Puthiya Thalaimurai, a Tamil News Channel

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THE ROLE OF TELEVISION IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE SOCIETY: PUTHIYA THALAIMURAI, A TAMIL NEWS CHANNEL – A CASE STUDY

JOHN SEKAR Registered Number: 1424002

A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of

Master of Arts in Communication and Media Studies

CHRIST UNIVERSITY Bengaluru

2016

Program Authorized to Offer Degree Department of Media Studies

CHRIST UNIVERSITY Department of Media Studies

This is to certify that I have examined this copy of a master‟s thesis by

John Sekar Registered Number: 1424002

and have found that it is complete and satisfactory in all respects, and that any and all revisions required by the final examining committee have been made.

Committee Members:

______[BIJU K CHACKO]

______

Date: ______

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I, John Sekar, confirm that this dissertation and the work presented in it are original.

1. Where I have consulted the published work of others this is always clearly attributed. 2. Where I have quoted from the work of others the source is always given. With the exception of such quotations this dissertation is entirely my own work. 3. I have acknowledged all main sources of help. 4. If my research follows on from previous work or is part of a larger collaborative research project I have made clear exactly what was done by others and what I have contributed myself. 5. I am aware and accept the penalties associated with plagiarism.

Date:

CHRIST UNIVERSITY

ABSTRACT

The Role of Television in the Development of the Society: Puthiya Thalaimurai, a Tamil News Channel – A Case Study

John Sekar

Puthiyathalamurai is a Tamil news channel which is of recent origin. Besides its coverage of news, this channel carries out various social developmental works. In an age when television channels mindlessly pursue after Television Rating Point (TRP) ratings pressurized by business interests and profit motives, the television channels are gradually losing their credibility. In Tamilnadu, television channels have long been the mouthpieces of politicians who own this medium. In this scenario, Puthiya Thalaimurai has taken a different path not allowing itself to be swayed by any political interest and has adopted measures to felicitate development of the society. The media, particularly, television must transform the lives of those who find themselves caught in various social issues. The television must become the harbinger of social change. In this regard, Puthiya Thalaimurai news channel carries out various developmental programmes some of which are very participatory in nature. The channel facilitates the participatory mode of development guiding the people in the entire process from conception to execution. Puthiya Thalaimurai thus contributes enormously to the development of the society. Keywords: Puthiya Thalaimurai, Tamilnadu, Television, News Channel, Development,

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

My sincere gratitude to my Guide, Fr. Biju K. Chacko, the Co-Ordinator of the Courses, for his constant guidance, encouragement and support. I also thank the Head of the Department Prof. Naresh Rao for his support. I wish to extend my heartfelt thanks to Professors Suparna Naresh, Aasita Bali, Amutha Manavalan, Dr.Rajesh A., Dr.Kannan S., Shantaraju S., Dr. Ivory Lyons and Dr. Chandrasekhar Vallath for their valuable feedback and restless assistance in bringing out this research. I also would like to thank the Dean Dr. John Joseph Kennedy, my family and friends for the encouragement and devotion, without whom this thesis would never have been completed.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

List of Tables ...... xii List of Figures ...... xiii Chapter 1 Introduction ...... 1 1.1 Introduction ...... 1 1.2 The Statement of the Problem ...... 2 1.3 The Purpose of the Study...... 2 1.4 Significance of the Study ...... 3 1.5 Research Design ...... 3 1.6 The Assumptions and Limitations ...... 4 1.7 Operational Definitions ...... 4 1.8 Research Questions and Hypotheses ...... 5 1.9 The Expected Outcomes ...... 5 Chapter 2 Review of Literature ...... 8 2.1 Introduction ...... 8 2.2 Review of Literature ...... 8 Chapter 3 Research Methodology ...... 27 3.1 Introduction ...... 27 3.2 Research Problem ...... 29 3.3 Objectives of Research ...... 30 3.4 Defining the Topic ...... 30 3.5 Content Analysis...... 33 3.6 Survey ...... 33 3.7 Expert Interview ...... 34 Chapter 4 Findings and Analysis ...... 36 4.1 Media Today ...... 36 4.2 Tamil News Channels ...... 37 4.3 Classical Models of Communication for Development ...... 44 4.4 Communication for Development ...... 45 4.5 Puthiya Thalaimurai Model – A Participatory Model of Development ....47 4.6 The Analysis of the Survey Findings ...... 48 Chapter 5 Conclusion ...... 76 5.1 Introduction ...... 76 5.2 Summary of the Results ...... 76 5.3 Discussion of the Results ...... 77 5.4 Discussion of the Conclusions in Relation to the Literature and the Field78 5.5 Limitations ...... 79 5.6 Recommendations for Further Study ...... 79 5.7 Conclusion ...... 80 Bibliography ...... 81 Appendix A: The Survey Questionnaire ...... 86 Appendix B: Questions for Expert Interview ...... 91

LIST OF TABLES

Table Number Page

Table 1 Gender Division ...... 48 Table 2 Age Factor ...... 50 Table 3 Education ...... 51 Table 4 Income ...... 52 Table 5 Profession ...... 53 Table 6 Residence ...... 55 Table 7 Frequency of watching Television ...... 56 Table 8 Most Preferred Channel ...... 57 Table 9 Credibility of the Channel ...... 58 Table 10 Issues of Poor, Farmers, Marginalized...... 61 Table 11 Most Innovative Channel ...... 63 Table 12 Developmental Projects ...... 65 Table 13 Nammal Mudiym Nambu Activities ...... 69 Table 14 Television and Social Change ...... 74

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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure Number Page

Figure 1 Gender Division...... 49 Figure 2 Age Factor ...... 50 Figure 3 Education ...... 51 Figure 4 Income per month ...... 53 Figure 5 Profession ...... 54 Figure 6 Place of Residence ...... 55 Figure 7 Frequency of Watching Television...... 56 Figure 8 Most Preferred Channel ...... 57 Figure 9 Most Credible Channel ...... 59 Figure 10 Issues of Farmers, Poor, Marginalized ...... 62 Figure 11 Most Innovative Channel ...... 63 Figure 12 Developmental Projects ...... 66 Figure 13 Social Change ...... 74

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Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Introduction

Tamilnadu is well known for its unique history of using media for the political advantage, especially television in recent times. The dominant political parties DMK (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) and ADMK (Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) and also other Dravidian political parties of Tamilnadu have indulged into using media exponentially to score their political mileage. In the year 1940s and the year 1950s, the DMK had swayed its party cadres by assembling the members in the street corners, by reading out the news and interpreting the same. During the time when cinema was the most popular tool, DMK adopted a new strategy to propagate its ideology through the screenplays. The tradition carried on also in the epoch of television. The arrival of satellite television has created a new platform for the political parties of Tamilnadu to explore this new medium in order to communicate their political ideology to the viewers. This has given rise to a typical scenario of various political parties coming to own a particular television channel and competing with one another and thus ending up in producing politically biased views. The first political party to throw its hat in the ring is DMK which launched Sun TV in 1993 with its party symbol “Rising Sun” as the logo of the new channel. Sun TV was very successful as DMK exploited the medium of television to propagate its agenda through the news bulletins. AIADMK, the arch rival of DMK also plunged into the world of media by launching its own television called the JJ TV in 1995 with its party symbol “Two Leaves” as the logo of the new channel as well. This JJ TV has been re-launched changing its name to Jeya TV after its leader J. Jeyalalithaa. If someone wished to learn about the negative side of DMK, one would switch to Jaya TV, and to learn the negative side of AIADMK, one would switch to Sun TV. Observing the success of these new channels being used as a propaganda tool, other

political parties took the plunge too. Captain TV by Desiya Murpokku Dravidar Kazhagam, Makkal TV by Pattali Makkal Katchi, Vasanth TV and Mega TV by Congress, and the Lotus TV by Bharatiya Janata Party were launched. (Chitra & Arulchelvan, 2014)

1.2 The Statement of the Problem

With various political parties owning their own channels, the credibility of the news content of these channels suffered much. Their news coverage, as expected, was biased, one-sided and lacked completely the neutrality. The political parties exploited their television channel thoroughly for political vendetta and therefore the stress was not anymore on providing development to the society. With this sort of news bulletins, the objectivity of news became a thing of a bygone era. In order to realize the unprejudiced news coverage and to facilitate participatory development process among the people in Tamilnadu, a new television channel was launched titled „Puthiya Thalaimurai TV‟ translated in English means “New Generation TV” which is owned by the SRM (Sri Ramaswamy Memorial University) Group of Educational Institutions. Because of its objectivity and neutrality and its development agenda, this channel has been measured as the best so far, that too, within a short time. However even though this new channel has come to be considered as the best and objective, there are other channels driven by political interests which still occupy the space in media industry largely.

1.3 The Purpose of the Study

Through this study, the researcher wishes to analyse the role of Television in the development of the society and particularly analysing the developmental programmes initiated by Puthiya Thalaimurai channel. There was a survey to study the perception of the viewers in the Taluks of Madurai East and Dindigul about the news channels and how they see the new arrival in the field of media, Puthiya Thalaimurai channel. The study indicates that the viewers are tired of the news channels that are characterized by political patronage and people have come to favour the channels which are neutral and independent and which take up community developmental projects. The media whose objective should be more focused on development rather than profit is what the researcher wants to state through this study. The study is significant at the time when media has come to play a vital role in all

aspects of life; development of society must be one of the topmost priorities of the television.

1.4 Significance of the Study

The media is very significant for human development ushering in education and health information to the remotest villages in countries like India. This can become an experiential reality only when the media is clearly independent and uncompromised. It is very true that to enhance development in countries like India; media must have an appropriate atmosphere in terms of capacities, freedom from political patronage and chase of TRPs. The purpose of Media should be such that it supports the voiceless in the society and makes their voice heard loudly especially in the ears of those who are responsible for the progress and development of the society. In our nation India which is still ridden with social evils like poverty, illiteracy, unemployment and the like, the choice of communication media becomes immensely important. Hence the role of television in eradicating the social evils and providing development in the societies may not be absolute but certainly worth considering. Television may be seen as the traditional medium but it is still relevant and powerfully influential as it has a wider viewership across the nation. There is also a notable competition among various television channels and this competition is also present in the category of news channels. This competition is very much evident in the state of Tamilnadu which is known for its politically oriented news channels.

1.5 Research Design

Research design refers to a detailed outline of how an investigation will take place. The research design consists of the manner of collection of data, the means employed to collect the data and how the data would be later analysed. In this research, the researcher has undertaken interviews from the experts in the field of journalism. It is important to include their views in the analysis as they would be able to give the first-hand information on how media functions, the issues at hand and their expert views will be a support to the analysis. The researcher has also undertaken the survey. The researcher for the convenience has chosen two taluks from the districts of Madurai and Dindigul, Madurai East Taluk and Dindigul Taluk respectively. In each of these taluks, the researcher chose villages from the four corners and has collected the responses. The researcher has collected hundred responses from each Taluk.

This particular research comes under the design of Case study which is defined as the use of a single person/issue/topic/theme in a research study. The benefit of a case study is that it permits a researcher to gain a lot of in-depth, detailed information due to the close examination of this single case. The researcher has undertaken the study of one particular television channel, namely Puthiya Thalaimurai, a Tamil news channel. The researcher has concentrated on the channel‟s programmes oriented towards making a change in the society and has analysed them in respect to the role of television in development of the society.

1.6 The Assumptions and Limitations

The Researcher wishes to study about the role of television in development of the soceity. The researcher assumes that in a world of competition, the television channels must play a developmental role in the society. He contends that the communication must be precisely for development besides its various others purposes. The researcher assumes that the channel, namely Puthiya Thalaimurai plays a significant role in providing development to the people. The experts have shared their views on the specific channel Puthiya Thalaimurai as this channel is the subject matter of the study. Through the survey, the researcher has attempted to study the public perception on the existing news channels on the parameters like the preference for a news channel, reliability of the news channel, channel that addresses the issues of the poor, farmers and socially neglected, innovative channel, channel that creates awareness about the social issues, channel that undertakes community developmental projects and the channel that facilitates the participatory model of development. Limitations in the field of study undertaken by the researcher include like concentration on just one Tamil news channel and the restricted sample size.

1.7 Operational Definitions

Role of Television in development of the Society: In a developing country like India, it‟s time that the mass media understands its responsibility and work towards the goal of inclusive growth. The onus is on the big and powerful news media houses to provide a sizeable media space for development issues and to motivate the affected people to participate and express their opinions on their own affairs; hitherto decided by the establishment.

Puthiya Thalaimurai Tamil News Channel: Puthiya Thalaimurai Television channel was launched on 24, August 2011. Puthiya Thalaimurai functions from Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It telecasts news, discussion, documentary and infotainment programs. Participatory Model of Development: Participatory development communication is the use of mass media and traditional, inter-personal means of communication that empowers communities to visualise aspirations and discover solutions to their development problems and issues.

1.8 Research Questions and Hypotheses

In order to conduct an analysis on the role of television in the development of society and in particular reference to Puthiya Thalaimurai Tamil news television channel, the researcher has formulated the following research questions, 1. The media houses are today owned by some political leaders and how much does that affect the credibility of news channels? 2. What is the role of media and in particular, television, about the development today? 3. What are the challenges that the Television channels face today particularly with regard to initiating developmental programmes? 4. Which television has come up with various initiatives towards development? 5. Puthiya Thalaimurai channel has programmes like Nammal Mmudium, Rowthiram Pazhagu, Uzhavukku Uyirootu and so on: how effective they are and how do they benefit the people? 6. Puthiya Thalaimurai channel visits various villages in Tamilnadu and has taken an initiative to preserve the water reservoirs in villages. This initiative involves people. They participate in the movement as well. How does this channel facilitate the participatory model of providing development? Hypothesis: Puthiya Thalaimurai Tamil News Channel contributes significantly to the development of the society through the participatory model of development.

