same story also appeared word for word the same day in the Maharashtra Times, a leading and rival Marathi daily. Two minds with but a single thought? Two hearts that beat as one?

FOR FULL ARTICLE:

http://www.hindu.com/2009/11/30/stories/2009113055290900.htm

Do media need urgent training on intellectual property rights? Yes, because its representatives exhibited intellectual poverty in reporting a Intellectual property rights related news item that Tirupathi Laddu has secured registration as Geographical Indication.  Some newspapers described it as ‘global patent’ (which does not exist) other scribes of web newspapers called it ‘copyright’ (Goods cannot be copyrighted) and some others as a mark, confusing their readers with their bankruptcy and wrongs.  Here are some examples: Indian Express on 29th March rightly reported saying ‘GI status for Laddu’, but Zeenews stated Tirupathi Laddu is going‘..to get patent right’ (8th June). Newsonweb on 15th September says ‘TTD gets Copyright in Laddu”, Times of India (16th September) described it as global patent, ndtv (15th Sept) did not hesitate to say ‘….gets geographical copyright’, livemint said ‘patented offering’ (19th September) and happyhyderabad website wrote ‘copyright reserved for Tirupathi Laddu brand’. Some media called it just ‘ipr right’.

Forty years ago, on 29 October 1969, a network link was established between two mainframe computers, one in the University of California, Los Angeles and the other at the Stanford Research Institute, both in the US, through a system known as “data packet switching”. This network was known as the ARPANET, because the idea originated within an informal research group at the United States Government’s Department of Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). This group was led by the head of the agency, J.C.R. Licklider, a visionary scientist who as early as 1960 had called for a network of computers, connected to one another by wide-band communication lines, which he anticipated could provide the functions of libraries as well as information storage and retrieval and other symbiotic functions.

It is no secret that Asia has emerged as the world’s most dynamic media market, where internet, broadband and mobile usage are exploding and the region’s newspapers – the world’s largest – continue to grow alongside digital media.

This growth has now been quantified in World Press Trends, Asian Edition, the first regional edition of the annual global World Press Trends survey published by the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA).

Newspaper circulations world-wide rose 2.57 percent in 2007 while rapid growth of both free titles and on-line platforms is expanding the reach of newspapers everywhere, the World Association of Newspapers announced in its report entitled World Press Trends: Newspapers Are A Growth Business

WAN said global newspaper sales were up +2.57 percent over the year, and had increased +9.39 percent over the past five years.

For centuries, civilisations have used print media to spread news and information to the masses. The Roman Acta Diurna, appearing around 59 B.C, is the earliest recorded “newspaper”. Julius Caesar, wanting to inform the public about important social and political happenings, ordered upcoming events posted in major cities. Written on large white boards and displayed in popular places like the Baths, the Acta kept citizens informed about government scandals, military campaigns, trials and executions. In 8th century China, the first newspapers appeared as hand-written newsheets in Beijing.

In 2009 elections in India, 415 million voters exercised franchise through 1.18 million ballot units in 834,944 polling stations. This is arguably the most astonishing democratic exercise in the world. But, the free, fair and democratic character of these elections was compromised by the large scale use of money power. Yet a new dimension of this ugly money power is the media becoming a partner in this dubious game. Eminent journalist P.Sainath in his article “The Medium , Message and the Money” published in The Hindu on October 26 , 2009, pointed out “ It is hard to find a single instance of rigorous or deterrent action” by the Election Commission of India curbing this menace.

The Assembly elections saw the culture of “coverage packages” explode across Maharashtra. In many cases, a candidate just had to pay for almost any coverage at all.

Indian news and entertainment media have found a new revenue source, SMS; mobile text messages. Under the guise of seeking ‘opinion’ newspapers, news and entertainment channels are making millions by asking the audience to respond to some issues popping-up on their screens. The media, as public service institutions ought to raise public issues. On the contrary, they have started exploiting the public. Thanks to SMS technology for making users pawns in the revenue generating game by the media and the mobile carriers.

All of a sudden, it would appear, the western and Indian elite have discovered the poor. First a novel, The White Tiger, and then a movie, Slumdog Millionaire, both dealing with the lives of the urban poor in India, have hit the jackpot in the west. What do the two have in common, and how do they differ?