who owns media in India

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What is media and who owns media in India
By Niranjan Shah -- My dear Nikita and Sanjna: I have come across some interesting information about the
ownership of media in India. What is media? Media is plural of medium. Mass media is the term used to denote,
as a class, that section of the media specifically conceived and designed to reach a very large audience
(typically at least as large as the whole population of a nation state). It was coined in the 1920s with the advent
of nationwide radio networks and of mass-circulation newspapers and magazines. This includes messages that
are distributed through the technologies, principally text in books, study guides and computer networks; sound
in audio-tapes and broadcast: pictures in video-tapes and broadcast; text, sound and/or pictures in a
teleconference. The means by which information is distributed such as print, broadcast, CD-ROM, World Wide
Web, and so forth is also Media. Mass media in India is that part of the Indian media which aims to reach a
wide audience. Besides the news media, which includes print, radio and television, the Internet is playing an
increasing role, along with the growth of the Indian blogging community. Compared with many other developing
countries, the Indian press is relatively unfettered, except for obstacles in the way of setting up media
companies which were part of the pre-1990 license raj. In 2001, India had 45,974 newspapers, including 5,364
daily newspapers published in over 100 languages. The largest number of newspapers were published in Hindi
(20,589), followed by English (7,596), Marathi (2,943), Urdu (2,906), Bengali (2,741), Gujarati (2,215), Tamil
(2,119), Kannada (1,816), Malayalam(1,505) and Telugu (1,289). The Hindi daily press has a circulation of over
23 million copies, followed by English with over 8 million copies. There are several major publishing groups in
India, the most prominent among them being the Times of India Group, the Indian Express Group, the
Hindustan Times Group, The Hindu group, the Anandabazar Patrika Group, the Eenadu Group, the Malayala
Manorama Group, the Mathrubhumi group, the Sahara group, the Bhaskar group, and the Dainik Jagran group.
India has more than 40 domestic news agencies. The Express News Service, the Press Trust of India, and the
United News of India are among the major news agencies. Let us see the ownership of different media
agencies. NDTV: A very popular TV news media is funded by Gospels of Charity in Spain supports
Communism. Recently it has developed a soft corner towards Pakistan because Pakistan President has
allowed only this channel to be aired in Pakistan. Indian CEO Prannoy Roy is co-brother of Prakash Karat,
General Secretory of Communist party of India. CNN-IBN: This is 100 percent funded by Southern Baptist
Church with its branches in all over the world with HQ in US. The Church annually allocates $800 million for
promotion of its channel. Its Indian head is Rajdeep Sardesai and his wife Sagarika Ghosh. Times group list:
Times Of India, Mid-Day, Nav-Bharth Times, Stardust, Femina, Vijaya Times, Vijaya Karnataka, Times now (24-
hour news channel) and many more. Times Group is owned by Bennet & Coleman. “World Christian Council”
does 80 percent of the Funding, and an Englishman and an Italian equally share balance 20 percent. The
Italian Robertio Mindo is a close relative of Sonia Gandhi. Star TV: It is run by an Australian, who is supported
by St. Peters Pontificial Church Melbourne. Hindustan Times: Owned by Birla Group, but hands have changed
since Shobana Bhartiya took over. Presently it is working in Collobration with Times Group. The Hindu: An
English daily, started over 125 years has been recently taken over by Joshua Society, Berne, Switzerland.
Indian Express: Divided into two groups. The Indian Express and new Indian Express (southern edition). Acts
Ministries has major stake in the Indian Express and later is still with the Indian counterpart. Eeenadu: Still to
date controlled by an Indian named Ramoji Rao. Ramoji Rao is connected with film industry and owns a huge
studio in Andhra Pradesh. Andhra Jyothi: The Muslim party of Hyderabad known as MIM along with a Congress
Minister has purchased this Telgu daily very recently. The Statesman: It is controlled by Communist Party of
India. Kairal TV: It is controlled by Communist party of India (marxist) Mathrubhoomi: Leaders of Muslim
League and Communist leaders have major investment. Asian Age and Deccan Chronicle: Is owned by a Saudi
Arabian Company with its chief Editor M.J. Akbar. The ownership explains the control of media in India by
foreigners. The result is obvious. — Grandpa’s blessings
http://www.indiatribune.com/popuparticle.aspx?Article_ID=68268/23/2007 11:53:59 AM