1.9 The Expected Outcomes

The researcher expects that in public perception, Puthiya Thalaimurai channel shall be the reliable and credible channel which possesses the objectivity and

5 neutrality. As Gnani Sankaran, a political commentator who visited Christ University on a Guest lecture on Emergency in an interview said that the viewers still consider Puthiya Thalaimurai Channel as the most credible channel and that Puthiya Thalaimurai has kept the promise. He also said that because of Puthiya Thalaimurai neutrality people have started to switch to Puthiya Thalaimurai. It was indeed unimaginable earlier that there would be a television channel which had nothing to do with political patronage or mere entertainment. The President of Puthiya Thalaimurai P. Sathyanarayan says that when they began to develop this idea of beginning a new news channel in Tamilnadu, everyone around him discouraged the idea saying that it would be difficult to manage the distribution and that there would be an unmanageable political pressure but the decision to go ahead with the idea had indeed borne success. The media situation in Tamilnadu which was ridden with political bias was greatly in need of a news channel that had no political dependence which would concentrate on problems like infrastructure, education, and health. Puthiya Thalaimurai is a response to that need. Puthiya Thalaimurai has successfully positioned itself now as an independent news channel. It has considered a priority to upgrade the present style of news coverage. During the days when the coastal areas of Tamilnadu were hit by a severe cyclone Thane, Puthiya Thalaimurai sent a helicopter and had a few farmers on board as they reported the damage. Puthiya Thalaimurai also reported in person from Geneva covering the Human Rights Convention. The newness that Puthiya Thalaimurai has brought in has altered the style of news presentation by other television channels in the state of Tamilnadu. B. Kailasam, Creative head of Puthiya Thalaimurai said that that his team was passionate about bringing a change in the society and that it was not about mindless pursuit of TRPs. Programmes like Ayudham Seivom which in Tamil means „let‟s make tools‟ is a new venture that focuses on innovations arising from rural areas, has been a great success. In the same way Kazham Irangivargal which in Tamil means „those who stepped into the battlefield‟ is a programme about the local successful entrepreneurs has been much appreciated. Konjam Soru, Konjam Varalaru is a programme which in Tamil is „a little bit of food, a little bit of history‟ takes the viewers to the ancient history and creates awareness of the same. (Ramnath, 2012) While analysing the uniqueness of Puthiya Thalaimurai, we would see that there are many channels in the state which do give news but what lacked in all of

them is, rendering back-to-back, independent and live news. The existing channels were all so much restricted in their deliveries because of the internal pressure. In this scenario, the viewers were noticeably fatigue and they craved for an alternative news channel and Puthiya Thalaimurai came in at the right time. (IBN, 2014) These shall be the expected outcome of the researcher as well.

Chapter 2

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

2.1 Introduction

The researcher presents here a review of literature on the subject chosen for his study. This review has enabled the researcher to understand the various related themes to his own subject. Various journal articles here deal with the communication for social development and especially the role of television. While varied vi ews can be found here, the researcher has come to understand how unique his study will be in comparison with the literature that can be found below. The author through this research wants to assert that the Tamil news channel called Puthiyathalamurai plays a vital and important role in social development.

2.2 Review of Literature

The authors Fabes, Wilson, and Christopher have written an article that deals with the extensive watching of television by the family members and how it has come to be accepted as part of normal daily life. The authors however point out how the experts and concerned personnel about the family life have not paid much attention to their indispensable role in television, education, policy and research. The authors discuss as to what are the reasons why the experts are complacent. The experts have a narrow view that the television only plays an innocuous role in family life. But the reality is that the television plays an influential role in every aspect of family life. The authors argue that there should be sufficient attention paid to the commercial aspects of the television which manifests itself in the kind of advertisements. These advertisements have negative influence on the children. The authors thus affirm the important role that the television plays in family life and thus in the society. While my research deals with the role of television in the development of the society, this article throws light into the importance of the role of television in family life and the need for the research into how the television affects the family life. The author here deals with the negative effects; the researcher would

like to address the positive role that this particular channel, namely, Puthiya Thalaimurai channel plays in the development of the society. (RichardA. Fabes, 1989) VM Rao in an article that deals with the Rural Development, he speaks about the problems that rise for the rural development. This article helps the researcher to gain more knowledge about the rural development as his study deals with the development of the society especially the rural society. This article does not address about the role of Television or any other media but helps the researcher to learn more about what rural development is and the barriers in rural development. The researcher agrees with VM Rao who says that the rural development should obtain greater importance and superior resources than it has so far obtained. The researcher also ruminates that the rural development to be indispensable for National development. Hence the researcher addresses this issue from the perspective of Media and especially Television. (Rao, 1983) The author P. C. Chatterji makes a few generalizations which are very important for the researchers study. He writes that the Mass media cannot alone be the causes to reach social change. There are instances when the media was not used and yet the social change has been achieved. The researcher though agrees with the author‟s claim, he however wishes to prove in his study that this particular channel which relays 24x7 news, has been playing an significant role in bringing about Social change. Hence the researcher wishes to prove with his survey-study that social change can be brought about if the broadcasting is effectively carried out. The author further argues that that mass media have a reinforcing impact on social change to which the researcher alludes to. This is at least true in the case of researcher as he watches those programmes which deal with social change as he himself is interested in social development. The author hopes to prove the same with his study. (Chatterji, 1983) Citizen Journalism is an important aspect of Journalism which does a great deal of help for social development. This article by Pettit, Juan, and Alfonso deals with Citizen‟s media and communication. The researcher agrees with the author‟s view that “Citizen Journalism contributes to the process of social and cultural construction.” The researcher bases his study on the same claim that this type of journalism facilitates the rural development. The researcher looks into similar programmes broadcasted by the News Channel under study and reviews how these programmes promote citizen journalism and thus result in social development. Citizen Journalism does not form the crux of the research but nevertheless it does contribute

9 to the development of the society. Hence this can become one of the points to be addressed in the research. (Jethro Pettit, 2009) The researcher‟s study revolves around the issue of communication which contributes to the development of the society. Under the wide umbrella of Communication, the author has chosen the stream of television as a specific channel which promotes social development with some of the programmes. Everett Rogers in his paper that is well known among the communication researchers, “Communication in Development” proposes that the mass media must play an essential role in providing an appropriate forum for development among the villagers and he also holds on to the opinion that the “mass media channels are more effective….” Even though he differs on some grounds, the main argument of the paper is about the essential part of media communication in bringing about development. This is similar to the argument of the researcher. The author contends that that traditional mass media characterized by traveling storytellers and street theatre, have a significant potential for development projects, especially when they are joint with the print media and modern electronic.” The researcher also touches upon the aspect of traditional media in his paper to see their effectiveness when coupled with the modern media. (Rogers E. M., 1974) Everett M. Rogers says in his article “Communication Research and Rural Development” proposes that there is a way to fill the existing gap in developing nations between those who sit in the positions of ruling and those who are being ruled, namely the rural population and the way is through communication research. The researcher also wants to establish how the gap between the people living in rural areas and the government officials who are the agents of social change. The communication channels especially television programmes address this lacuna of communication gap. This is also an issue that the researcher looks into in his study. This however does not deal with how communication directly enables the villagers themselves to become the agents of social change. The researcher wants to study how the television media engages the villagers and how their participation provides social change. (Rogers E. M., 1969) The researcher wishes to make a study of the mainstream media and in that the role of television in social development. Higgins discusses about the community television, Media literacy regarding the media, empowerment of the marginalized and action that is oriented towards development. The author has carried out a study and

the findings of that study suggest the application of media to the public issues with an aim of producing a social change. The researcher finds himself in the same platform as to how the medium of television can be used to provide the social development. Therefore the researcher can find useful resources here for his study. The authors discusses with a viewpoint on reinstatement of democratic process. The media plays an influential role in social development. The researcher wants to prove the same too. (Higgins, 1999) Pramod Kale says that there was greater eagerness for television as a radical instrument for development and change in education especially in places where it was first introduced. He argues that television plays an important role for social development. The researcher wants also to underline that the television is revolutionary in bringing out social change. In an article that is titled “Developing a Tool for Development Television in India” Kale has undertaken a study in the state of Maharashtra to find out how far the television can be effective means of development. The researcher wants to undertake a study of Tamilnadu in a similar direction. Hence this study can help the researcher. The researcher‟s study also differs in time and perspective. (Kale, 1973) Benjamin A. Olken deals with how television destroys the social capital. He discusses at length how the habits of television watching and listening to radio leads to minimum engagement with social organizations and low self-reported trust. However the researcher wants to discuss how the habit of watching television and particularly the television channel under study can provide much room for social development. The author has based his research on the condition on Indonesia. The researcher wants to base his study on the prevalent situation in Tamilnadu. While the author sees it from a negative point of view as the habit of watching television destroying the social capital and the researcher wants to find out how the habit of watching television can cause social development. (OLken, 2009) The authors discuss that television watching has a strong impact on cultivating the ideology of materialism and also helps in being dissatisfied with standard of living and ultimately life itself. They base their studies based on the information accumulated from five countries like United States, Canada, Australia, Turkey and China. The authors rely heavily on the data collected from US. Thus the authors stake a strong clam that the television viewership in US plays an important role in creating unhappiness among the people with their lives. This is yet another study that deals

11 with the negative impact of Television on the life style of the people and the researcher however wants to study the positive impact of certain television channel and how it helps in social change. (M. Joseph Sirgy, 1988) Tevia Abrams explains how the folk art of Maharashtra known as Tamasha had become in the middle ages an art form of entertaining the principal artists of Deccan plain. This was also a family entertainment which was meant for middle and upper classes. Tevia says, “The most leading piece of Tamasha in the twentieth century is its deployment for political and social propaganda.” Interestingly the researcher wants to consider certain programmes in a television channels as a show meant for everyone in the family and how these shows are for social development. The communication industry, namely, television, can be effectively utilized for social propaganda is the argument of the researcher. (Abrams, 1975) The author proposes the following four steps: Comprehension of the connectivity bet6ween media that is a community medium and social growth, Knowledge about the prerequisites of that community there, learning from varied experiences and materialising the realistic ideas. The author Stefania Milan further argues that community media plays a pivotal role in developmental process. The author bases her study on the existing situation in UK and Brazil and compares their situations of licensing process and financial sustainability. The researcher wants to find out the existing situation in Tamilnadu. In place of community media, the author here carries out the study of mainstream media. (Milan, 2009) Kirk Johnson explains through this article the structural and cultural progress in the mountainous regions of western India. While reasoning out for such change, the author says that transportation, agricultural systems and education have resulted in social development. The author also includes the mass media and especially television which has played a role in basic reorientation of village life. The author discusses the rural India and lists out three characteristics: high rise in consumerism, increase in globalization and the impact of western world. The author thus focuses on the globalization and its impact on the rural India whereas the researcher in his study wishes to address the issue of basic development in the society. (Johnson, 2005) The End of Television? is another article that speaks about, in the opinion of the author, demise of the television. The author discusses at length the meaning of television from various perspectives. When the author here speaks about the growing irrelevance of television on various counts, the researcher however wants to examine

the possibility of the future of the Television. Since the television plays a pivotal role in facilitating the social development in rural areas, the television is not just seen as a medium of entertainment but an agent of social change. Hence the researcher strongly disagrees from the author‟s opinion and by stating the role of television in social development; he wishes also to prove that television will go to survive for long. (Katz, 2009) Journalism vs. the Mass Media - Howard S. Rowland The author has interviewed various teenagers and has found out how there has been differential socialization effects. The author has divided the four types of political knowledge and also four news media and has come to the conclusion. The author has come to conclude that the media has a big impact on the current events and also it influences to shape the political opinions. The four news media according to Howard differ in terms of innate channel mode qualities, orthodox style of news presentation, and nature of content. The researcher will also carry out similar study to see how the programmes are produced in terms of the quality, style, presentation and content. (Rowland, 1964) There is an interrelationship between the television viewing and values and the understanding of wellbeing. This is the thesis of the articles written by Sandra K Smith Speck and Abhijit Roy. The authors have considered the values like religiosity and materialism as to how they came to be formed in the mind-set of the people who are in the habit of viewing television. This study primarily deals with the data collected from United States, New Zealand, Europe, Latin America and Middle East. They have not taken a single global culture but a multiple global culture. My present study is not an extensive study as here but I am dealing with a particular culture. Added to it, my research does not focus on the values like materialism and religiosity but I primarily deal with the role that a Television can play in providing social development to a particular society. (Speck, The Interrelationships betwen televsion viewing, values and perceived well being , 2008) The situation in Pakistan cannot be compared to the situation in India. Having received Independence from the colonial powers at the same time, the path of development has been different for both countries. The author analyses in depth the important factors found in the society of Pakistan which can lead the readers to determine what correct measures can be adopted in order to provide the maximum role for the communication and media in bringing about the nation building and

13 ensuring the development of the economy. The author argues “an effective assessment of the performance of specific media by itself cannot provide the enduring visions that are required to change the mass media organizations in Pakistan.” I differ from this perspective in my research. I am in fact analysing the performance of the individual media to offer a theory that even an individual media like that of a Television can provide social development in the society. Shuja Nawaz further elaborates on various measures which are needed to incorporate the mass media for the work of nation building and development. (Nawaz, 1983) “There was an era, just at the point when television started to become a mass medium, when researchers were concerned with the ways in which influence was disseminated,” writes Anthony Smith. In elaborating on the way the Television wields influence on the society, he observes that the effect of the experiment upon television is going to be very much interesting and similarly immeasurable. The researcher here deals with the one such experiment employed the Television organization called, Puthiya Thalaimurai. This news channel has come up with a special feature to help the development of the society. The effect of the programme is very much tangible. (Smith, 1985) Hideya Kumata and Paul J. Deutschmann write about the pervasiveness of the mass media of communication in the United States. They observe how over a period of years there is a rise in the audiences, in the quantity of mass communication agencies and also increase in budget for the advertising. The authors have conducted various researches to find out how the medium of communication can enhance the process of education. They have analysed every individual medium like Newspapers, Televisions, Radio, Magazines and Film to see how they play a vital role in imparting education. They also have taken into account of the various communication models in their study. The research here primarily deals with the role of television in establishing a pattern for social development. (Hideya Kumata, 1958) Lloyd I Rudolph places several various theoretical as well as experimental frame works in connection with media. The author first discusses the idea evolved by Singhal and Rogerism about an information society in South Asia. He further deals with the idea of Inglehart whose thoughts surround the postmodern society and who discusses on the issues of public discourse. The author provides a new space for the idea of cultural politics which the aforementioned authors do not deal with. The author discusses extensively about the situation in India about the media autonomy

and the promise of political parties to make the media autonomous free from the influence of government. The author in the end also speaks about the Hindu identity which is also cultivated through mass media. The author deal mostly about the issues of past and the media is officially autonomous and it enjoys a lot of freedom. So in the existing freedom, how does the media function is part of my research. (Rudolph, 1992) Rhoda Meta discusses in this article how television has become so much dependent on the advertising agencies. The author has dealt with each medium individually to see how the advertising agencies influence the television media as well as the consumer behaviour among the people. The author writes claiming that the growth in media shows a changed depiction. Television was just available medium that developed in actual footings, the consequence together of an extension in the spread of the medium and in the publicity possibilities presented. (Mehta, 1988) The Political Use of Television is an article written by Sidney Kraus who deals with the existing political situation in relation to the media. The author carefully assesses the way the television is used to score political goals especially in reference to the election of the presidents. “It is true that television can distort reality, but is can also offer a closer look at it. It is this closer look, the one-to-one relationship in the living room that distorts while heightening the believability of what is seen and heard” observes the author. In my research I would like to point out a differing opinion that the television need not necessarily distort reality but they present the reality as it is. However I am not offering a generalized opinion. With an analysis on an individual media – television and that too an analysis on a particular channel with specific programmes, I would like to state that the television can offer an alternative model of Social development by presenting the reality as it is. (Kraus, 1964) The author acknowledges the fact that the cable and satellite television have become a wide spread phenomenon in the developing world everywhere. The article clearly indicates how this phenomenon has come to affect the people‟s life styles and attitudes because the viewers are exposed to the life situation of different cultures and societies. Excitingly this critique probes into the notion of how the position of rural women has been affected since of the arrival of cable television. With the collected data the author goes on to make a claim that there has been a significant decline in the domestic violence because of the introduction of cable channels. The author claims that once cable television came to a village there have been remarkable alterations in

