Fact Sheet

    The Information Revolution epitomizes the very spirit of this century and the next. The breath- taking advances in information technology have helped in bringing the latest information in diverse fields to the common man and in the creation of a global village. In India, mass communication plays a vital role in creating people's awareness about policies and programmes of development, and in motivating them to be equal partners in the nation building endeavour. A skillful synthesis between traditional and folk forms of communication on one hand and modern audio- visual media on the other is being attempted.

    The press in India is characterized by its unhindered freedom and vibrance. At the time of Independence 50 years ago, the tide of nationalism ran very strong, and the press found it improper and unfair to be overcritical of the new fledgling nation. News values have changed, partly because of altered circumstances of national life, partly by more articulate expressions of feeling, and by more vigorous assertions of dissent, and not least by new permissive values and value judgments.

    The muted awe of authority has been replaced by open criticism. The press is also far more vigilant and raucous about fundamental and civil rights, corruption, venality, political chicanery, economic exploitation, social abuse, women's equality, and religious bigotry.

    The first Press in India was established by the Portuguese in 1550. The next was established by the British in 1684. The first newspaper in India was brought out by James Augustus Hickey in 1780, entitled The Bengal Gazette. The first vernacular newspaper appeared in 1818, the Samachar Darpan in Bengali. In 1830, a Gujarati newspaper, the Bombay Samachar was brought out. It still exists.

    After the 1857 mutiny against the British, The Indian Press developed rapidly and took on a nationalistic colour. Some of the early newspapers were the weekly Somaprakash of Ishwarchand Vidyasagar(1858), the monthly Bangadarshan by Bankim Chandra Chatterji(1873), and the weekly Sadharani by Akshay Chandra Sarkar(1874). Other prominent newspapers in pre-Independence India were The Times of India(1861), Pioneer(1865), Amrit Bazaar Patrika(1868), Hindu(1878), Indian Express(1933), Dinamani, Harijan(1933), Indian Standard and Jugantar(1937), and Hindustan(1941).

The Press Today

    The press in this country being more than two centuries old, "Bombay Samachar" a Gujarati daily published from Mumbai is the oldest existing newspaper. In 1997, the total number of newspapers and periodicals was 41705 with 4719 dailies, 325 tri/bi-weeklies, 14743 weeklies and 21918 others like monthlies and fortnightlies etc.

    Apart from English and 18 principal languages enumerated in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution, newspapers were published in 100 other languages, mostly Indian and their dialects, and few foreign languages. The highest number of newspapers were published in Hindi language (16864). Uttar Pradesh published the largest number of newspapers and dailies in India.

    Number of Newspapers

TABLE 2.5.

* (Source: RNI Report 1999)

    In 1997, the total circulation of Indian Press was 105708191 copies. The Hindustan Times, an English Daily was the largest selling single edition daily with a circulation of 5,40,919 copies. The Times of India, Mumbai edition was second with a circulation of 5,30,504 copies.

    There are two main wire news agencies, the Press Trust of India and the United News of India. PTI offers news services in English and in Hindi, through its Hindi branch, Bhasha. The agency also provides photos, features, graphics and publishes economic and science journals.

    UNI began its news operations in 1959 and is now one of the largest news agencies in Asia. Its news services are provided to subscribers in four Gulf countries and in Singapore, Mauritius and Bhutan. UNI has a full fledged Hindi news service, Univarta, and an Urdu service on teleprinter for the first time in the world. Services for finance and stock exchanges called UNIFIN and UNISTOCK also exist. PTI and UNI also provide foreign coverage with their networking with AP and AFP respectively.

    A number of non-wire news agencies are also operating in the country.

    There is no separate provision guaranteeing the freedom of the press, but the Supreme Court has held that freedom of the press is included in the guarantee of 'freedom of expression' under Article 19(1)(a) of the Indian Constitution. The relevant clauses of Art.19 are: "19. (1) All citizens shall have the right - (a) to freedom of speech and expression;

    (2) Nothing in sub-clause (a) of clause (1) shall affect the operation of any existing law, in so far are as such law imposes reasonable restrictions on the exercise of the right conferred by the said sub-clause in the interests of the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the State, friendly relations with foreign States, public order, decency or morality, or in relation to contempt of court, defamation or incitement to an offence."

    Freedom to carry on the occupation of a Journalist is included in Art. 19 (1) (g) of the Constitution which guarantees to every citizen the right to practice any profession, or to carry on any occupation, trade or business. The Right is however qualified by Art. 19 (6) which allows the imposition by the state reasonable restrictions.

    The printer, publisher or editor of a newspaper who is aggrieved by an infringement of this right by a law or order may apply for relief to the Supreme Court under Art.32 or a High Court under Art. 32 or 226 of the Constitution.

