Media Ownership

Who owns the mass media in India?

There are many media organisations in the country that are owned and controlled by a wide variety of entities including corporate bodies, societies and trusts, and individuals.

·        The sheer number of media organisations and outlets often there is dominance by a few players – in other words, the markets are often oligopolistic in character.

·        The cross-media ownership,  that particular companies or groups or conglomerates dominate markets both vertically (that is, across different media such as print, radio, television and the internet) as well as horizontally (namely, in particular geographical regions).

·        Political parties and persons with political affiliation own/control increasing sections of the media in India.

·        The promoters and controllers of media groups have traditionally held interests in many other business interests They have used the profits from their media operations to diversify into other (unrelated) businesses.

·        The growing corporatization of the Indian media is manifest(visible) in the manner in which large industrial conglomerates are acquiring direct and indirect interest in media groups. There is also a growing convergence between creators/producers of media content and those who distribute/disseminate the content.

MEDIA OLIGOPOLY 

These trends can be perceived as instances of consolidation in a sector in which big players have been steeped in debt and strapped for cash over the past few years. The shake-out also signifies growing concentration of ownership in an oligopolistic (An oligopoly is much like a monopoly, in which only one company exerts control over most of a market.) market that could lead to loss of heterogeneity and plurality. The emergence of cartels(lobby) and oligarchies could be symptomatic of an increasingly globalised but homogenized communication landscape, .

THE INDIAN MEDIA MARKET

The Indian media market differs from those of developed countries in several ways. For one, India is a developing country and all segments of the media industry (including print and radio) are still growing unlike in developed countries. The media market in India remains highly fragmented, due to the large number of languages and the sheer size of the country.

PROLIFERATION 

In India’s unique “media scape”, it is often contended that the proliferation (a large number of something) of publications, radio stations, television channels, and internet websites is a sure-fire guarantor for plurality, diversity, and consumer choice. There were over 82,000 publications registered with the Registrar of Newspapers as on 31 March 2011. There are over 250 FM (frequency modulation) radio stations in the country strangely, India is the only democracy in the world where news on the radio is still a monopoly of the government. The Ministry of Information & Broadcasting has allowed nearly 800 television channels to uplink or downlink from the country. 300 television channels were broadcasting “news and current affairs”. There is an unspecified number of websites aimed at Indians.

Media CONGLOMERATES

The mass media in India is possibly dominated by less than a hundred large groups or conglomerates, which exercise considerable influence on what is read, heard, and watched. One example will illustrate this contention. Delhi is the only urban area in the world with 16 English daily newspapers; the top three publications, the Times of India, the Hindustan Times, and the Economic Times.

The large conglomerates of the Indian media are usually own different companies.

Debates on media ownership are almost as old as the nation itself. The country’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and his Defence Minister V.K. Krishna Menon would criticize the “jute press” in a clear reference to BCCL which was then controlled by the Sahu-Jain group which also controlled New Central Jute Mills.

Then came references to the “steel press”. The Tata group, which is a part-owner of the company that publishes the once-influential The Statesman. 

Ramnath Goenka, who used to head the Indian Express group, made an aborted attempt in the 1960s to control the Indian Iron and Steel Company (IISCO). The  family-owned groups would use their news companies to lobby for their other business interests.

Publishers of Hindustan Times and Hindustan, has included the former chairman of Ernst & Young K. N. Memani and the chairman of ITC Ltd Y C Deveshwar.

NDTV’s Board of Directors has Pramod Bhasin, President & CEO of the country’s biggest BPO company GenPact as a member of its board of directors.

Media companies tend to have a variety of professionals on their boards, such as investment bankers, venture capitalists, chartered accountants, corporate lawyers, and CEOs of big companies. Professional journalists, ironically, rarely figure. As a result, those at the top of the decision-making hierarchy are those for whom the bottom-line, not the by-line, is most important.

SUN TV NETWORK, INDIA’S LARGEST MEDIA CONGLOMERATE, has signed an agreement with Tamil Nadu Arasu Cable TV Corporation, an undertaking owned by the Government of Tamil Nadu engaged in the business of providing signals to Cable Operators in the State of Tamil Nadu. It is world's no 1 Tamil channel that features movies, news, serials and shows -- 24 hours a day.