15 various aspects of social life namely the attitudes that the people had towards female gender. Since then women did not easily gave in saying that it was alright for the men folk to assault physically the women and also women did not show they hey preferred sons to daughters. (Oster, 2009) Vajpeyi contends that the component of support rendered by the public to governmental policies, actions and programmes is considered to be a very significant aspect in the involvement of the citizens and their cooperation in a democratic system. In this study respondents were asked about their opinion one polices of the government, programmes and actions, and also the kind of backing provided to governmental actions and policies. The questions were associated with the media‟s role in development. In the present research the author elaborates about the programmes taken up by the government and how far these programmes are successful in reaching out to the public. The study that I deal with does not refer to any governmental programme but my study deals directly with the initiative of private television channel in providing development for the society. The article however discusses also about the modernization which is result of the role of the mass media. The present article which is a joint work of Richard J. Gelles and Robert R. Faulkner deals with the significance of time for examining the television news and how the television news comes to be socially constructed. This research is an inquiry into some of the important factors which play a vital role in amassing the hard news and the authors find out that it is time which plays a vital role. With cautiously composed data, they confirm the importance of time. (Richard J. Gelles, 1978) Here is an interesting study which speaks about the rise in the usage of digital media consisting of music players, video games as well as computers owned personally by the youth in USA. This is how the youth are largely exposed to the media. The authors here maintain that the traditional media would soon be substituted by the modern media. The American youth is characterized by television that occupies an important space in their bed rooms and they tend to carry their mobile phones and music players in the pockets and they do possess much time to do multi- tasking and they are not just occupied with a single activity. The research shows an alarming truth that an eighteen year old average American chooses to spend not less than six hours for media consumption. This article thus emphasises the crucial role of media in the young lives of Americans. (Donald F. Roberts, 2008)

Television has enormous effects on the learning attitudes, the way one conducts oneself and also on particular social and political outlooks. As a researcher into the same field I do agree very much on this aspect. The Television says the author touches the social and political principles of individuals and it has become a matter of contention. The thesis of the article is that the effect of the television is to be seen also in the way a particular individual sees the world and comprehends the society. The article also systematically elaborates on how the individuals process information and how the processing of information adds to the building of society as a whole. Whereas, the research here focuses on the influence, that a television can create in bringing about social change and for the development of a society as a whole. (Robert P. Hawkins, 1981) The article deals with the association between the institutional power and the culture. The study also discusses at length focusing individually on cultural approaches as well as political and economic approaches. They focus also on the ownership and the control of television which play a vital role today, the authors also suggest a new term which is a video culture rather than the term which is often used namely television sociology. (Laura Grindstaff, 2006) This article deals with agenda seting by television news from a novel viewpoint. The author states that the issues which have not been taken into berofe have now been considered. According to the writer these issues either promote or weaken the agenda setting effects. Having carried out the complete data from around 1204 national news audiences, the authors categorized vatious charecteristics of audiences which also hold a role in the upsurge of the agenda setting effect of news programmes. The author claims that if the audiences have preceding information about the news subjects the results are going to be far-fetched. Viewing these news packages according to the author rises the agenda setting. Accoridng to the researcher, the television does play a vita role and the way the viewership to a television is, it impacts the agenda setting. If more people are concerned with towards the social development and if they approach the television from similar viewpoint, it will rise agenda setting effects in support of the development of the soceity. (Hill, 1985) S R Joshi observes that the rural population in the year 1990s in India were turning to be total participants in the age of televison. Television had significant impact on the lives of the people then. Television became according to the atuhor very much central to the lives of the Indian Soceity. This television was not just a

17 phenomenon of cities in india but the televison also occupied an essential role in the rural soceities of india. This is a book review and deals extensively the role that the television has come to play in modernising the soceity. The researcher in the curuent touches upon the same aspect that the television contributes enormously to social development. (Joshi, 2000) There has been an innovative progress concerning the method the news reportage is presently being done which is the creation of immediate shots of any news event, writes Joan Bieder. This has resulted in the immediacy in the coverage of the news. This has significantly aided the news presenters not to restrain the news to the news studio itself but to take the audiences to the ground zero where the news is happening. The researcher wishes also to analyse the role of new know-how in the field of journalism engaged by the medium of Television in its role for bringing about social change in the society. The channel which the researcher analyses also uses the new technology and addresses the issues of social development from the ground zero. The people are thus led to understand the issues and also made aware of the needed initiatives from the people for the development. The author here says that the fundamental keenness among the networks has strengthened, and the consequence is an added passionate use of the machinery. (Bieder, 1982) Charles A. Atkin and Walter Gantz in their article discuss much upon the ways the news is broadcasted in television and how that causes the political socialization. This study focuses very much on children and at the same time the adolescents who could obtain thoughts, outlooks and the sort of behaviour in association with the political setting by their practice of watching television news. This article also expounds on a theory that the socialization process among the children which begins from their emotional connections and identification with the famous political personalities and also the political organizations. The researchers here have used the questionnaire as their main tool of survey and they have collated the material from the rural and urban districts. The study shows that there is a relationship between the political socialization variables and news exposure from the television. The result also shows that considerable amount of children and adolescents have the habit of the news viewing in their early age. Through the quantitative study, the researcher has gathered many particulars and scrutinizes the connection between the television news among the children and which very much results in the political socialization. (Charles K. Atkin, 1978)

There is also association between the political Bias and television News, argues Anibal in his article. The author discovers that the television news has caused the deterioration in prejudice regarding political affiliations. The author extensively deliberates upon how the television makes among the public the much needed political consciousness. The researcher in his study is not so much interested upon the political awareness but the societal awareness. The researcher wants to examine how the news Channel can create awareness among the public about the social development. (Pérez-Liñán, 2002) Television has become undeniably a political tool in Tamilnadu. Television channels owned by the prominent leaders of two dominant political parties have played a vital role in transmitting the political messages to the population across the state. The political parties have used their respective channels to monopolise the opinion of the viewers. The author says that it is significant to see that the way these television channels function is very dependent upon the partisan politics. The way the content is formulated to be transmitted is a clear example of one party against the other. The television channels due to the interference of the ownership became largely a tool in their hands to score political mileage rather than serving the very purpose of the medium. The author also discusses the issue of social development through a particular programme named “Arattai Arangam” which was however not free from the interference. The author says the anchor of the programme left the particular channel citing the reason that he was not allowed to function properly and he was asked to butcher those programmes which was against the particular political party. This research clearly deals with how the medium of television is used only for the purpose of politics. In opposition to such channels, the researcher would like to delve deeply into a particular channel which is free from such political interferences and which focuses more on the social development. (Ranganathan, 2006) The author presents an argument that the cable television has come to take a shape without much public discussion as to how it should take a direction and how it should develop itself. The author discusses at length about the various issues that the poor face on account of the cable television. The author also sees the positive side of the Cable television especially in terms of how it can be of some help in creating their own programmes which can address their problems effectively. Jerold Opperheim makes an important observation that cable television can increase its reach of social

19 service. He suggests that the cable television can extend the hand of the doctors, social workers and others. In his conclusions he states that the cable television must be made accessible to the poor and it should no way be something that is inaccessible for the poor. The researcher deals with how poor should benefit from the programmes that are aired by the cable television. The researcher has thus taken a particular news channel and a particular programme from the channel as to how it can be of helpful tool in social development. (Oppenheim, 1975) The author says that there has been much made of the intensive capacity of the television for assisting the nation to develop the life situations of the poor in the developing countries. The Telecast for rural development is an article that deals with the use of space communication along the traditional television channels for the rural development. The authors analyse in this paper the nature of the current rural programmes that are being aired on television. What is more important is not the number of programmes with a particular content but more essentially the quality of these programmes that count. However, with regard to quality, rural telecasts – especially Krishi Darshan - have not acquired sufficient maturity to be able to impress viewers.” The author thus notes the deficiency that is present in the programmes that are currently on air and calls for a serious analysis of the content of the programmes which can have a very strong impact. The authors also suggest the modes of the demonstrations when it is all about the programmes that deal with the rural development: Illustrated deliberations, Interveiws, farm news coverage. Use of films/film strips and entertainment involving folk songs, folk dances and solo. While these authors propose a thesis that the television has to improve its role for the rural development, the researcher in his study tries to show how there are programmes right now on air from a television channels which very much deal with the social development in a creative way by inviting a maximum participation from the people. (N. P. Singh, 1975) The authors discuss the situation of media in Taiwan. Nevertheless, they make a universal claim that the role of media has been seen as political agent especially in Asia. The authors say that how the media has played a vital role in improving the consciousness among the people towards the need for democracy. The author says that this paper “arises from the faith that a vigilant examination of community television in Taiwan will deliver a superior perception of the relationship between freedom, the media, life and politics.” Thus there is an underlying truth that there is a

relationship between media and social development. It is this truth that the researcher wants to capitalize in his paper. In assessing the public television in Taiwan, the author says that the it has become a legitimate structure in this emerging civil society to influence the government and also to challenge its decisions. In short, it keeps check on the way Government carries out its developmental programmes. The researcher in his critical study would like to deal with the fact that how televisions channel can on its own create programmes for social development without any help from the government. The media here in this context realizes its role in social development and fulfils the same effectively. (Gary D. Rawnsley, 2005) The television has become a tool to feed the consumerism say the authors. The authors make an important observation that doordarshan has come to depend on industrial sponsors for revenues which is today a dangerous development. The author claims that there is a need for television channels to refrain from creating any sort of divisions and hatred and the industries must keep at bay all their cravings for profits and the television channels must focus on the need for developing nations and people‟s lives. This is essential remark that the authors make. This remark speaks much about the role of television in social development. The television has the role to play creating citizens from different walks of life. The authors also say that the television has the potential to create heroes, who are heroes in life. The television is powerful means of reaching out to the people. The television should be properly utilized for the promotion of social development. Film makers should be invited to produce videos on inspiring historic figures without being one-sided, moralistic, pretentious, or boring, or masterpieces of music and the arts. Such films should be short and well-edited to put across the message of achievement in many different fields. The agricultural ministry could surely finance films of this sort displaying how others could solve complications by modest methods and by community action. These are some of the suggestions that the author puts forward. It is these suggestions that are materialized in the programme that are under research study. (Baig T. A., 1987) Newspapers, Television and Political Reasoning is an important article that deals with the role of the researchers who should take pains in order to plot the educational role of the Journalism. It is this role of the media which will shape the future rationality of American political life. The authors also affirm the wide recognition that there is agenda setting which is carried out by the Media. The authors recognize the role of newspapers and television in contributing to dissemination of

21 information. The authors also take trouble to analyse how effective is the information sent out by the Newspapers in really educating the people. There is an interesting fact which researchers affirm that the public relies more on newspapers rather than on television for the information related to Politics. There is here a finding which speaks more about the role of newspapers rather than the role of Television. In the research that the researcher carries out on the other hand speaks more the developmental role of the Television. (Peter Clarke, 1978) The authors here speak about the change in emphasis in the developmental role of media which has shifted from mass media to personal media. It is affirmed here that the communication advances felt in this scenario today can greatly help the people to develop the quality of their environment in which they live and also their personal lives. The researcher very much approves with the outlook of the author who says that increasing modernization of society is very considerably reliant on upon the active participation which the media alone can kindle among the public. The description of communication technology as found here is the usage of gadgets to innovation and change which should aim at more all-inclusive and combined approach to resolve difficulties connected to education and society. This is precisely the argument of the researcher who contends that the use of mass media and especially the television should aim at providing all round progress of the society. (Ingle, 1986) An article by Moseley discusses about the novel suggestions which enhance the development of people in rural areas. He also suggests that the progress and development will be realized only when there is a cordial and successful partnership between the state and media. The author proposes models and different phases in the developmental process. The stages outlined here are Information phase followed by consultation phase, Local Commission Phase and finally the Implementation Phase. (Moseley, 1978) These phases could be compared to the developmental process that is being carried out by the Puthiyathalamurai Channel. Media Tycoon as Development Guru as an article questions the role of foreign media agencies which determine the development destiny of our nation. The author says that we all now live in a world of net-works and tie-ups. India is seen today as the favourite market for entertainment industry. The author records that “a disputed a figure of 300 million strong middle class craving for more entertainment and consumerism.” This is a big chunk of population which we cannot afford to ignore.

