Ref : ER/Press04/media/dG/47

Roundtable Expresses Concern Over Shifts in Media Operations

A Roundtable Discussion held at Consumer Education and Research Centre (CERC), Ahmedabad, today expressed concern over the ‘Recent Shifts in Media Operations’ which has become “owner-driven” in terms of both form and content and is “no longer journalist driven.” The Roundtable was organised jointly by the Centre for Media Studies (CMS), New Delhi, and CERC.

Dr. N. Bhaskara Rao, Chairman, CMS, observed in his presentation that the number of television channels and the number and circulation of newspapers have increased manifold during the past few years, especially the last three to four years. But there has been no significant impact of this proliferation on society.

Despite this proliferation, neither the role, reach and relevance nor the range of news coverage of the media has expanded. It also debated whether today the media represents more the voice of the corporates than that of the community, and whether it is still journalist-driven.

The media has brought about varied changes in urban culture and lifestyle, festivals, education level, market economy, and so on, Dr. Rao said. But there has been no dramatic change in rural India where women should have been addressed by now.

He attributed this to the fact that the media has grown in urban areas where it is totally market economy oriented, and not in rural areas. As a result, “those who were watching TV are watching more TV and those reading newspapers are now reading more, but yet the rural reach as well as coverage is still negligible. The reach and range remain just stagnant” Dr. Rao added.

He pleaded for a national media policy in a scenario where the priorities and preoccupations have become different from what they were earlier. He called it the media and the business “jugalbandi phenomenon” where the media is no longer concerned about its impact on society but is focused on the market economy.

According to Dr. Rao, the media is no longer the watchdog of society but is an entity whose bottomline is profit.

Date : 12/10/2004
Place : Ahmedabad

Pritee Shah
Editor
INSIGHT - The Consumer Magazine

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CAPTION :

Prof. Manubhai Shah, Chairman Emeritus, CERC inaugurated the Round Table Discussion on Recent Shifts in Media Operations at the Conference Hall in CERC on Tuesday. Standing next to him on his Right is Dr. Bhaskara Rao, Chairman of Centre for Media Studies, New Delhi.

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CONSUMER EDUCATION AND RESEARCH CENTRE
“Suraksha Sankool”, Thaltej, Sarkhej-Gandhinagar Highway, Ahmedabad - 380 054 (INDIA)
Phone: 079-27489945-46 Fax: 079-27489947
E-mail: cerc@wilnetonline.net
Web Site: http://www.cercindia.org
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