- Sun Group, one of the biggest media conglomerates in the country, Sun TV is second largest television network in India.. It has 20 TV channels, 45 radio stations, four magazines, two dailies, a DTH (direct to home) service provider and an airline (SpiceJet.  It also produces and distributes movies under Sun Pictures and runs Sun Cable Vision, a cable distribution company with a reported market share of 90% in Tamil Nadu.  Sun TV has grown from a single channel and five-employee organisation to a network of 13 southern language channels with 6,000 employees. The channels are supported by its cable company Sumangali Cable Vision, Tamil Nadu's largest  mutli-system  operator. Maran also owns three Tamil weekly magazines and four FM radio stations.

MEDIA OWN BY POLITICAL PARTY

In Kerala, the newspaper, Deshabhimani, published by Chintha Printing and Publishing Co. Pvt. Ltd, controlled by the CPIM(M) Kerala State Committee. Besides, there is the CPI (M)-controlled Malayalam Communications Limited that owns the Kairali TV and People TV. The Shiv Sena has the Saamnain Maharashtra; In Kerala, the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) has teamed up with four non-resident Indian businessmen who have a combined holding of about 26 per cent in Jai Hind TV, controlled byBharat Broadcasting Network Ltd. Among the key individuals controlling the operations are Ramesh Chennithala, former minister and official spokesman of KPCC, M.M. Hassan and two Dubai-based businessmen, Kunjukutty Aniyankunju and Vijayan Thomas. Interestingly, the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee members have invested about Rs. 20 crore in the Indiavisionchannel, controlled by M. K. Muneer, former Muslim League minister, through Indiavision Satellite Communications Limited.

The National Herald, founded by Jawaharlal Nehru (on September 9, 1938) and funded by the Indian National Congress for many years, shut down in 2008, in its 70th year. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, the father of the nation, published Harijan in English (from 1933 to 1948), Harijan Bandhu in Gujaratiand Harijan Sevak in Hindi.

 In Andhra Pradesh, for instance, Jagan Mohan Reddy, son of the late chief minister, Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy, has the newspaper and television channel Sakshi, .  The other important Andhra media player with a clear political agenda is the K. Chandrasekhara Rao-controlled television channel T-News.

In Tamil Nadu H. Vasanthkumar, MLA and president of the Tamil Nadu commerce wing of the Congress, which controls Vasanth TV held by Vasanth and Co. Media Network Private Limited. There is also K. V. Thangabalu, Congress MP and former Union minister, who controls Mega TV, held through Silverstar Communications Limited. The Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) controls Makkal TV, through Makkal Tholai Thodarpu Kuzhumam Ltd, which is controlled by PMK chief S. Ramadoss, father of former Union Health Minister Ambumani Ramadoss.

.Kalanithi Maran, the grand nephew of Karunanidhi, the Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam (DMK) patriarch. Maran controls Sun TV, Sun News, KTV, Sun Music, Chutti TV, Sumangali Cable, Adithya TV, Chintu TV, Kiran TV, Khushi TV, Udaya Comedy, Udaya Music, Gemini TV, Gemini Comedy, and Gemini Movies. He also controls the newspaper Dinakaran, and Suryan FM 93.5 and Red FM 93.5 in the radio space. Sun TV is controlled by Sun TV Network Limited, Suryan FM is owned by Kal Radio Ltd.

DMK supremo Muthuvel Karunanidhi himself controls Kalaignar TV Pvt. Limited, owner of the very popular Kalaignar TV . Close associate and businessman, M. Raajhendran, controls Raj TV and Raj Digital Plus through Raj Television Network Limited in which he owns 11.3 per cent shares.

The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) chief controls Jaya TV, Jaya Max, Jaya Plus, and J Movie through Mavis Satcom Ltd.