Which commercialization of media has become a reality, in this scenario, the development of ordinary public especially those who have rural bastion of India as their living surroundings, the problems of poverty and illiteracy will only persist and there will not be much of awareness created through the media. Hence the researcher in his study wishes to underline the role of Television which despite the competition from other media houses, continues to work the common man for the progress and development in the society. (Sinha, 1994) The important challenge that the media houses face today is to safeguard their credibility and the ethical values of Journalism. When it comes to the production of news there cannot be any compromise on ethics and truthfulness. The public should rely on the television channel. The author also discusses from the viewers‟ point of view saying that their interpretations can either be uniform or diverse in consumption of news. The author contends that it is the consolidation of democratic institutions which affect the journalistic practices in a particular country. The article also mentions about the citizen media which should be left absolutely free and not be controlled by the news organizations. The developmental works that are carried out by the Television channel called, Puthiyathalamurai works more or less as the Citizen journalism. (Mitu, 2010) Developing again on the theme of the role of viewers and their perception of the social reality, the authors discuss how there exists a relationship between the communication media and public issues. This relationship the authors say can be explained by three-way comparisons. First of all, there is the incidence of social problems as presented by the media. Secondly is how the public understand these problems and finally is the frequency of these problems. The authors make a significant claim that there is a possibility of Media operating in significant ways concerning the social problems. It is this which is proven true in the researcher‟s study. The article raises a question that if media is in a situation to play its role in shaping the public‟s attitudes or beliefs about something. The researcher however wishes to make this claim true by referring to the various programmes conducted by the Puthiyathalamurai Channel. The importance of local TV is also discussed at length. (Jeffrey C. Hubbard, 1975). Mass communication and Social change is yet another piece of literature that dwells very much upon the role of media in its contribution to the social development. (Fleu, 1966)

The media become very significant for human, growth, providing health facilities and education to the rural areas. But according to the experience, the freedom of the media can be delicate and simply bargained. It is very obvious that in order to keep up the growth, media need the right milieu in terms of liberties, abilities, and checks and balances. The achievement of agrarian growth programmes in emerging countries mostly hinges on on the nature and degree of use of communication means and in deployment of persons for growth. The organizers in emerging countries recognize that the expansion of farming could be accelerated by active usage of mass media. Radios, Television have been commended to be the powerful and influential media for dispersing the systematic information to the multitudes. In a country like India, illiteracy is rampant; the choice of which medium to use is of great significance. In this respect the television and radio are important, as they transmit contemporary agrarian know-how to literate as well as illiterate farmers alike even in interior areas, within short time. (Pujari, 2015) Media today as a whole involves more than one aspect to be dealt with. Media forms an essential part of the lives of all. The world of media is regardless of age and viewpoint as well as irrespective of creed and nationality. The media sector is estimated to be one of the most spread-out and booming industries. It is by now categorically clear that, media persons play the remarkable job of letting the masses recognize what is occurring around the globe and also within a few minutes of the news eruption. Media today is the object that makes life easier, bridges the gap, fills all vacuums and makes communication at all levels extremely simple, extraordinary and extensive. „The fourth estate‟ is well a fitting phrase to describe the media. That indeed leaves little for us to say to what extent the media is crucial. (Bhunia, 2010) Justice Markandey Katju contends that the media takes a very significant part to play in supporting the country to create the change from an old feudal society to a present-day industrialized one rapidly and without much pain. The media frequently distracts the responsiveness of the people from the actual matters to non-issues. The actual issues in India are socio-economic, the awful poverty in which 80% of our people are living, the enormous joblessness, the price rise, lack of medical care, education, and backward social practices like honour killing and caste oppression and religious fundamentalism etc. Instead of devoting most of its coverage to these issues the media focuses on non-issues like film stars and their lives, fashion parades, pop music, disco dancing, astrology, cricket, reality shows, etc. The Indian media must

now introspect and develop a sense of responsibility and maturity. That does not mean that it cannot be reformed. The author believes that 80 per cent people who are doing wrong things can be made good people by enduring persuading, pointing out their errors, and gently leading them to the honourable path. (Katju, 2011) The media has an indispensable duty in providing necessary information to the public about the daily event that occur in varied parts of the world, particularly in those places where people do not have any access to information. The author examines the consequence of the media in term of how the media generates the public opinion when it comes to social change and development. Media has a special duty in reporting important issues like the situations of the people suffering from various handicaps, crisis that the humanity today faces because of the negligence of environmental care and the issues related to economic proliferation. The author discusses how the media gathers the information and constructs debate and sets the agenda concentrating on public interest. The article notes that the media also firmly restrict the information with which viewers are able to place these issues in right perspective and analyse them and with meticulous care, the media also makes sure that the alternative proposals to resolve the issues are move away from the eyes of the public. In the study of news reporting of climate change, it is traced the way that the media have constructed ambiguity around the issue and how this has led to detachment in relation to possible changes in personal behaviours. The author elaborates the suggestions for communications and policy and how both the traditional and new media might assist in the progress of better informed public debate. (Catherine Happer, 2013) Halder‟s article is a very good literature which is an important addition to the speedily increasing literature of media organizations and practises within development communication. This book presents the reader to not only the years of development communication history, but it also reports debateable issues in public informatics by giving the expressive context and case studies intended to motivate discussion. Thomas L. McPhail has written a brief and inclusive approach to development communication studies for those involved in social change within present globalized world. Without burdening the reader, McPhail deliberates theoretical norms about the part of technology for growth while posing serious queries in development theory today. (Halder, 2012)

Media establishments do not just inactively transmit information reiterating the words of the authorized sources or carrying precisely the incidents of an event. They also do not select or discard the day's news in proportion to reality. Through their assortment and exhibition of the news stories, the reporters and the editors emphasis their consideration and effect the public's perceptions of what are the most central issues of the day. Our images of the world are moulded and developed in the way journalists frame their news stories. Media content is subjective to media workers including journalists, editors, correspondents, news producers, etc. Their individual attitudes, affiliations, beliefs, values, social and educational background, professional background, working environment impact media content. Their expertise form their roles and morals. These specialized roles and beliefs have an unswerving outcome on the content of the media. The atmosphere at work places of media organizations, amenities given to journalists and particularly the pay structure of the media workers impact media content. (Riaz, 2008)

Chapter 3

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1 Introduction

Research fundamentally means an undertaking on the part of the researcher to ascertain something in a specific arena of his concern. Research is so integral to one‟s life. It is something almost one carries it out every day consciously or unconsciously. In our daily life we examine, assess or weigh the pros and cons in order to perform our daily tasks. In principle all of us are researchers. Even though it is acceptable that all of us are researchers, it is very much important that one equips oneself with the required tools for research that guides oneself towards the discovery of the unknown or the unfamiliar. Research aims at the perception of phenomena in their natural setting so that it makes sense in terms of the essential characteristics that people attribute to the settings. The focus of the research is to realistically offer the findings to the others. It seeks to offer understanding of the human experience, perceptions, motivations, intentions and behaviours based primarily on description and observation and employing a naturalistic interpretive approach to a particular subject and its contextualized setting. Research consists of defining and redefining the research problem, developing a hypothesis or recommended resolutions; gathering, systematising and appraising data; making inferences and arriving at conclusions; and finally cautiously examining the conclusions as to how they are related to the hypothesis. The age of technology today has created a sense of curiosity among the social scientists, the governments, corporate agencies alike leading them to delve into mass media with a mind of a researcher. The cause for such is primarily the deep and strong impact that the mass media has left on the mass audiences. Hence the aforementioned are interested in discovering how they can make best use of mass media for their advantage. They would like to know how the media affects the groups and individuals, how media plays today a crucial role in the development of the society,

how the people tend to use the media, how the media affects the individual‟s knowledge of the current issues, how the media aids in providing cultural transformation and how the media can be used to achieve social, political and economic progress and growth among the people. (Syed, 2006) In order that this discovery may be profound and certain, the researcher should adopt a methodology that is feasible and reliable. It is essential to note that research methods and research methodology are different from each other. Research Methods refer to every technique that is employed by the researcher for conducting a particular research operation. Research methods involve the types of methods that the researcher finds appropriate while carrying out a study on his research problem. Research methods concern with the collection of data, establishing relationship between the data and the unknowns and also with the evaluation of the accuracy of the results. (Kothari & Garg, 2014) Research Methodology can be defined as a systematic approach to solve a research problem. Research problem refers to a topic or a subject which the researcher wishes to investigate, address and study through either experimentally or descriptively. This is the reason or the focus for the researcher to engage himself in research. Research Methodology therefore refers to a process which is adopted by the researcher to gather information and data for the purpose of addressing the research problem. The researcher should not only know what methods or techniques of research to use but must also be aware of which of these methods or techniques best suitable and relevant for his research and which are not. The researcher is expected to comprehend the assumptions underlying the different methods and also to know the criteria which will enable the researcher to decide that a particular technique or a procedure is applicable to his research methods. It is highly important therefore that the researcher designs his methodology to effectively address the research problem. The research methodology has therefore different dimensions and research methods are part and parcel of the research methodology. The scope that is available for research methodology is naturally far and wide when compared with the methods of research. The research methodology considers the logic behind the methods so that the conclusions of the research can be arrived at and evaluated. Hence methodology is a systematic examination of the research problem with the aim of arriving at a conclusion. (Roger & Joseph, 2003)

The researcher wishes to study the role of Puthiya Thalaimurai , a Tamil news channel, in providing development in different parts of the state of Tamilnadu and particularly in the districts of Tamilnadu and Dindigul and also how this channel has become a catalyst in facilitating the participatory social development. The researcher would like to analyse development oriented programmes and their impact on the society and how these actively involve the common man in developing the society. While there is a rush towards commercial success and accumulation of profits by the media houses, it is interesting that this channel has come out with these programmes with a purpose of awakening the society to realize its potential role in contributing to the society. Hence in this chapter, the researcher discusses the methodology the researcher is going to adopt in order to arrive at the conclusion.

3.2 Research Problem

Social sciences have proved that mass media and predominantly television can deliver information to the citizens of a country and that it has a strong impact on the viewers. India is a home to hundreds of television channels; there is a problem however as to how many channels as a medium of communication realize their responsibility to offer models of development in the society and to help change the pathetic situations of the people. India still suffers from various social evils and lack of development in very many places. The media has the potential to change the society and to bring about a change. It is however an ideal which needs to be actualized by the television medium. While every channel craves for success on monetary lines, it is a very few channels that are committed and dedicated to offer developmental programmes to the society. (Bertand & Huges, 2003) The problem the researcher addresses here in his study is while the television channels want to make sure that they have highest TRP (Television Rate Points), this Puthiya Thalaimurai channel broadcasts developmental programmes and has been very successful in encouraging participatory developmental model among the villagers. The researcher explores and assesses in his study the operational situations of Puthiya Thalaimurai channel and how it uses communication approaches, methods and the medium to promote social change and enhance effectiveness and sustainability. The major research questions here are: What is the significant role of Puthiya Thalaimurai channel in bringing about social change and development in the

29 society and how does the channel encourage the participatory model of development through its innovative programmes?

3.3 Objectives of Research

The focus of the research is to arrive at solutions to the research questions through the use of methodical procedures. The main aim of research is to find out the state of affairs regarding the situation of the television channels and particularly of Puthiya Thalaimurai regarding its role in bringing about the development and social change in the society. In order to carry out this research, the researcher has to analyse the programmes that Puthiya Thalaimurai channel telecasts and to see their effectiveness in producing change in the society. Just as each research work has a particular and exclusive purpose, the research here has also a specific purpose, that is, to analyse the development oriented programmes and to study their impact on the society. The following are the some of the objectives of the research: 1. To arrive at familiarity with a phenomenon called Puthiya Thalaimurai channel and to achieve new insights into its programmes aimed towards social development. 2. To portray accurately the characteristics of Puthiya Thalaimurai channel at a broader level and the characteristics of specific programmes under study. 3. To analyse each programme of Puthiya Thalaimurai channel with the help of the visual texts. 4. To examine the participatory role of development communication promoted by the Puthiya Thalaimurai channel especially through the programme titled “Nammal Mudiyum Nambu.” 5. To come to a conclusion that Puthiya Thalaimurai channel does play a vital role as a responsible medium of communication in providing participatory model of development in Tamilnadu through its various innovative programmes and content therein.

3.4 Defining the Topic

The researcher here wants to study the role of Puthiya Thalaimurai channel in bringing about the social change and development in the state of Tamilnadu. Hence the researcher defines the components of the topic

3.4.1 Puthiya Thalaimurai Channel

Puthiya Thalaimurai Television channel was launched on 24, August 2011. Puthiya Thalaimurai functions from Chennai, Tamil Nadu, and India. It telecasts news, discussion, documentary and infotainment programs. This channel is managed by Chennai-based, the New Generation Media Corporation, along with Puthiya Thalaimurai Magazine. The owning group is known as SRM Group of Companies. The channel claims that it is free from the political influence unlike the other channels in Tamilnadu which is run by the leaders of the political parties. The major political parties like DMK, ADMK and DMDK have their respective television channels and so there is certainly political influence, whereas Puthiya Thalaimurai which is owned by an independent group does not suffer from the evil of political sway. This channel has grown in popularity among the people of Tamilnadu because this channel highlights various social causes and connects with the ordinary public.

3.4.2 Development of the Society

Development of the society can be defined as a process of placing the people at the centre of development. Development of the Society basically implies that there is a commitment towards the weaker sections of the society in order to uplift them from their present situation to a better situation with basic amenities of life. Development of the Society can also be seen as the significant alteration of social structure, various patterns of social action and interaction which includes also the consequences and manifestations of such structures which are embodied in norms, values and symbols. In the state of Tamilnadu, there is still a lot to be done in terms of development of the society. Hence the researcher sees television as a possible means of becoming an agent of social change and development. This research paper concentrates on development of the society in the state of Tamilnadu and the issues that are addressed by the Television Channel under study. (Gandhi, 2008)

3.4.3 Various Social Issues

Tamilnadu faces various social issues that need immediate action. Currently one of the issues that Tamilnadu farmers face is the depletion of water resources. This is an issue that should be addressed effectively to make sure that the existing water reservoirs are protected. There are villages with ponds but because of the lack of maintenance they are no more in a position to hold the rain water and therefore the

31 water goes waste. If these village ponds undergo desilting process, they are sure to be useful for agriculture, animal husbandry, drinking water and so on. Hence Puthiya Thalaimurai channel plays a vital role by involving the public and helping them address the issue of water conservation. Alcoholism is another issue that the people of Tamilnadu suffer from. Sufficient awareness should be created about it. Besides there are other issues which the television can effectively address and create the needed awareness among the public.

3.4.4 Participatory Model of Development

The emphasis in development should bolster and advance the social abilities of people who are actively involved in social change. In order that this may take place, persons who work towards the development of the society need to adopt an active and dynamic role in the entire process of development starting from planning to implementing the activities of development. This is what we call as “Participation”. Participatory model of development enables the society to understand development from entirely a different perspective. This model is indeed a challenge to the conventional and bureaucracy led and top to down model of development. Such a model empowers the communities and individuals to prioritize their problems, planning an action and implementing the same to resolve their problems. The participation of people is no more at the level of passiveness, information sharing, consultation but it is more towards an interactive participation and self-mobilisation. Adopting a participatory approach enables the localities, the residents of the village to articulate their essential needs, their pressing issues, and problems and also to propose solutions for the same. As this process of participation takes place, it will become clear that there are different groups and different stakeholders who are involved. (Pretty, 1994) The researcher wishes to study the mode of development that Puthiya Thalaimurai handles in its efforts to provide social change and development to the society. The researcher wishes to analyse programmes like, Nammal Mudiyum Nambu, Rowthiram Pazhagu, Uzhavukku Uyirootu, Vidhigal Yarukkaga, Nerpada Pesu, Puthu Putu Aarthangal, Samaniyarudun oru naal, Neerthul Uyirthuli and Makkal Karuthu.