    The Press Registrar recommends allocation of newsprint to newspapers on the basis of their circulation, and import of printing machinery and allied materials for newspapers. The duties and functions of the Press Registrar are defined in the Press and Registration of Books Act, 1867 as amended.

    PIB is the nodal agency of the government to disseminate information to the print and electronic media on its various policies, programmes, initiatives and achievements. The Bureau has a homepage on the Internet and can be accessed on http://pib.nic.in.

    It is a friendly watchdog of the Press, and was constituted with the twin object of preserving the freedom of the press and of maintaining and improving the standards of newspapers and news agencies in India. The Council has power to consider complaint suo moto, in addition to inquiring into complaints brought before it. It has also been empowered to make observations against any authority including Government if it considers it necessary. The Council consists of a Chairman and 28 other members, the Chairman being by convention, a retired judge of the Supreme Court of India.

    The Prasar Bharati Act came into existence in September 1990 and came into force with effect from 15 September 1997. The act sought to free Akashwani (All India Radio) and Doordarshan from direct control of the Government and provides for establishment of an autonomous Corporation for electronic media.

    The Prasar Bharati Amendment Bill 1998 was passed in the Lok Sabha in August 1998. The Bill sought to revive the Prasar Bharati Act 1990 and nullifies the effect of the Ordinance promulgated last year. On August 29, 1998 Prasar Bharati (Broadcasting Corporation of India) Ordinance 1998 was promulgated to restore the original Prasar Bharati Broadcasting Corporation of India Act 1990.

    As in the original Act, the Ordinance provides for

• establishment of a Parliamentary Committee to oversee the functioning of the Corporation
• establishment of a Broadcasting Council
• the appointment of two full time members of finance and personnel
• retirement of the 1/3 members by rotation
• Fixing the upper age limit of 62 years for the CEO.

    All India Radio is one of the largest radio networks in the world in terms of reach. Broadcasting started in India in 1927 with two privately owned transmitters in Bombay and Calcutta. Government took over the transmitters in 1930 and started operating them under the name of Indian Broadcasting Service. It was changed to All India Radio in 1936 and it also came to be known as Akashwani since 1957. AIR has at present (as on 01.04.1998) 198 radio stations operating in the country. These include 185 full-fledged stations, 10 relay centres and 3 exclusive Vividh Bharti commercial centres. It has 310 transmitters, which provide radio coverage to a population of 97.7% spread over 90 of the country.

    FM channels have started operating in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Calcutta, Panaji, Jullandhar and Cuttack and plans are underway to start more FM channels, with private participation. Radio Paging Service was introduced by AIR, Delhi from January 14, 1995. AIR has thus become the first public broadcast system in the Asian region to introduce such a service using FM transmitters. The facility to be launched in 17 cities, has already been introduced in Nagpur and Chennai. In order to improve local radio services and widen choice, the Government auctioned 101 channels in 40 city centres for setting up FM stations by 100 per cent Indian-owned private companies registered in India. The total revenue coming to the Government during the first year from these 101 FM stations would be Rs. 425.03 crores. This is subject to 15 per cent annual increase for ten-year period of the licence. Depending upon the experience, FM channels in over 100 more cities-towns are likely to be considered in future. AIR introduced Sky Radio Service from April 1, 1994. It also introduced several innovative services like phone-in radio, and Radio in demand. As a result, its programmes being broadcast from different State capitals are available all over the country and the entire country and the entire country is covered by multi-channel programmes. AIR service is now available on the national channel round the clock.

    AIR today puts out 303 bulletins daily with a total duration of 38 hours and 30 minutes. Out of these, 93 bulletins are broadcast in the Home Services, while 42 Regional News Units originate 135 news bulletins daily. In the External Service, AIR broadcasts 65 bulletins for 8 hours and 59 minutes in 22 languages (Indian and foreign). It broadcasts programmes for about 70 hours per day in 24 languages - English, 15 other foreign languages and 8 Indian languages for listeners around the globe.

    Television started in India on an experimental basis in September 1959, with a limited transmission, three days a week. The regular service began in 1965. It witnessed unprecedented growth after 1982, and has now grown to be a network of three National channels, two special interest channels, 10 regional language channels, four state networks and an International channel. It has 47 production centres, terrestrial transmitting centres of varying power, OB vans for outside coverage, TRACTS and Earth Stations for countrywide dissemination of programmes through channels on the INSAT satellite. The International channel beams its programmes on a transponder on PAS-4.

(Source: Annual Report 1999-2000, Ministry of I & B, Government of India)

    In 1993, Doordarshan launched the Metro channel in the four metros. DD-2 is now also available at satellite and terrestrially at 56 cities. Transmission on Metro Channel has been increased to 24 hours.