In Karnataka the  two important players are Anita Kumaraswamy, wife of former chief minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, who owns Kannada Kasturithrough Kasthuri Medias Pvt. Ltd, and businessman Rajeev Chandrashekhar, an independent member of the Rajya Sabha from Karnataka, who controls a host of language offerings: Asianet and Asianet Plus (Malayalam), Suvarna (Kannada), Vijay(Tamil) and Sitara (Telugu), Best FM and Radio Indigo, and Kannada Prabhathrough Jupiter Media and Entertainment, which owns 26 per cent of the shares in the company that publishes Kannada Prabha.

The West Bengal government led by Mamata Banerjee recently proposed that the state government should itself set up its own daily newspaper and television channel

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Cultural Imperialism Theory

Cultural imperialism is the practice of promoting a more powerful culture over a least known or desirable culture. It is usually the case that the former belongs to a large, economically or militarily powerful nation and the latter belongs to a smaller, less powerful one. 

Media imperialism :The process whereby the ownership, structure,distribution or content of the media in any one country are singly or together subject to substantial external pressures from the media interests of any country or countries without proportionate reciprocation of influence by the country so affected (Boyd-Barrett (1977:117

 Terms such as "media imperialism", "structural imperialism", "cultural dependency and domination", "cultural synchronization", "electronic colonialism", "ideological imperialism", and "economic imperialism" have all been used to describe the same basic notion of cultural imperialism.

The theory of cultural imperialism was developed in the 1970 by Herb Schiller to explain the media situation as existed at that time. The nature of media at that time promoted a one way, top down transmission system from dominant country to dominated country that theoretically gave rise to a passive audience and a powerful media. 

American media critic Herbert Schiller wrote: "The concept of cultural imperialism today [1975] best describes the sum of the processes by which a society is brought into the modern world system and how its dominating stratum is attracted, pressured, forced, and sometimes bribed into shaping social institutions to correspond to, or even promote, the values and structures of the dominating centre of the system. The public media are the foremost example of operating enterprises that are used in the penetrative process. For penetration on a significant scale the media themselves must be captured by the dominating/penetrating power. This occurs largely through the commercialization of broadcasting."

^{The cultural imperialism theory} states that Western nations dominate the media around  the would which in return has a powerful effect on third world cultures by imposing them western views and therefore destroying their native cultures. Western civilization produces the majority of the media because it is cheapter for them .  Therefore third world  countries are watching media filled with the western world’s way of living believing and thinking. The third world cultures then start to want and do the same things in their countries and destroy their own cultures.

The theory says that humans do not have the free will to chose how they feel, act, think and live. They react to what they see on television because there is nothing else to compare it to besides their own lives. .  This theory explain that as long as third world countries continue to air western civilization;s programs then the third world countries will always believe they should act, feel, think and live as western civilizations act , feel, think and live. This theory is value neutral and objective. Like neo marxism cultural imperialism is very specific to the time period in which it was being proposed.

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Stage Movement and Acting Rules

Source http://campuses.fortbendisd.com/campuses/documents/teacher/2010/teacher_20100525_1349.pdf

STAGE DIRECTIONS:

Stage Right: The actor’s right as he stands onstage facing the audience.

Stage Left: The actor’s left as he stands onstage facing the audience.

Downstage: Toward the audience.

Upstage: Away from the audience.

Below: Toward the audience. Same as “Downstage of.”

Above: Away from the audience. Same as “Upstage of.”

In: Toward the center of the stage.

Out: Away from the center of the stage.

 

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News Broadcasters Association (NBA)

The News Broadcasters Association (NBA) represents the private television news & current affairs broadcasters. It is the collective voice of the news & current affairs broadcasters in India .It is an organization funded entirely by its members. The NBA has presently comprising 47 news and current affairs channels as its members. The NBA presents a unified and credible voice before the Government, on matters that affect the growing industry.

Objectives of the News Broadcasters Association (NBA)

• To promote, aid, help, encourage, develop, protect and secure the interests of the News Broadcasters in the Indian television Industry and other related entities.
• To promote awareness about the latest developments in the television industry relating to News Broadcasting and to disseminate knowledge amongst its members and the general public regarding such developments.
• To provide for the members a place of meeting so as to enable them to work in consensus to achieve common goals for the overall betterment of their industry and to have a common platform/forum at which they may air their grievances and arrive at solutions.
• To promote the growth of friendly relations amongst the members and amongst persons engaged in the production and broadcasting of the television software and especially to encourage co-operation among the members so as to maximize mutual benefits.
• To protect all its members from persons or entities who carry on unfair and/or unethical practices or who discredit the television industry.
• No objects of the Company will be carried out without obtaining prior approval/ NOC from the concerned authority, wherever required.