3.5 Content Analysis

Content Analysis is a methodology that the researcher has decided to use here to study the media content within a social science framework. The researcher‟s personal opinions and subjective biases will not become part of the findings. Various materials available on the research topic will be analysed to make claims. The researcher will be analysing the content of developmental programmes of this channel and to see how effective they are in contributing towards the development of the society. (Syed, 2006)

3.6 Survey

In order to examine the objective of this paper, the researched carried out a survey. In order to conduct the survey, the researcher decided to take the help of sampling through which the researcher could access information regarding the role of television as well as its credibility and its role in developmental programmes. Even though the researcher studies the phenomenon of television which is universal, he has chosen to study the particular television channel. In choosing the television channel, the researcher has restricted himself to just a news channel namely, Puthiya Thalaimurai. The objective of this research is to study the role of television and specifically Puthiya Thalaimurai channel on its role in development of the society. Even though it concerns the entire state of Tamilnadu, the researcher has chosen to collect the sample from two districts namely, Madurai and Dindigul as these places are more convenient for the researcher. To cover the entire two districts in collecting sample poses an impossible task, considering the time, hence the researcher has come to focus on two taluks one each in two districts. The researcher has collected the sample from the taluks of Madurai east and Dindigul. Madurai East taluk consists of following villages Rajakkur, Sakkimangalam, Sakkudi, Tamaraipatti Thindiyur, Tirumohur, Uthangudi, Vandiyur, Varichiyur, Velliankundram, Andarkottaram, Angadimangalam, Arumbanur, Ayliangudi, Narasingam, Othakadai, Panaikulam, Poolampatti , Porusupatty, Poyyakaraipatty, Chinnamangulam, Edayapatti, Elamanur, Elangiyendal, Isalani, Kadaikinaru, Kalimanglam, Kallandiri, Karseri, Karuppayurani, Kodikulam, Kunnathur, Kuruthur, Mangulam, Mathur, Meenakshipuram, Melamadai, Pudupatti, Puduthamraipatti,. These villages were further divided on the lines of cardinal directions one village

33 from each direction was chosen for the sampling. The villages that were chosen are Uthankudi, Kallandiri, Thamariapatty and Sakkimangagalm. The Dindigul Taluk has even more villages: Anjukulipatty, Avilipatty, Adianoothu, Madur, Agaram, Alakkuvarpatty, Ammakulathupatty, Anaipatty. Balakrishnapuram, Chettinaickenpatty, Emakkalapuram, Jothampatty, Kombaipatty, Konapatty, Koovanuthu, Kambiliampatty, Kanavoipatty, KothapulliKovilur, Kurumbapatty, Markkampatty, Marunoothu, Mullipadi, Pallapattym, Periakottai, Ragalapuram, Rajakkapatty, Shanarpatty, Siluvathur, Sakkiliankottai, Seelapadi, Sengurichi, Sirumalai, T.panchampatty, T.pudupatty, Thavasimadai, Thethampatty, Thadicombu, Thimmanallur, Thottanuthu, Vadakattupatty, Vathalathoppampatty, Veerachinnampatty, Vembarpatty, Vengamanoothu, Viralipatty, Vellodu, Vajraseraikarankottai,. These villages were further divided on the basis of cardinal directions and the sampling was done from the villages Ramayanpatty, Sirunayakkanpatty, Thavasimadai and Thadikombu. The researched has collected 222 samples from the two taluks.

3.7 Expert Interview

Experts in the field of media and television and journalism will be interviewed to find out their opinions on these programmes and as to how they see these programmes in relation to its social impact on the people. The experts contacted in this research are Mr. Lourdu Augustine: He is an active specialized professor in social sciences, psychology social work, counseling and social psychology possessing eight years of comprehensive and diverse experience in counseling, teaching and organizing various society-oriented health related projects, Shouldering the responsibility of lecturer in educational institution, Assistant director in NGO and counselor in a de-addiction cum family therapy institution. He is currently the Vice Principal and Assistant Professor of Anugraha Institute of social sciences, Dindigul Tamilnadu. Mr. Arun Oscar: He is a journalist currently working in Gulf Daily News. Earlier he had worked as a senior sub editor in the New Indian Express in Coimbatore and before that he was the Sub Editor in the New Indian Express in Madurai desk. He is an ardent observer of the media and especially in Tamilnadu.

Mr. Sampath Kumar: He is a journalist who covers the beat of rural development in places around Maduari. He has worked as a senior reporter in New Indian Express, Madurai and has now moved to Trichy and is working for Times of India. Mr. Ponraj: He is the associate editor at Puthiya Thalaimurai channel who has the first hand information about the way the channel functions and the kind of work that the channel carries out. Mr. John Raja Durai: He is the radio jockey and producer at Suriyan FM based in Madurai and also a professor at Madurai Institute of Social Sciences.

Chapter 4

FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS

4.1 Media Today

Mr Markandey Katju, The former President of Press council of India is forthright when he says that Media does not deal with commodities but with ideas and therefore the media‟s nature is very much different from the ordinary business. He calls for the progressive role from the part of media to be played today in India. The Indian media, in his words, should enable our nation to become a modern industrial state. This can become a reality only when media undertakes an attack on backward and feudal ideas and practices and a promotion of modern and scientific ideas. He laments the role of media as it is found today saying that the vast majority of Indian media and especially the electronic media do not serve the interest of the people but rather it has become anti-people. Most of the correspondents from various media houses, end up attending high profile events and it is only very few who actually attend to the pathetic situations of farmers, students and poor across the country. He cites the example of a Lakme Fashion week that was covered by 512 journalists while the makers of the garment for that fashion week, the cotton farmers were left to fend for themselves and many committing suicides and there was hardly any journalist to highlight these serious issues of the farmers. He suggests that in order to redeem the media from further plunging into the dirty muddle pool of internal pressure, TRPs pursuit and political pressure, the media must examine itself and develop a sense of maturity and responsibility to reform itself. The media which is also accountable to people just like any other institutions, must address the real issues with a focus on development and progress which are very vital to building the future India. (Katju, 2011) It is in this background, the researcher wishes to analyse the role of Television and particularly of Puthiya Thalaimurai, a Tamil News Channel about its role in providing development for the people of Tamilnadu.

4.2 Tamil News Channels

It is important in the first place to have an idea of various Tamil news channels that are present in the state of Tamilnadu. News emerging from the channels is politically conditioned, at least in Tamilnadu exempting a few. Jaya TV, for example, is full of staid news items of the Chief Minister presiding over awards‟ ceremony and inaugurating welfare schemes which are then praised and appreciated by her party men and the parliamentarians. During the time when Jeyalalithaa was behind the bars and as a result was removed from the position of chief minister, she was still addressed as the chief minister but with the term preceding it, “People‟s Chief Minister.” The journalists from Jeya TV say that they are bound by the restrictions because of which they are not in a position to bring to open the wrongdoings of AIADMK since the channel functions that party‟s mouth piece. On Jaya TV, for example there isn‟t much reference to one of the severe problems faced by Tamilnadu in the recent times, namely power shortage because Jeyalalithaa is now the chief minister. In Kalaignar TV there wasn‟t much reference to the scams in which the family members of Mr Karunanidhi and his party members were allegedly involved. (S.A., 2013) Besides these partisan channels, there are other channels which carry out the news coverage. A clear analysis of these channels will provide us information about the ownership, history, content and their impact on the society. This study concerns particularly Puthiya Thalaimurai channel and its specific role in development of the society. In order to learn what is so different about Puthiya Thalaimurai Channel and also what is that which makes this channel to stand apart from the others, we need to know the particulars of each channel.

4.2.1 Captain News

Captain TV was launched by the film star turned politician Vijayakanth in 2010. In a state where the major political parties have their own television channels and utilise them effectively to be their mouth pieces, it was only expected that the new comer to the arena of politics would soon start a television channel to promote his party. As the name suggests, this channel is owned by Vijayakanth, the founder of Desiya Murpokku Diravida Munnetra Kazhagam, who is popularly known as Captain among his party cadres. Captain Media Network was launched on 29th August 2012 as a 24 hour news channel which is known “Captain News”. Though their website

37 claims that this news channel is a solution to the problem of the domination of television industry in Tamilnadu by biased news propagandas, this very channel is not free from political pressure as this channel is owned by the leader of a prominent political party. The channel claims that its aim is to help the people of Tamilnadu to express their views on democracy and also to create a platform for the people to air their views and thus create a clean public and political life in Tamilnadu.

4.2.2 Jaya Plus

Jaya TV was founded by J. Jeyalalithaa, the ADMK party Supremo. Jaya TV is one of the major Tamil language satellite television channels in Tamilnadu launched in the month of August 1999. Jaya plus is a 24/7 Tamil news channel exclusively committed to news alone and it is also a part of Jaya TV network. Jaya Plus is a news channel in Tamilnadu which is also one of the major sources of news in Tamilnadu.

4.2.3 Lotus News

Lotus News was launched on 11 October 2012 with its headquarters in Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu. The Lotus News acts as the mouth piece of Bharathiya Janata Party (BJP) in Tamilnadu. The national political party BJP is yet to gain its hold in the state of Tamilnadu and therefore like other major political parties in the state BJP has also used the strategy of balancing its own channel. The BJP has decided to make use of the influence of TV in order to make its presence felt in South India, particularly Tamilnadu. According to the NDTV news bulletin, Lotus News would have to work hard in order to make its presence felt because Tamilnadu has already witnessed a clamour for visual propaganda. Lotus News began as the free live streaming via internet through which it hoped to gain popularizing among the youth in the state. The tagline which is “Unmai malarutum” means “Let the truth bloom”. Lotus News Channel has Padmini, the transgender as the news anchor which is first of its kind in India. Visually challenged kid Ramanajum is also the news presenter on every Saturday at 5. 00 pm on a programme called Agakkan which in Tamil means „Inner eye‟.

4.2.4 Kalaignar Seithigal

On September 15, 2007, Kalaignar TV was launched. The history behind the launching of this channel is incredibly fascinating because it is politically driven. The grandnephews of Karunanidhi, namely Kalanidhi Maran and Dayanidhi Maran who are the owners of Sun Network had differences of opinion with M.K. Azhagiri, son of Karunanidhi which resulted in DMK party supremo Karunanidhi launching a new channel. The official web site of Kalaignar Seithigal claims that it is been born to raise the standard of benchmarks and it is a league of its own kind. The channel, it says, has become the trendsetter which has given the other leading channels a run for their money. Kalaignar Seithigal which is a twenty four hour exclusive news channel in Tamil is part of the Kalaignar TV network. This channel has a close association with the top continent providers as well as the news agencies because of which they claim that they are able to provide all round news without bias and partiality. The news agencies include the likes of Asian News International, P.T.I and Reuters. (S.A., 2013)

4.2.5 Polimer News Channel

Polimer News Channel has today become a twenty-four hour Tamil News channel. Polimer is said to be one of the largest Multiple System Operator in Tamilnadu. This channel has been launched by PV Kalyana Sundaram, the business man who also runs other eight channels in various areas of Tamil Nadu. Polimer TV reaches out to all the Tamil speaking community across the globe. The channel functions from the city of Chennai. The channel is comprehensive in its vision: providing plentiful varieties together with reality. In short, Polimer, the channel official website claims, will soon become a vigorous and competitive channel in Tamilnadu with all other channels in the race. Polimer's main forte resides with the individuals. The channel has a number of most efficient talent on its rolls. A transparent idea supported by the utmost active intellects offers Polimer a transparent cut to climb up the crammed Tamil TV landscape.

4.2.6 Podhigai

Podhigai is a family of Doordarshan. It is the regional channel for Tamil speaking community. It is one of the 13 regional channels meant for local needs. Podhigai, as a Tamil word, means the serene, gentle breeze that is pleasant which

39 rises from the Podhigai Mountains situated in the southern regions and which cuts through the western parts of Tamilnadu. On 15th August, 1975, Doordarshan Kendra Chennai was launched. Since its inception in the year 1975, its journey has reached so many mile-stones as it has come along the history. It has grown vividly from strength to strength. It has acquired innovative technical facilities frequently. Beginning with two-hour regional-centred transmission at the time of its inauguration, the channel has slowly yet steadily increased the time of the transmission and in the year 1993, DD-5, in which Regional Language Satellite channel began to function. With the new name Podhigai TV, twenty-four hour Tamil channel was launched on 15th January 2000 on the day of Pongal. The channel still caters to the farmers addressing their issues and concerns. The channel has also various programmes addressing the needs of the youth and children and women. It is one of the preferred channels where the cable TV and Satellite channels are yet to make inroads.

4.2.7 Raj News

Raj Group owns varied channels. It is a group with the competitive and leading channels in India. Raj Network is a very successful channel in South India. This group has channels that each exclusively dealing with music and entertainment, movies as well as news. The quality of its delivery boasts of high capability which is an attraction to the customers. Raj Network has also its channels in other languages, like, Kannada, Telugu and Malayalam. The famous RTNL (Raj Television Network was launched in 1994 and since then it has been engaged in the broadcast of five channels which are Raj Digital Plus, Raj News 24x7, Raj TV, Vissa and Raj Musix. This network is said to be one of the largest Tamil television company in the region of south India. It has programmes which cater to the Tamil speaking communities and its programmes can also be seen by different age groups.

4.2.8 Sathiyam Television

Sathiyam Media Vision Private Limited has launched a twenty-four news channel in the state of Tamilnadu. The channel‟s official website claims that they provide their employees with absolute responsibility and total independence to report the news events with transparency and truth. It further says that they as a company have the passion to reach out to the Tamil community across the world with the characteristic responsible and honest news presentation on on-going issues that stand

as a proof of their spirit of journalism which are accompanied with clarity, authenticity and with the definitive convictions. The tagline of Sathiyam TV goes like this: Yes as yes and No as No which indicates that they do not manipulate or compromise on the news value and that Sathiyam TV is clearly focused on giving news in an integral, understandable and authentic manner avoiding any sort of sensationalism or slur. The website claims that the goal of Sathiyam TV is to prepare the nation to see the truth and guide the citizens to make decisions that facilitate the wellbeing of the nation as a whole.

4.2.9 Seithigal 7

Tamil Television which goes under the name News 7 Tamil Television is a part of the company called ABPL (Alliance Broadcasting Private Limited). It is said to be one of the fast growing channels in Tamilnadu that is well respected as well as one of the most watched channels in Tamilnadu and also among the Tamil speaking community across the world. The channel as its website claims has the credibility of providing an in-depth coverage of news items accompanied by international quality of production. Another important characteristic of this channel which adds to its credible nature is that the channel has an editorial board to review its content on air which is one of its kind in India to ensure the objectivity of the nature. This editorial board consists of eminent professionals from varied walks of life and they have come out with an editorial policy for the channel and have provided for the channel the guidelines which guarantees objective, unbiased and impartial news coverage. The chairman of the Editorial Board is Justice Venkataraman who is the Retired Judge of the Madras High Court. The other members of the board include Nick Walshe, poet Meena Kandaswamy, and former Vice-chancellor of Anna University Dr. Balagurusamy and Lawyer and Columnist Preeti Mohan. R Bhagwan Singh is the managing director of the channel who has decades of experience in the field of journalism. He has worked in various dailies and journals. The content of News 7 Tamil includes news coverage as well as views of the experts on different subjects that vary from international issues to domestic politics and so on. The channel also claims that it has a wide reach because of its objective nature and it raises social issues and displays its social concern. The channel also focuses on avoiding all sorts of sensationalism.

