Development Broadcasting in India and beyond: Re-defining an old Mandate in an age of Media Globalization

Assignment One

[Student Number]

CCT101S

Prof. Joel Moody

[Tutorial Section]

[Date Submitted]

Development Broadcasting in India and Beyond: Redefining an old Mandate in an age of Media Globalization

It is a fact that media has always played a pivotal role in shaping public opinions regarding any domestic or international issue and on the other hand, it has become a great source of generating revenue which can be used for the development of the country. This paper highlights the issue of how globalization in media has affected the Indian public media broadcaster Doordarshan.

The distribution of national economic resources has always been a major bone of contention between central and state governments. After 1982, however, the central government's communication policies, especially with regard to national programming, also became a source of tension (Mankekar, 2007, 61).

The two most important tools of opinion formation are AIR (All India Radio) and Doordarshan. Both are controlled by the Central Government. The way these two media are being used now leaves much to be desired. The allegation of their partisan use cannot be dismissed lightly. We, in West Bengal, have felt on occasions that there was a serious misconception regarding the priorities of items in the all-India news telecast. There have been occasions when the State Government's news, including policy announcements by the Chief Minister, did not receive the attention due to them on issues where the opposition standpoint got elaborate coverage (Mankekar, 2007, 62).

Allegations of central-government media control found particular resonance in states where Hindi was not the first language, for, on average, 39 percent of the programs shown on the National Program were in Hindi (except in Tamil Nadu, where Tamil programs made up 40 percent of the programs shown). In 1985, the breakdown by language of the programs shown during prime time was as follows: Hindi programs constituted 46 percent of the total programming, English programs 44 percent, Urdu programs 2 percent, Punjabi programs 1 percent, and programs in all other languages combined (including the languages of south India) 7 percent. Twenty-three percent of the programs shown on the National Programme were sponsored programs, 54 percent were produced by the Delhi Kendra, about 3 percent by the Bombay Kendra, and 10 percent consisted of imported programs. The contribution of other kendras was negligible. 22 In many parts of India, the National Programme, shown for two hours of prime time every evening, constituted the entire telecast.

The authors of the article attached has rightly pointed out that Doordarshan in this age of globalization has went on to compete vigorously both on international and domestic fronts because of the increasing number of private channels having a surmounting viewership as compared to Doordarshan. Thus keeping in view the importance of presenting a better image of the government both nationally and internationally, the government of India is pushing in with increased amounts of funds being allocated to public broadcaster (Fursich, Shrikhande, 2007, 110).

How does transnational satellite television participate in ...