[IMC Bombay] changing mastheads

[Vickram Crishna]

At 10:59 AM +0530 14/02/2003, Shiv Kumaar wrote:
>let's face it: Gujarat has shown that there is a strong Hindu right-wing
>constituency out there. One has to only see the kind of response the media
>coverage of the riots  particularly on the English television news channels,
>evoked. Okay, the propaganda unleased by the loony right worked, but it has
>only opened a new "target audience" for newspaper owners.

History shows (am trotting out here the old case of Germany between 
the two great wars) that most people are quite content to follow 
where their leaders go... and in the case of Gujarat, the propaganda 
war has been totally one-sided, supported by technology such as 
video, and this was during the past decade. Most people who once 
appeared quite sensible are now practically impossible to talk to.

>Maharashtra Times and Navbharat Times may well be the first papers to take a
>swing rightwards but the rest would follow. soon one should expect similar
>changes in the English press as well.

How strange that 'right', which once meant 'capitalist', now means 
'communalist'. There was a case for thinking that 'capitalist' is 
'right' (but now largely discredited, except by people who live off 
it) and whatever else is 'left'. Now the entire concept seems to have 
changed color. And 'right' has become totally 'loony'.

>
>as for "objective reporting": it seems to have died between color printing,
>contract employment and higher pay scales.........

At least one paper has decided to state when it is expressing an 
opinion as against when it is coloring reportage (as on the other 
pages and supplements). What exactly do you mean by the comment on 
'higher pay scales' though? Are you objecting to pay on par with 
other occupations?

The problem with most media these days is that the communities they 
address are no longer used to paying for information. This is not due 
to the Internet, at least, not in India. It is due to unhealthy 
business practices continuing for a very long period of time.

In the case of the press (print medium), advertising income has 
played such a large role in the support of keeping the unit price 
down for so long that it has almost inevitably meant that the 
businesses that pay can dictate at least a part of the content mix.

Television has been broadcast for almost free (number of channels 
against payment made, is just paise per day), and radio has been 
killed by neglectful government (or rather monopolistic - but yes, a 
recent statement by the programme director at AIR Mumbai, that he 
does not have the freedom to negotiate rates with advertisers, does 
indicate that that bureaucratic systems have brought it down to the 
ground) policy. In Mumbai, commercial radio is laboring under far too 
heavy a burden to expect much from it.

There is one hope for information media, and that is creating media 
that are owned and used by small communities. Our own effort (at 
Radiophony) is to promote this in radio for communities that are 
characterized by large amounts of illiteracy, but there is no reason 
why print cannot be used for other sets of communities. Actually, 
even radio can be used, but I am sure that if you try to do this in 
Mumbai, the cabal of commercial broadcasters will almost certainly 
run you out of existence. Still, if you are interested, you can 
contact me off-list for ways and means.

The point is that if you want to have content that is freed from 
commercial diktat, you must also be able to ensure quality, 
especially in terms of relevancy. One newspaper, Mid Day, in Mumbai, 
has begun local editions of a small format paper called Metro, but it 
seems to be largely for commercial reasons. Still, when small 
communities (and by present media standards clubbing all of Bandra's 
population into one community is still considered small) are given 
local information for long enough, they may begin to value it. At 
that point they may begin to pay its true unit cost.

It may also go the other way, remain free or almost free to use, and 
become yet another suspect publication.

 From what I have seen, if users do not have any experience of 
independent media, they cannot begin to appreciate it, and by 
extension, pay for it. If users don't want to pay on a regular basis, 
neither will anyone else. For independent media.

Obviously there is a task ahead.

IMC has been internationally propagating the idea that these lists 
actively pursue the production of local print versions of the content 
now being published on the Web. This needs more discussion at least 
at the Mumbai level. So far there has been practically none, as far 
as I can see. At one level, for people who live in Mumbai, worrying 
about what is happening because of the media in Gujarat is just empty 
verbalizing. Let's move on.

No point just cribbing about what is going wrong with mainstream 
publications. That process began a long time ago and will not reverse 
until the business owners/managers of those publications are shown 
(by example) that another - viable - possibility exists. By the way, 
my definition of viable also means that we show that the people who 
contribute actively are adequately recompensed for their work.

If we can make it work in Mumbai, someone will be emboldened to try 
it in Gujarat. Or anywhere else that you and I worry about nowadays.
-- 
Vickram