News 7 Tamil News channel has a programme known as “Maiyaam” and also it has debate shows which discuss various social issues like female infanticide, human rights violations, alcoholism, road safety and women empowerment. There are also daily debate shows which also concentrate on current issues providing complete information on every aspect of the problem under discussion. Through this objective nature, the channel boasts of unbiased debates and unadulterated opinions. Other programmes aired by the channel include, Theervugal and Andrada Aanmeegam,. Varaverpparai, Unavey Amirtham, and Poovaali which focus on motivation, spiritualism, gardening and food as medicine and meeting exemplary people.

4.2.10 Sun news

Sun group is indeed the biggest media conglomerate in India. Sun Network was launched in the year 1992 by Kalanidhi Maran. He is the grandnephew of Karunanidhi. Kalanidhi Maran also holds the posts of chairman and the managing Director of the Group of Sun Network. This media group is said to be the most profit earning television network. Sun Network boasts of 32 power-packed, different language television channels across India. Sun Network has indeed a great figure of reaching to the ninety-five million households in India. This Channel has a powerful presence across the world Malaysia, South Africa, Europe, Australia, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, Canada, Middle East, USA and Singapore. The Sun Network which boasts of 32 channels in India has in its fold the Sun News Channel which is exclusively committed to news coverage. Their official website claims that they have an enormous reach and high frequency which the other channels cannot even think of competing. They also say that they are the first ones to provide the news as well as the entertainment.

4.2.11 Thanthi TV

The infotainment and News channel called Thanthi TV which functions from Chennai was launched on 13 November 2012. The word “Thanthi” is well known among the people of Tamilnadu as the famous daily newspaper goes by the same name, “Daily Thanthi”. This reputed Tamil newspaper was started by S.P. Adithanar in the year 1942 in Madurai. NDTV Hindu was begun in Chennai as a city-specific English news as well as entertainment channel telecasting programmes only in

Chennai. This was however later taken over by Dina Thanthi group which renamed the channel as Thanthi TV. The channel which was then restricted only to the area of Chennai spread its telecast to all over Tamilnadu under the new name Thanthi TV, a 24/7 Tamil Channel focusing exclusively on news. Thanthi TV has been much popular in the recent times followed by the News 7 and Polimer. I would rate Thanthi TV better for its quality of news also based on public opinion. (Kumar, 2014)

4.2.12 Puthiya Thalaimurai

A recently launched Puthiya Thalaimurai news channel in Tamilnadu has become the most popular channel. This channel was launched in August 2011 as a regional Indian cable Television. This new channel has already posed a tremendous challenge to the well-established and already existing channels like Kalaignar News, Jeya Plus and Sun News. This channel claims to be an independent channel unchained and unrestricted by any politician or a particular political ideology. The tag line of the channel which goes thus: "Unmai Udanuk udan" literally translated in Tamil means providing the Truth as it happens. Puthiya Thalaimurai has already created a history for itself by climbing the ladder to reach the top spot, number one news channel in Tamilnadu in a period of just sixty days since it came to existence due to its characteristic Back to Back to live news telecast. AC Neilson had released their ratings which showed Puthiya Thalaimurai reaching the top spot with a Gross rating point of 35.94 on week 44 cutting across all districts in Tamilnadu. Mr Gnani Sankaran in an interview affirmed that the viewers see this channel as the most trustworthy channel and since it came into being, people have switched over to this channel. What is unique change that the arrival of this new channel has caused is to be seen in the way the other channels have now changed their accustomed methods of covering the news and adopted more innovative ways to attract the viewers as well as to be current and loud in the market of competition. (Philsandberg, 2011)

4.2.13 Developmental Programmes on Television

Puthiya Thalaimurai has a number of programmes that facilitate development; the other channels like Vijay, Thanthi are also promoting entertainment cum developmental programmes through various innovative projects. (Augstine, 2015) In

Tamil media world, Puthiya Thalaimurai channel‟s telecast is more of development programmes. They do not give much attention to viewership and sponsorship, for example, Veetukku Oru Vingani (Which offers the budding students to explore their imagination and come up with new inventions), Nammall Mudiyum (an initiative to renovate and preserve the water reservoirs and the ponds in interior villages dependent solely on farming), Rowthram pazhagu (which takes up the social issues and creates awareness among the public), uzhavukku uyiroottu (which educates the farmers on new ways of farming) (Ponraj, 2015). While news channels are booming in the country like India and particularly in Tamilnadu, only very few would be able to survive and gain attention among the public by means of providing content that is unbiased, impartial and authentic today. Puthiya Thalaimurai indeed has changed the style of news channels on par with that of the national news channels in the state.

4.3 Classical Models of Communication for Development

There is a broadly recognized diversity of methodologies in framing the policies for planning development communication models for social change, where rural people are understood to be much different from people in urban societies when handling the issues like social awareness and active participation in the activities for development. Quite recently, there has been an unparalleled awareness in rural parts for becoming more informed about places further than their own areas, where media have become an agent for change. The concept of Development communication can be defined as “Communication that provides for Social Change and Development.” Development communication implies spreading information and knowledge that is focused on reaching an agreement on the level of stakeholders to adopt a measurable action taking into consideration of needs, interest and capacities of everyone who is part of the decision making process. Development communication signifies a social process. Media and communication tools are thus vital in realizing this process. (Servaes, 2011) Communication for Social Change and Development is a multi-layered, multi- sided and very much a participatory process which enables the people to become empowered so that they are in a position to decide for their destinies. Culture which is essential to development merits great weight in communication for social change and development. (Servaes, 2011) In agreement with the aforementioned designs of the

concept of “communication for social change and development”, the subsequent traditional models are articulated: Daniel Lerner has come up with the concept that media must play a vital role in creating and supporting and strengthening interest among the citizens for a life that is socially well off as well as media needs to ensure that there is literacy on the increase and productivity that is on the rise. The book written by Daniel Learner, namely, “The passing of Traditional society elaborates the same concept at length. (Learner, 1958) The concept constructed by Everett M. Rogers‟s is about cultivating positive thinking and attitudes by utilising communication for development. His book titled „Communication and Development‟ proposed the well-known Diffusion of Innovations. It is said that the cultivating positive thinking in those who are indifferent to the conveyed message through new practises and ideas is very much central for the process of modernization. (Rogers, 1962) The concept of Media as magic multiplier for national development is a concept developed by Wilbur Schramm. It is very much dealt with in his book, “Mass Media and National Development”. This book says that the content of the conveyed message for development and social change is in fact the crucial element. The media needs to make sure that it makes available the required amount of learning and information for the people. (Schramm, 1964)

4.4 Communication for Development

In the 1960s there was a resilient confidence in the influence of mass media to definitely spread concepts on social change. Cries to develop mass communication organizations of developing countries were heard as a reply to the UN General Assembly Report which said that 70% of the total population in the world had poor access to information. There was a need then to author a guide on how developing nations could augment the influence of the mass media to pitch for development. (Singhal, 1987) Wilbur Schramm accepted to write the book. The result was this book, Mass Media and National Development: the role of information in the developing countries. This book tacitly maintains that the country promoting the development is in fact very ideal, and that the media can accelerate the course. Schramm says that the media induce people to adopt changes. Nevertheless, media cannot do so much when it

45 comes to persuading people in making major attitudinal changes. The book deliberates on campaigns like health, literacy, agriculture as well as formal education using effectively the mass media. The works of Rogers, Lerner, and other well-known modernists say that the notions from this book have been extensively challenged worldwide, particularly when it comes to the influence of mass media in persuading people to change their behaviour and attitudes. Schramm is one of the early thinkers to consider that communication plays a vital role in the development of the countries that are ridden with socio-economic problems. He had a very strong belief that the mass media could actually improve the living conditions of the people by providing an alternative to the sources of information of local schools, increasing the contacts of agency field workers who work for the development and also supporting the people to come forward so that they and their children can avail the opportunities for learning. The concept developed by the Schramm which is about an interaction between the mass communication and the development of the nation laid foundation for many national development schemes. This use of communication for the development indeed brought about social, economic and political evolution and vice versa. The preoccupation of Schramm was the practical implications of utilizing mass communications to enhance the economic and social development in the developing nations. His conceptualisation of an association between the communication and social development became a guiding principal for many developmental programmes. Schramm argued saying that the knowledge should be gathered on more extensive basis and the same should be shared widely. He also said that the information must be transmitted quickly. The developing nations, he said must be ready and willing to let the day to day communication within increase rapidly. He affirmed that there should be sufficient material support and technical facilities, qualified personnel and efficient means of financial assistance. Without such, the communication development would not be possible so it is true that education, social and economic development and communication development are so much interlinked. In order that the message may be effective Schramm suggested that the content of the message must be effectively planned in accordance with the social and psychological elements. The selection of media should be such that the development task that is required to reach the audience is accomplished. (Schramm, 1964) Schramm held that

it is the participative group work that is very basic to any sort of development or growth activity and in this sense Puthiya Thalaimurai with its “Namma Mudiyum Nambu” facilitates the participative model of developmental process. This channel engages more and more people from the localities in discussion and decision making by which more voices are heard and at the same time more concerns are addressed. This model of development that Schramm has proposed in the early 1960s, it is said that it had only limited success in the developing nations. The studies had proved that the theories like trickle-down development and bullet theory of communication did not work that effectively. Later in 1970s and 1980s it was recognized that the group activity in the villages was an important means of facilitating developmental process. The communication should be bottom-up and it should be horizontal among the villagers and these are important just like the top- down communication from the Government to the villagers. Mass media communication requires combining interpersonal channels with the organisation of the village to realize the development. Although Schramm‟s models of development may be considered ineffective today, his thesis that the information should be shared and shared widely for development to take place is highly regarded and this thesis is the reason why development communication has reached the place that it holds today. (Singhal, 1987)

4.5 Puthiya Thalaimurai Model – A Participatory Model of Development

The objectives of Television were to improve the rural primary education, to provide training to teachers and also to progress agriculture, hygiene, health, and nutritional practices and finally to contribute to national progress and development and thus become an agent of social change. The participatory form of development is long-lasting and durable. The government dolling out to people free bonanza makes the people passive and for development and progress, their contribution becomes nil. The initiative taken by Puthiya Thalaimurai channel is laudable, especially in terms of letting the people participate in the process and enabling the people to participate actively in creating the change that is very much needed for the society, however there is still more needs to be done in this regard. (Augstine, 2015). What Puthiya Thalaimurai has been doing in terms of letting people part take in the process of development is indeed a good model. Without participation of people it will cease to exist as a durable model or else it will be merely considered as a social

47 service. The present model of development as evolved by Puthiya Thalaimurai has become today a movement of the people. Enshrouded by the cloud of commercial media, Puthiya Thalaimurai model of development is very much encouraging and comes as a lightening, raising the hope of the people to the new heights. (Ponraj, 2015) History is evident to the fact that revolutions have taken place as a result of when the public and the stake holders are mobilized. Mere reporting on the environmental issues and on water scarcity may not serve the purpose. But participation of the public in the developmental programmes which would yield considerably a productive change as the administration would be forced to look into the issues at the earliest. Several such initiatives taken up by Puthiya Thalaimurai Channel have brought in changes in the society proving it to be much effective. (Kumar, 2014). The news channels have to reach out far and wide. Their programmes should be participative, where common people have their say and where they are keenly listened to and where they actively participate in the decision making process. Hard work and truth that Puthiya Thalaimurai focuses on will always triumph. (Augstine, 2015) Even though Puthiya Thalaimurai has been doing a great job in terms of providing a perception to the general public on varied issues, often debates on political issues are of no significance and they have to be avoided. (Kumar, 2014) Ponraj says that the televisions channels should go to the villages and address the problems faced by the common man facilitating the participation from the people. (Ponraj, 2015)

4.6 The Analysis of the Survey Findings

4.6.1 The Respondents – Gender Division

Table 1 Gender Division

Gender Frequency Percent Male 142 64.0 Female 80 36.0 Total 222 100.0

Figure 1 Gender Division

There were two hundred and twenty two samples collected from the two Taluks of two districts namely Madurai and Dindigul. The Taluks are Madurai East Taluk and Dindigul Taluk. Among the two hundred and twenty two samples, the above chart (Fig. 1) shows that the majority are male who make up 64% and the rest 36% consists of females. This is an indication that it is men who are more into watching news. The chart is an indication to the fact that the involvement of women in discussing the politics and development is low as compared to men. However 36% of women watch news channels is a good pointer to the future that women are beginning to be more involved in the affairs of politics and development. However there is much still to be done in bringing awareness about the role that women should play in politics and developmental issues of the country.

4.6.2 Age Factor

Table 2 Age Factor

Age Frequency Percent Cumulative Percent < 18 19 8.6 8.6 18 - 25 28 12.6 21.2 26 - 30 41 18.5 39.6 30 - 35 33 14.9 54.5 35 - 40 39 17.6 72.1 40 - 45 34 15.3 87.4 45 - 50 15 6.8 94.1 50 - 55 8 3.6 97.7 55 - 60 3 1.4 99.1 > 60 2 .9 100.0 Total 222 100.0

The below chart (Fig 2) shows that the respondents are from different age groups. The majority are from the age group of 26-30 who make up the 18.3%. Immediately after that group comes the age group 35-40 who consist of 17.4%. The third majority is the age group between 40 and 45 which amounts to 15.2%. The respondents are mostly from the rural areas.

Figure 2 Age Factor

This majority depicts the truth that the age group between 30 and 45 are very active in media consumption. They are also involved in discussions about the politics and development. This is also the group which looks to the future that is promising and bright.

4.6.3 Education

Table 3 Education

Education Frequency Percent Cumulative Percent

10th Std 67 31.0 31.0 12th Std 54 25.0 56.0 Under Graduate 41 19.0 75.0 Post Graduate 24 11.1 86.1 Diploma 30 13.9 100.0 Total 216 100.0

Figure 3 Education

The above chart (Fig 3) shows the education of the respondents. Of the total number of the respondents who amount to 222, only 216 respondents answered this

51 question. The highest column in the chart belongs to the respondents who have been to the high school. This is the highest education that they could get and they amount to 31% of the total respondents. Immediately after them follows the group which has completed their 12th std. They are 54 of the 216 respondents that have answered this question and they make up the 25% of the total number of the respondents of this question. The undergraduates amount to 19% and the post graduates are 11%. There is also a group of 13.9% respondents who have completed the diploma. It is to be noted that the majority of the respondents (56%) have not gone to college. Coming from the rural areas, the respondents show the trend that is present even now that their education mostly stops with the school and that it is only few who pursue their education further. The majority of the respondents are from less-educated group and therefore they stand in need of more awareness and social development at least in the field of education which they should have continued in their lives. The reason for such unfortunate situation in their lives could be many which include poverty, lack of awareness and less scope. Hence it is admissible that they are also driven from their own experience to desire for progress and development in the society,

4.6.4 Income

Table 4 Income

Income Frequency Valid Percent Cumulative Percent

< 5000 37 20.2 20.2 5001 - 10000 118 64.5 84.7 10001 - 15000 19 10.4 95.1 > 15000 9 4.9 100.0

Total 183 100.0

The income of the respondents is an indication as to which economic group he or she belongs to. The majority of those who have answered this question come from the income group ranging from 5001 to 10000 per month and the next group that follows earns less than 5000.

