Media Ownership and Freedom of Press

Media Ownership and Freedom of Press

By:

Pooja Shah (62)

Sub: Press laws and ethics.

T.Y.B.M.M. Journalism

K.C. College, Churchgate

Introduction:

Towards the end of 1980s and through the 1990s and 2000s huge conglomerates emerged in media industry. It was then the issue of Media ownership came into being. Recently, it is new cause of worry with the entry of corporate groups in Indian Media market. This trend of corporatization is leading to drop in media diversity. Media diversity is very important for freedom of press. People with political background have started investing and owning mass media for their vested interests resulting in mass media becoming mouth piece of their owners. The the control of media in India by foreigners through ownership is another big threat to freedom of press.

Case study:

• STAR India Group:

The STAR India group is one of the biggest (in terms of turnover) media conglomerates in the country. It claims it has the largest number of viewers for its 32 channels in eight languages, including STAR Plus, STAR One, STAR Gold, Channel V, STAR Jalsha, STAR Pravah, STAR World, STAR Movies, STAR Utsav and joint venture channels such as Asianet, Sky News, FX, Fox Crime, STAR Vijay, STAR News, ESPN and STAR Sports, among others.

The STAR group has also partnered the Tata group for its direct-to-home (DTH) TV distribution operations. Ownership of so many medium under hand of one owner reduces the changes of media pluralism and which is very evident in STAR group case.

• NDTV:

It is a TV news channel funded by funded by Gospels of Charity in Spain. Recently it has developed a soft corner towards Pakistan because Pakistan President has allowed only this channel to be aired in Pakistan.

Another past fact reflecting control of foreigners in Indian media is the time during Gujarat riots. Gujarat riots which took place in 2002 where Hindus were burnt alive, Rajdeep Sardesai and Bharkha Dutt working for NDTV at that time got around 5 Million Dollars from Saudi Arabia to cover only Muslim victims, which they did very faithfully. Not a single Hindu family was interviewed