Fundamental principles

Professional electronic journalists should accept and understand that they operate as trustees of the public and , make it their mission to seek the truth and to report it fairly with integrity and independence. Professional journalists should stand fully accountable for their actions.

The procedures that would help journalists of the electronic media to adhere to the highest possible standards of public service and integrity.

 News channels recognise that they have a special responsibility in the matter of adhering to high standards of journalism since they have the most potent influence on public opinion. 

Broadcasters shall, in particular, ensure that they do not select news for the purpose of either promoting or hindering either side of any controversial public issue. News shall not be selected or designed to promote any particular belief, opinion or desires of any interest group.

The fundamental purpose of dissemination of news in a democracy is to educate and inform people of the happenings in the country.

Broadcasters shall ensure a full and fair presentation of news, as the same is the fundamental responsibility of each news channel.Besides, the selection of items of news shall also be governed by public interest and importance based on the significance of these items of news in a democracy.

Principles of self-regulation

The News Broadcasters Association has established commonly accepted content guidelines as a way of practising self-regulation. The purpose of these principles of self-regulation and compliance with, the basic values and objectives that news channels enshrine.

Impartiality and objectivity in reporting

Accuracy is at the heart of the news television business. despite this, there are errors, channels should be transparent about them. Errors must be corrected promptly and clearly, whether in the use of pictures, a news report, a caption, a graphic or a script. Channels should also strive not to broadcast anything which is obviously defamatory or libellous. 

Ensuring neutrality

TV news channels must provide for neutrality by offering equality for all affected parties, players and actors in any dispute or conflict to present their point of view. Though neutrality does not always come down to giving equal space to all sides (news channels shall strive to give the main viewpoints of the main parties), news channels must strive to ensure that allegations are not portrayed as fact and charges are not conveyed as an act of guilt.

Reporting on crime and safeguards to ensure crime and violence are not glorified

Visuals broadcast do not induce, glorify, incite, or positively depict violence and its perpetrators, regardless of ideology or context. Specific care must be taken not to broadcast visuals that can be prejudicial or inflammatory. This includes taking adequate precaution while showing any visual instance of pain, fear or suffering, and visuals or details of methods of suicide and self-harm of any kind, and will not cross boundaries of good taste and decency.

Depiction of violence or intimidation against women and children

News channels will ensure that no woman or juvenile, who is a victim of sexual violence, aggression, trauma, or has been a witness to the same, is shown on television without due effort taken to conceal the identity.  Similarly, the identity of victims of child abuse and juvenile delinquents will not be revealed, and their pictures will be morphed to conceal their identity.

Sex and nudity 

News channels will ensure that they do not show, without morphing, nudity of the male or female form. Channels will also not show explicit images of sexual activity or sexual perversions or acts of sexual violence like rape or molestation, or show pornography, or the use of sexually suggestive language. 

Privacy

As a rule, channels must not intrude on the private lives or personal affairs of individuals unless there is a clearly established larger and identifiable public interest for such a broadcast. The underlying principle that news channels abide by is that the intrusion of private spaces, records, transcripts, telephone conversations and any other material will not be for salacious interest but only when warranted in the public interest. However, it is also understood that the pursuit of truth and the news is not possible through the predetermined principle of prior permission;

Endangering national security

News channels will also refrain from allowing broadcasts that encourage secessionist groups and interests, or reveal information that endangers lives and national security. 

Refraining from advocating or encouraging superstition and occultism

News channels will not broadcast any material that glorifies superstition and occultism in any manner. In broadcasting any news about such a genre, news channels will also issue public disclaimers to ensure that viewers are not misled into believing or emulating such beliefs and activity. Therefore, news channels will not broadcast "as fact" myths about "supernatural" acts, apparitions and ghosts, personal or social deviations or deviant behaviour, and recreations of the same. Wherever references are made to such cases, news channels will issue air riders/disclaimers/warnings to ensure that such beliefs or events are not passed off "as fact" since they can hurt rational sensibilities.