Figure 4 Income per month These two groups together make up 84.7% of the total number of respondents to this particular question. This once again is an indication to the economic status of the respondents arising from the rural areas. The presence of such a vast majority that earns less than five thousand per month is also an indication of the need to improve their life situation.

4.6.5 Profession

Table 5 Profession

Profession Frequency Valid Percent Cumulative Percent

Government Employee 14 6.3 6.3 Private Employee 84 37.8 44.1 Farming 37 16.7 60.8 Self Employed 55 24.8 85.6 Student 32 14.4 100.0

Total 222 100.0

Figure 5 Profession

The above chart (Fig 5) represents the occupation of the respondents. The respondents hail from the Taluks of Madurai East and Dindigul which are predominantly rural. In the villages of Madurai East, farming as a profession is very minimal as the land there is not a cultivable land. The villages are surrounded by quarries hence men as well as women work as stone cutters. Many other men work as drivers, cleaners and as mechanics. The women folk also work and they go for mills as daily wage labourers. Many in these places also run petty shops, street vendors, hawkers and so on. In Villages surrounding the taluk of Dindigul, even though the land was once cultivable, because of the industrial waste emanating from leather industries have contaminated water resources as well as the soil because of which they have undertaken various other professions like load men, shop keepers, waiters at small restaurants, drivers and the women go to mills for meagre income. Some women also go to work as part of Government scheme called NREGA (National Rural Employment Guarantee Act). The Chart above is clear indication once again of the economic situation of the communities. It is only very few who are government employees. 37.8% of the total respondents are private employees and 24. 8% of the respondents are self-employed and 16.7% of the respondents are farmers.

4.6.6 Residence

Table 6 Residence

Residence Frequency Valid Percent Cumulative Percent Madurai East Taluk 114 51.6 51.6 Dindigul Taluk 107 48.4 100.0 Total 221 100.0

Figure 6 Place of Residence

The samples were collected from these two districts. The researcher focused on two Taluks, namely Madurai east and Dindigul. The Researcher had tried to collect samples from five villages from each taluk. From Madurai East, the researcher had collected 114 samples and from Dindigul, the researcher collected 107 samples. The researcher for his convenience chose these Taluks. Again, the researcher, as said earlier, concentrated on a few villages in each taluk which represented the four cardinal directions. It is the desire of the researcher to be comprehensive and inclusive as much as possible. The perception of the public here includes the public from the Taluks of Madurai east and Dindigul.

4.6.7 Frequency of Watching Television

Table 7 Frequency of watching Television

Frequency of watching Frequency Valid Percent Cumulative Percent Television 0 - 30 Minutes 31 14.0 14.0 30 - 1 hour 131 59.0 73.0 1 - 2 hours 49 22.1 95.0 Above 2 hours 11 5.0 100.0

Total 222 100.0

Figure 7 Frequency of Watching Television

The television has entered into every house. The researcher has found that every respondent spends time in front of the television. The above chart (fig: 7) indicates that 59% of the total respondents spend 30- 1 hour watching the television. The next majority is the group that watches television spends 1-2 hours in front of the television.

4.6.8 Channel that the Respondents watch to get News

Table 8 Most Preferred Channel

Channel Frequency Valid Percent Cumulative Percent Jeya Plus 7 3.2 3.2 Kalaignar TV 8 3.6 6.8 Polimer 31 14.0 20.7 Puthiya Thalaimurai 75 33.8 54.5 Sathiyam Seithigal 18 8.1 62.6 Seithigal 7 13 5.9 68.5 Sun Seithigal 24 10.8 79.3 Thanthi Seithigal 41 18.5 97.7 Podhigai 5 2.3 100.0 Total 222 100.0

Figure 8 Most Preferred Channel

To the question as to which channel the respondents watch, 33.8% of the respondents have shown that their preference is to watch Puthiya Thalaimurai channel. There was a time when the people of Tamilnadu did not have a choice other than the news channels owned by the two major Dravidian parties. Gnani Sankaran, a political commentator in an interview said that the viewers still consider Puthiya

Thalaimurai Channel as the most credible channel and that Puthiya Thalaimurai has kept the promise.

4.6.9 Credibility of News Channels

The media houses are today owned by some political leaders and that affects the credibility of news. When channels are owned by the politicians, the channels carry their own political flavour. If it is a ruling party that owns the channel, the said channel promotes the policies of the ruling government and its leaders. If it is an opposition party that owns the channel, it telecasts only those agitations and protests that are conducted against the government. What is very interesting in this scenario is that the people are aware of such a situation and they know the loyalty that each channel displays to its ownership.

Table 9 Credibility of the Channel

Channels Frequency Valid Percent Cumulative Percent Jeya Plus 6 2.7 2.7 Kalaignar TV 7 3.2 5.9 Polimer 27 12.2 18.0 Puthiya Thalaimurai 87 39.2 57.2 Raj Seithigal 2 .9 58.1 Sathyam Seithigal 14 6.3 64.4 Seithigal 7 10 4.5 68.9 Sun Seithigal 8 3.6 72.5 Thanthi Seithigal 43 19.4 91.9 Podhigai 18 8.1 100.0 Total 222 100.0

Ron Whittakar, one of the television theorists, says that even though television has had some success, it is also true that in last few years the credibility of news channel has been called into question. TV news has lost its true character of being a public interest programme as it used to be. Media industry today thrives as a cash machine running after the ratings. In the age when media industries are characterized by mergers and convergence, stress has now been laid much on business ventures and corporate profits. The roles of writers, technicians, reporters and videographers have been redefined in the scenario of corporates running the media industry.

The success of the television is not seen today in terms of how much of social change and development that the channel facilitates, but the rating points prove the success and these rating points what fetch the media houses profits and optimize the size the audience. This has changed the functioning of television causing a change from stories that have socio-politic-economic significance to stories that are eye grabbing and those which the audience understand easily. With the arrival of tabloid TV shows, the stories with news value are distorted to serve one‟s own purposes. (Rahman, 2009)

Figure 9 Most Credible Channel It is essential here to see that 87 out of 222 people believe that this Puthiyathalamurai is a credible channel followed by Thanthi Seithigal, Polimer and Podhigai. Those channels which do not have any explicit political affiliations are considered by the respondents as the credible channels. However media may have come to be institutionalised, television is inevitably a political agency. Television is very often considered as an opening to the world and in one way or the other it is so. During the time of crises, television has the potential to be the window through which the citizens have an access to the facts; however, this possibility is restricted and limited. This limitation is not because of the nature of medium that television is but it is because of the restrictions which the institutions of government impose on it in the name of regulations. The window therefore ceases to be one, it becomes a mirror

59 which reflects the image of those who own the media, control the media and restrict the media. Hence the media loses its credibility in the eyes of the viewers. It is rather unfortunate that almost every political party in the state of Tamilnadu owns at least one news channel. Media has always been used by political parties to spread their ideology and air their perceptions. It was the print medium then and as the satellite channels gaining significance, news is being manipulated by different news channels based on their political ideology which is indeed affecting the credibility of news to greater extent. (Kumar, 2014) I would not be wrong, says Augustine an expert interviewee, if I say, media has no credibility because Media is a place where reality is constructed; where truth is a matter of perception, and information provided by the media is filtered through the microscopic eye of the powerful. No wonder news channels are offspring of the media house and they are powerful architects of reality; worse is that they are the tools of political propaganda and a means to justify the acts of the powerful. The scams, twists in the historical judgments and criminal political leaders enjoying their power are outstanding examples and their respective news channels are nothing but disciples who glorify their leader irrespective of the objective reality. The crime of the powerful are swept with media dust under the carpet through glorious unending prime-time debates. All of us enjoy a good debate without any outcomes, the jargons and slogans feed our curious minds. News channel owned by the powerful can never have any credibility because their primary goal is making white into black and black into white and Augustine, believes that the credibility is affected heavily. But as the same Media is in the phase of transformation, the eagle eye of the media watches every move the politicians make. But there is a serious question about the credibility of media. (Augstine, 2015) Mr. Ponraj contends that the problem in Tamilnadu that the News channels face is the mode of transmission. When SCV cable (Sun TV group) ruled cable world, it did not allow the growth of other channels. Now that the most of the cable network is with the Tamilnadu government cable corporation, the problem is not resolved; it persists because of political bias at the top level. If any channel telecasts news against the government, the channel soon faces one or the other problem. (Ponraj, 2015)

4.6.10 Addressing the Issues of Farmers, Poor and Marginalized

Katju suggests that in order to redeem the media from further plunging into the dirty muddle pool of internal pressure, TRPs pursuit and political pressure, the media must examine itself and develop a sense of maturity and responsibility to reform itself. The media which is also accountable to people just like any other institutions, must address the real issues and focus and development and progress which is very vital to building the future India. (Katju, 2011). It is one of the primary duties of the televisions channels today to address the issues of the farmers and the neglected of the society. The communication medium must employ its potentials and available resources in order to bring a change in the society. With the advertisements becoming a major source of income and the ownership having an unprecedented control in deciding the agenda for the channels, the real issues of the nations never get the limelight they do deserve. The channels must bring it to open the pressing issues faced by the farmers, the poor and the marginalized for the mass audiences which otherwise remains hidden and an issue only of the suffering lot and not of the entire nation. When providing sensational news becomes a least priority, the issues of the neglected will surely get the priority, contends Augustine in his interview.

Table 10 Issues of Poor, Farmers, Marginalized

Channels Frequency Valid Percent Cumulative Percent

Jeya Plus 5 2.3 2.3 Kalaignar tv 5 2.3 4.5 Lotus Seithigal 1 .5 5.0 Polimer 28 12.6 17.6 Puthiya Thalamurai 101 45.5 63.1 Raj Seithigal 1 .5 63.5 Sathyam Seithigal 14 6.3 69.8 Seithigal 7 11 5.0 74.8 Sun Seithigal 4 1.8 76.6 Thanthi Seithigal 32 14.4 91.0 Pothigai 20 9.0 100.0 Total 222 100.0

Figure 10 Issues of Farmers, Poor, Marginalized The chart (Fig:10) clearly shows that 45.5% of the total respondents have chosen Puthiya Thalaimurai Channel as the one which most addresses the issues of Farmers, poor and Marginalized. The next in the line is Thanthi Seithigal which has 14.4% of the total respondents and in the third place we have Polimer which has the 12.6%. The first three channels here are politically free channels. These channels allot sufficient space to address the issues of the neglected in the society. Markandey Katju says that most of the correspondents from various media houses, end up attending high profile events and it is only very few who actually attend to pathetic situations of farmers, students and poor across the country.

4.6.11 Most Innovative Channel

These innovations from the technical side has boosted Puthiya Thalaimurai news channel and led to reach the first position among the existing news channels in Tamilnadu. In Tamilnadu television news channels often serve as the mouthpiece of political personalities.

Table 11 Most Innovative Channel

Channel Frequency Valid Percent Cumulative Percent

Imayam Seithigal 1 .5 .5 Jeya Plus 5 2.3 2.7 Kalaignar TV 8 3.6 6.3 Lotus Seithigal 2 .9 7.2 Polimer 31 14.0 21.2 Puthiya Thalaimurai 83 37.4 58.6 Raj Seithigal 4 1.8 60.4 Sathiyam Seithigal 18 8.1 68.5 Seithigal 7 13 5.9 74.3 Sun Seithigal 9 4.1 78.4 Thanthi Seithigal 41 18.5 96.8 Podhigai 7 3.2 100.0 Total 222 100.0

Figure 11 Most Innovative Channel

It is remarkable that 37.4% of the respondents have chosen Puthiya Thalaimurai as the most innovative channel. Puthiya Thalaimurai has been very creative and innovative in coming up various new programmes that immediately catch attention of the people.

The kind of issues raised through these programmes may be the same as addressed by other channels but the manner in which these issues are brought to discussion what makes this channel really innovative. Puthiya Thalaimurai 24/7 news channel has situated itself now as channel free of political patronage and also it has become the first channel with High Definition in India as such and also it has gained more audience through its clear and bright visual, crystal clear graphics, and it has also roped in newest equipment for broadcast from across the world. In such a situation, what Puthiya Thalaimurai does is indeed a strange concept. The channel has issued few guidelines for the journalists working there in order to maintain the code of ethics as journalists. The channel boasts of thirty-two stringers and twenty-five reporters who are all spread across the districts of Tamilnadu. (Leena, 2012) R P Sathyanarayanan, the managing director of Puthiya Thalaimurai elucidating the idea behind the channel says this channel would function as an impartial news channel, predominantly for the promising young generation and that Truth would be their motto. Within three months of launch, the first independent news channel Puthiya Thalaimurai in the state of Tamilnadu has been rated as number one, in accordance with statistics as released by AC Nielson. Mr S Srinivasan the News Director for Puthiya Thalaimurai Channel said that its way of news production is one of its own kind which is most often reported-led and maintains a policy of absolutely free editorial. In describing the success of Puthiya Thalaimurai, it is said that its ability to cover news from all thirty-two districts of Tamilnadu and to make them a live programme with relevance has resonated positively with the viewers. (Philsandberg, 2011) The channel also has many new age infotainment programs that gives importance to all sections of society such as "Veetukoru Vignani" for identifying student scientist, Ayutham Seivom to unearth the talent of a common man, "Ulavukku Uyirootu" for the updating the farming community with new techniques of farming, "Sikkanam Semippu Selvam" to promote the habit of small savings etc. Puthiya Thalaimurai channel is the excellent and only genuine media in Tamilnadu. Puthiya Thalaimurai never goes behind TRP rates and always works for people of Tamilnadu. (Ramnath, 2012)

4.6.12 Channel that Promotes Developmental Projects

It is true that media needs to provide entertainment to people too but the caution should be undertaken to see that it is not overdone. Mr Katju disapproves the tendency calling it something seriously wrong that 90% of media coverage is given for entertainment and leaving only the remaining 10% media coverage for real issues that afflict the nation. He raises a question: “Does a hungry or unemployed man want entertainment or food and a job?” He continues expressing his displeasure with the media which allot enormous space for interests of business and bare minimum for the developmental issues which include education and health. (Katju, 2011)

Table 12 Developmental Projects

Channels Frequency Valid Percent Cumulative Percent

Jeya Plus 5 2.3 2.3 Kalaignar TV 3 1.4 3.6 Polimer 20 9.1 12.7 Puthiya Thalaimurai 116 52.7 65.5 Sathiyam Seithigal 6 2.7 68.2 Seithigal 7 10 4.5 72.7 Sun Seithigal 5 2.3 75.0 Thanthi Seithigal 34 15.5 90.5 Pothigai 21 9.5 100.0 Total 220 100.0

In elaborating the role of media, Mr Katju does not mince his words, and accuses that the media today takes away the real issues and broadcasts only non- issues. According to him, the real issues in India are socio-economic – enormous lack of employment, exorbitant rise in prices, gross negligence of medical assistance, pathetic education systems and shameful poverty. The media today gives no significance to these real problems but gives utmost attention to frivolous issues which include fashion parades, dancing, reality shows and film stars, he argues.