    Doordarshan launched its International Channel on March 14,1995. The Channel’s daily transmission is now available for 18 hours daily.

    All major Kendras of DD telecast agricultural and rural development programmes from Monday to Friday for a half-an-hour duration. From December 1991, DD has also commenced telecast of proceedings of Question Hour in Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha. Now the coverage has been extended to the entire proceedings in two hours.

    Two separate Sports and News Channels have been introduced from this year, which are now available is a satellite transmission round the clock. Another channel – Education has been introduced last year.

    Transmission of DD-1, DD-2, DD-News, DD-Sports and DD-India are now available in digital mode through satellite broadcasting.

    Cable television operations in the country were regularized with the promulgation of Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act on March 25, 1995. This Act provides for the registration of cable operators and contains provisions that would facilitate upgradation of the cable television networks in the country.

    Presently, more than 30 cable television channels are available to viewers round the country. These include CNN, BBC, NBC, CNBC, Zee TV, Star Plus, Star Movies, Star Sports, Sony TV, Raj TV, TNT, MTV, Discovery, National Geographic, Jain TV, Sahara TV and others.

CINEMA

    The film sector has recently been granted Industry status. Films are the only popular form of culture and entertainment available to the vast masses of people, and their impact is phenomenal. Feature films are being produced in India since 1912-13. While R.G. Torney along with N.G. Chitre made Pundalik in 1912, Dhundiraj Govind Phalke produced Raja Harishchandra in 1913. The era of silent films was overtaken by the talkie era in 1931 when Ardeshir Irani produced Alam Ara, though silent movies continued to be produced till1934. India now leads the world in the annual output of films(between 700 to 900 films).

    The Indian film industry, with its centre in Bombay, is known for its commercial cinema. It produces multi-million, multi-starrers with all the ingredients - romance, thrills, crime, mythology, fights, melodrama, comedy and farce - the idea being to present a cocktail of popular entertainment which will ensure box office success. There is also the new wave cinema, which seeks to produce more relevant films in a neo-realistic mode. In the 1950s and later, directors like Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen, Adoor Gopalakrishnan and Ritwik Ghatak produced a series of films which won national and international awards. Satyajit Ray got a special Oscar for his contribution to the world of cinema.

    It allows the censorship of films and lays down the mechanism for such censorship. Films can be exhibited in India only after they have been certified by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC). The Cinematograph (Certification) Rules, 1983 lays down the rules and regulations for certification of films by the board. In 1999, the Board certified 746 Indian and 203 foreign feature films, 977 Indian and 227 foreign short films, 115 Indian video feature films and 39 foreign video feature films.

    The Government set up the Films Division to produce and distribute documentary films and newsreels through the cinema circuit. The Division to 12379 cinema theatres and also to non-theatrical circuits like units of Directorate of Field Publicity, State Governments and Doordarshan.

    NFDC is the Central agency to promote good cinema in the country. It was launched in 1980 and launched its programme of co-productions with the highly successful film Gandhi directed by Sir Richard Attenborough.

Directorate of Film Festivals is responsible for organizing the national and international film festivals of India every year. It also conducts an elaborate exercise for selecting films and film personalities for National Film Award, annually.

    Advertising in India has expanded rapidly in the post-Independent era, keeping pace with the growth of various industries. Advertising expenditure as a percentage of Gross National Product is .25 per cent in India as compared to 2.9 per cent in USA.

    The emergence of TV advertising from a non-entity in 1970’s to a dominant medium of advertising is a major development of this decade. The advertisements contributed to DD an income of Rs 610 crores in the year 1999-2000. The press continues to obtain most of the advertising share. In the year 1997, twenty-eight dailies derived more than 75% of their income through ads. Around 19 dailies devoted more than 60% space to advertisements.

    The Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity (DAVP) places advertisement in various newspapers and journals on behalf of various Ministries and Departments of the Government of India. A number of autonomous bodies and public sector enterprises channelise their advertising through DAVP. The Code of Advertising Practice was adopted by The Advertising Council Of India with a purpose to control the content of advertisements and to ensure that the they are not offensive to generally accepted standards of public decency. All India Radio Code for Commercial Advertising lays down standards of conduct for advertisers on Indian radio. The Code of Commercial Advertising on Doordarshan published in 1986, lays down standards of conduct for advertisers on Indian television.

    India is one of the top ten book publishers in the world, and the third largest publisher of books in English. On average, 17,000 new titles are printed each year, out of which more than half are in English. In the public sector, book enterprises range from Ministries of the Central and State Governments to semi-official publicaly-financed bodies such as the National Book trust, the Sahitya Academy and the Indian Standard Institution. The largest publishing house in the public sector is the Publications Division, a unit of Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.