Sting operations 

News channels will not allow sex and sleaze as a means to carry out sting operations, the use of narcotics and psychotropic substances, or any act of violence, intimidation, or discrimination as a justifiable means in the recording of any sting operation. 

Viewer feedback 

All news channels will,  create provision to receive consumer feedback.In the event any news channel gets a specific complaint, if found to be true it will admit to the same on air and will respond in fullness and fairness to the viewer.

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the steps in plot development!

Story Development

There are so many ways to approach an idea. It having an easy and systematic method to catalog ideas, dialogue, In  recent years software developers have created products to simplify this process; some are for outlining/brainstorming and others specifically organize dramatic elements under a theoretical umbrella. 

1. Create a world that's true to real life or fantastical or that mixes the mundane with the magical. But whatever set of rules you create for that world, make sure you follow them.
2. Write a conflict that builds as the play progresses. As you structure the conflict, think in terms of your play having a beginning, a middle and an end.
3. Write characters that want something (which puts them in conflict with other characters) and try to get what they want at every moment.
4. Make sure that each character has something at stake, a consequence if he doesn't get what he wants.
5. Create a "ticking clock" that puts the characters under pressure to get what they want right away.
6. Make sure there is a good reason, an "event," for your play. It's not enough for two characters to sit around and talk for a while and then leave. There needs to be some important reason why we're watching them now, at this particular moment.
7. Write dialogue that illuminates your characters and advances the plot at the same time.
8. Make each character speak in a distinctive voice. If you have trouble with that, try imagining a specific actor you know - even if it's someone who will never play the part - in the role.
9. Do not have a character tell us something she can show us instead. For example, it's much more effective to hide under the bed than to say "I'm afraid."
10. Give each character a "moment," something that justifies the character's existence in your play and that makes him attractive for an actor to play.

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THEATRE STAGE LIGHTING

Lighting can be very important for many types of event. It can provide illumination to see by, can suggest moods, can emphasize shape and texture and can direct the audience's attention to the area you want. Once the purpose of the light has been decided the correct equipment to create it must be selected and carefully positioned and controlled. This short tutorial is aimed at explaining the basics about lighting - the tools at your disposal and some of the fundamental design principles. We hope it will give you the necessary information to get you started but we are always on hand to help and advise if you get into difficulty. Choosing Lighting Fixtures There are a variety of different lighting Fixtures (aka Lanterns, Lights) at the disposal of a lighting designer. These can be split into 4 basic categories : Wash Lights, Spot Lights, Beam Lights and Flood Lights. These can also have other names but we'll work with these for the present.

Lighting can be very important for many types of event. It can provide illumination to see by, can suggest moods, can emphasize shape and texture and can direct the audience's attention to the area you want. Once the purpose of the light has been decided the correct equipment to create it must be selected and carefully positioned and controlled. This short tutorial is aimed at explaining the basics about lighting - the tools at your disposal and some of the fundamental design principles. We hope it will give you the necessary information to get you started but we are always on hand to help and advise if you get into difficulty.

Choosing Lighting Fixtures There are a variety of different lighting Fixtures (aka Lanterns, Lights) at the disposal of a lighting designer. These can be split into 4 basic categories : Wash Lights, Spot Lights, Beam Lights and Flood Lights. These can also have other names but we'll work with these for the present.

Wash Light	Produces a soft edged beam which looks quite natural. Beam size can normally be adjusted and multiple sources blend together easily. There are a few sub-categories of these; fresnels, prism-convex and pebble-convex. The Fresnel is probably the most widely used of these.
Spot Light	Spot Light also known as a Profile Spot, this has a more complex lens assembly and allows you to focus the beam so that you can have a soft edged beam like the wash light or a hard edged one. Most Profile spots allow you to insert a Gobo - a metal disc with cut-outs - to breakup the light or to project shapes and images. This can produce a variety of effects.
Beam Light	The Beam Light is a little different as all the optics (reflector, lens, etc) are contained in the lamp (aka bulb). This brings the cost of the fixture down but the lamps are a little more expensive. The most common example of this fixture is the Parcan. These lamps produce a very intense beam of light which can be very effective although there is no control over the beam and the spread is a little uneven. Used extensively in Rock'n'Roll due to the intensity of the light which works well with strong colours.
Flood Light

Last, but not least, the flood light. This has no adjustable controls and produces a very wide spread of light. It is normally only used to illuminate backdrops.The choice of lantern will then depend on the application. Wash lights produce a more natural light and are therefore suited more to theatre and film. Live music favours a more intense and visual form of lighting and therefore beam lights are the normal choice along with spotlights for effect.

Power Requirements

An important factor to bear in mind is the amount of electrical power required to use these lanterns. They are rated much higher than normal domestic lamps with power ratings between 500 - 2000 Watts. It is important that you do not try to overload the mains supply at the venue. The following table gives the approximate current requirements for the most common lamps. All ratings assume a 240 volt mains supply.

Lamp Power Rating	Current Required
500 Watts	2.1 Amps
650 Watts	2.7 Amps
1000 Watts	4.2 Amps
1200 Watts	5 Amps
2000 Watts	8.3 Amps

Bearing in mind that you may be planning to run the lighting rig off a 13amp socket, it is easy to see that you will not get many lanterns running without blowing the fuse. One way around this is to use more than one wall socket. The typical ring main in most buildings is rated at 32 amps. However. other services in the building may already be using some of this so you will need to do some checking to see if the available power is sufficient.

Dimming and Control

If you just want to provide basic light then the lighting can be plugged straight into the mains To allow control and creativity you will need to employ some kind of dimming or switching.

Dimmers allow the voltage being fed to the lamp to be varied and hence the output of the lantern can change to. Dimmers come in various shapes, sizes and configurations. The most common form for touring use is the 6 Channel Dimmer Rack. This provides six independently controlled channels.

Control of lighting requires a control desk which sends electrical signals to the dimmers to set their levels. These may range from a simple 6 slider panel to an 'all-singing, all-dancing' state-of-the-art computer control system. Generally, if the lighting requires only basic dimming and the changes are not too complex then a manually controlled board with faders will be fine. If you require lights to 'chase' in sequence or the 'cues' are very complex and numerous then you will be looking for a control desk with memory and effects Rigging capabilities. So, you've decided on what lights to use and how you will power and control them. The next step is where to put them. There are several options when it comes to 'hanging' or 'rigging' lanterns. They can be hung from bars. . A 'Hook Clamp' is used to attach the lamp firmly to the bar. Trussing is commonly used now to hang lamps. It is comprised of aluminium alloy tubing arranged in a triangular or square box section. It is considerably stronger than a single bar and is manufactured in many different permutations to allow for many types of rig.  Stands can support a single lamp or several lamps using a T-bar, a horizontal bar which attaches to the top of the stand. . Finally, lamps can be set of the floor or on other objects. Some lamps can get very hot, however, so some form of low stand is commonly in order. Again, you should take care to avoid placing such lamps where they may be a hazard to people.

Focusing

Its no good simply hanging a few lanterns and turning them on - the result would look patchy and would more than likely fail to light some of the desired areas. Each lantern needs to be 'Focused' to point to the correct place with the desired beam angle and focus. However, when done correctly, the lighting should be seamless and look fantastic. he most natural positioning is to have the lantern above and in front of the subject at about a 45° angle.  In practice, a single lantern cannot provide a natural light. Multiple lanterns are used to achieve this. For example, two lanterns above the subject at a 45° angle - one to the left and one to the right both pointing in towards the subject.

Plotting

Now that you have hung and focused your rig, you need to use all the fixtures to light your show. This part of the process is known as the Plot.

during the 'Plot' various lighting states are created to light the performance area. These lighting states are referred to as Scenes or Cues. Some shows may require just one lighting state (or Cue) whereas others - like some West End shows - use hundreds. During this process, the Lighting Designer (LD), the Lighting Operator and the Director will sit down and go through the show building each lighting state and recording it as a Cue for recall during the show run.

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