Figure 12 Developmental Projects

The above table and figure show that 52.7 % of the total respondents believe that it is the Puthiya Thalaimurai channel which plays an important role in carrying out the developmental projects. The various programmes run by the channel which have become very popular today prove that this channel has no competition when it comes to carrying out the developmental projects. Media plays a vital role in providing development at all levels to the society. By the way the media informs influences and entertains; media helps improve the life situations of the people. The media cannot overlook its primary duty to the people of nation and gives more stress on it being a free enterprise that functions according its own interests, the credibility of media are under serious threat. People are ready to welcome a new programme that has development as its objective. But the challenges are its sponsors, producers and financial requirements that would be needed to promote such developmental programmes. The other challenges would be TRP; the choices of Television channels are abundant but people would refuse to watch anything to do with developmental shows. (Augstine, 2015). .

4.6.12.1 Developmental Programmes Launched by Puthiya Thalaimurai

Puthiya Thalaimurai has come up various programmes that aim towards the development of the society and that which realize social change through enabling the people to be part of the process of conception, formulation and execution. The channel has some snippets like “Vidhigal Yarukkaha” which focuses on the traffic violation by the citizens and another programme titled “Neerthuli Uyirthuli” which raises awareness about the water conservation. These two-minute snippets create a strong impact in the minds of the people. The channel has another programme which revolves around the participatory model of development titled “Nammal Mudiyum Nambu”. Shyam Kumar, the CEO of Puthiya Thalaimurai said that this channel has always believed in creating citizens who are responsible. This channel wishes to bring about change within the individual in the first place and it should be these changed individuals who should then create a society that is socially conscientious. The channel has created various groups and clubs which have students as the volunteers and these groups are known as Puthiya Thalaimurai Mandram. There are students from twenty-five colleges who have registered as the members. He further says that this channel has initiated the process of forming a mass social movement which involves students and other youngsters. These students are guided through social awareness gatherings arranged on a large scale. He cited the example of a marathon that was organized in the district of Namakkal to create awareness about the depletion of water resources around the areas. He also spoke about the success stories of “Nammal Mudiyum Nambu” which has done marvellous works in improving the life situations of the people in many places.

Vidhigal Yarukkaha

The careless and unintended traffic irregularities by the motorists have indeed become a menace in many cities across the state of Tamilnadu. There is a growing indifference towards the traffic violations and there is a handful who is seriously concerned about it. The violations often go unnoticed by many. Due to the carelessness of the motorists the life of many is at stake. Hence awareness among the citizens is very much a necessity about the need for following the regulations and to ensure safety. Puthiya Thalaimurai channel has taken it as its responsibility and

67 initiated a snippet programming by quietly pointing out the common irregularities of the people on road. Vidhigal Yarukkaha means “The laws are meant for whom?”

Neerthuli Uyirthuli

“Neerthuli Uyirthuli” is a programme that focuses on water conservation and creates awareness about the lurking dangers because of fast disappearing water resources due to proliferating pollution and fast growing urbanisation and of startling fact that the ground water level has touched an all-time low. This two-minute snippet has various experts from the field of environment as well as field workers from various NGOs who inform and educate the people through their short and crispy message about the dangerous condition that the human kind would soon be facing if water reservoirs are not protected and if the mankind does not change its behaviour towards the nature. The Channel also conducted a short film competition on the same title worldwide for duration of two minutes which saw manifold entries.

Samaniyarudan Oru Naal

The common man does not often make it to news. Either it should be something really extraordinarily great and positive or it should be bad and negative for common man to get to the news. How a struggling common man makes the both ends meet is no news for the society. Yet, these people‟s lives are very important to the society and in their simple ways and low earning jobs, they create the balancing order in the society. These people are often neglected and do not get the deserving attention and they are not important in the eyes of the media. Puthiya Thalaimurai has started a new venture in which they highlight the plight of these people and their day- to-day struggle to make a living. The channel brings to the houses of every people through the telecast the life-styles of these people and the impact they leave behind on the society. In each episode, the anchor spends an entire day with the common man in order to understand the way he lives his life, his vision, his dreams, his views, his passion and the aspirations of his life. The commoners include hawkers, stone cutters, vegetable vendors, tea-masters, farmers, load man and so on.

Nammal Mudiyum

This is an initiative that is driven towards improving the living conditions of the people. A village does not always enjoy all the facilities. There are villages

without toilet facilities, street lamps, and bridge to cross the river, play grounds, libraries and tidy class rooms. While the villagers know such a plight exiting in their villages, it is very few who come forward to working at them and resolving these problems. Hence Puthiya Thalaimurai has initiated a project in which the villagers bring to the notice of the channel of their plight and with the help of the channel; the villagers themselves come to resolve the problem with their own hands. This is what we call as participatory model of development where communication facilitated here is horizontal and where people take up the responsibility and participate actively in the entire process. The people are first made aware of their role in the process. They are informed about their duties, responsibilities, rights and their strengths. The personnel from the channel then guide the villagers in realizing the needed change that was so necessary for the village and thus improve the living conditions of the people. Ponraj said that Nammal Mudiyum creates awareness about the importance of water resources and renovates ponds and lakes among farmers and locals. Hundreds of ponds and lakes which water using for drinking and cultivation purpose have been renovated with the help of people. Table 13 Nammal Mudiym Nambu Activities

Date Place Concern Participation 02-05-2015 Pappathikulam, Conservation of Puthiya Thalaimurai Aariyalur water reservoirs Team with Locals 9-05-2015 Aryamangalm Trichy Conservation of Puthiya Thalaimurai water reservoirs Team with Locals 16-05-2015 Pudukottai Conservation of Puthiya Thalaimurai water reservoirs Team with Locals 23-05-2015 Narasingampatty Conservation of Puthiya Thalaimurai Madurai water reservoirs Team with Locals 30-05-2015 Sengipatty, Tanjore Conservation of Puthiya Thalaimurai water reservoirs Team with Locals 06-06-2015 Nallikupam, Cudaloor Conservation of Puthiya Thalaimurai water reservoirs Team with Locals 21-06-2015 Sokkappan Nayakar, Conservation of Puthiya Thalaimurai Theni water reservoirs Team with Locals 28-06-2015 Chinna Anai, Conservation of Puthiya Thalaimurai Perambulur water reservoirs Team with Locals 05-07-2015 Ammana Kuppam, Conservation of Puthiya Thalaimurai Vellore water reservoirs Team with Locals 12-07-2015 Aarampakkam, Conservation of Puthiya Thalaimurai Chennai water reservoirs Team with Locals 19-07-2015 Aankadu, Conservation of Puthiya Thalaimurai Thiruvalloor water reservoirs Team with Locals 26-07-2015 Sokkankuttai, Conservation of Puthiya Thalaimurai Nammakal water reservoirs Team with Locals

09-08-2015 Perumpalikuttai, Conservation of Puthiya Thalaimurai Thiruppur water reservoirs Team with Locals 16-08-2015 Sri Narayanan Kulam, Conservation of Puthiya Thalaimurai Kanchipuram water reservoirs Team with Locals 23-08-2015 Kadavun kulam, Conservation of Puthiya Thalaimurai Sivakasi water reservoirs Team with Locals

Besides the safeguarding the water reservoir, the channel has also taken up other developmental works like building toilets, construction of library, setting up a playground, making a bridge and cleaning the school premises. The villagers do not wait for the government officials to address the issue. They themselves address the problems they face. The channel is able to carry out such mammoth tasks precisely because of the collective efforts pooled in from different quarters.

Konjam Soru Konjam Varalaru

Unity in diversity is what characterizes our country and there is no lack for variety in our nation. Our country does boast of many languages, traditions, customs, cultures and even food. Every region in our country possesses its own unique and different history. This new programme titled “Konjam Soru Konjam Varalaru” meaning “Little food Little history” explores the historical origins and unique identity of a particular region. Each episode covers a region explaining in short the history of the people, places of historical significance, exclusive habits and traditions of the people. Along with these historical details, the food habits of that region, the cuisine of the people are also covered. Even though this programme aims at unearthing the historical traditions of the state even the food items of other countries are also covered as well.

Uzhavukku Uyiroottu

When Doordarshan came in, it played a vital role in developing the agriculture by supplying useful information for the farmers. There used to be a programme every day in Doordarshan which is “Vayalum Valzhuvum” where the issues of farming were discussed. In India we all know that Agriculture is the backbone. Despite the industrialisation that India has seen, Agriculture is a major occupation. However, with regard to the innovations and new technology that is there in the field of farming, these do not reach the farmers. Hence Puthiya Thalaimurai has come up another venture where the experts provide some useful information and create awareness

among the farmers about the latest developments in Agriculture. Uzhavukku Uyiroottu as a novel programme gives more tips not only to farmers and also the city dwellers with the programme Madi thottam (Garden on the Terrace). (Ponraj, 2015)

Makkal Karuthu

It is an interactive programme titled Makkal Karuthu which actually means People‟s opinion. The opinion of the people is a very key element of any functioning democracy. Every opinion of every citizen counts is the underlying principle of this programme. By giving a due recognition to the opinions of the people, Puthiya Thalaimurai channel poses a number of queries on current issues. This programme presents a compilation of different opinions of the people on various issues.

Issues discussed

• Alcoholism • Public Service • Recent Government Policies • Right to information act • Behaviour of MLAs in the state legislative assembly • Usage of plastics • Maggi Noodles fiasco • Protection of Independence • The evil of Junk food • The condition of Government buses • VIP Security • Handicraft • Reservation policy of the Government • Accident free country • Political parties‟ stance on Prohibition • Life lost in protest – Who‟s responsible? • Students‟ stance on Prohibition • Mixed Marriage and castiesm • Influence of Abdul Kalam • Caste based census • Emergency

• Garbage segregation • Punctuality in Government offices • Celebration of yoga • Corruption

Pudhu Pudhu Arthangal

There is a debate show which is titled Pudhu Pudhu Arthangal which literally means “New New meanings”. This show is usually telecast every day at 7am. The reason behind starting the show is to analyse the newspapers meticulously to see how the news has been covered by various newspapers. The political analysts and other experts are called in to participate and debate on the show. Initially, it was half an hour show and but due to the popularity that the programme gained, the time slot has been now increased to one hour. This was a programme earlier broken by three slots and now it has five segments. The experts analyse the news critically and they express their opinions. This debate show later extended its wings also to taking up issues from the Facebook and Twitter. The channel through these programmes keeps itself updated with the modern trends and also makes its mark among the public by being current and relevant.

Nerpada Pesu

A debate show that is telecast during the evenings is called Nerpada Pesu. Nerpada Pesu acted as a harbinger of change in other channels. The popularity of this debate show was so much that other channel followed the suit. Almost all news channels in Tamilnadu have similar debate shows every day in their schedule. The debate is not something new to the people of Tamilnadu. The people of Tamilnadu have the tradition of Pattimandram in which social issues, economic issues and political issues are debated and thus providing better understanding and positive and negative sides of the issues to the people. However these kinds of debates were restricted only to the festive seasons. Nerpada Pesu as a lively debate show takes up the current issue and representatives from political parties, organizations and others express their views. The session moderated by the news anchor puts the issues and problems in perspective. Through these debate shows, issues are taken to the common man and they are made aware of the implications and the stand of various political parties on a particular issue.

Regarding the developmental programmes carried out by the television channels, Sampath Kumar says that there are no challenges as such to initiate developmental programs. However, willingness indeed is an issue with regard to broadcasting developmental programs. The policy and ideology of a news channel which often are politically motivated restrict such positive developments. (Kumar, 2014) Ponraj contents that we also need to see the kind of viewership the developmental programmes get. It also depends on what people wish to watch and in so far there is willingness among the people to watch these developmental programmes and make themselves aware and participate actively in providing social change, the television will continue to be just a means of entertainment. (Ponraj, 2015) Puthiya Thalaimurai has thus brought about various programmes that are focused on development. It is a welcome step; the channel is surely benefitting many people who wish to transform our society individually as well as collectively. (Augstine, 2015) Apart from mere news, such programs coupled with expert opinions are very instrumental in providing in-depth knowledge about the political and social changes needed in the society. Similarly, varied opinion on a particular issue with debates is being put forward so as to land up with a logical conclusion. This has inculcated the general public to have a perception on a particular issue which would certainly help the society develop. (Kumar, 2014) Every programme in Puthiya Thalaimurai is effective, as academician we spend a lot of time on analysing various issues of our society and developmental phases. It is true that the total number of people watching the theses shows is a few, yet it is necessary to influence the few to transform many. (Augustine, 2015)

Rowthiram Pazhagu

“Rowthiram Pazhagu” is a well-known expression used by the famous Tamil poet which actually means that one should learn to express one‟s anger. This anger however is for a purpose and that too it is for a social purpose. Anger here is not personal but collective. This anger is against the social evils. The channel through this programme creates awareness about the various issues present in the society. The interesting aspect of this programme is that this programme is accompanied by the street theatre artists who with their songs and expressions bring out the anger of the society against the evils. The issues are addressed from a social angel. Through

73 various images, interviews and expert opinions, the issues that are easily overlooked by the media are brought to the fore for effective analysis and discussion. They take up the issues of the simple people whose lives are very much affected by the technology and other social systems.

4.6.13 Television and Social Change

Table 14 Television and Social Change

TV and Social Frequency Valid Percent Cumulative Percent Change Yes 211 95.0 95.0 No 11 5.0 100.0 Total 222 100.0

Figure 13 Social Change

According to the above table and figure, 95% of the total respondents believe that the television can indeed bring about the social change. 211 respondents out of 222 believe that the television has the potential to embark on the path of social change and development. The question however is, while the people believe in the potential of the television, how far the media industry puts its potential for social change. Driven by profit motives, the potential of media is diverted for one‟s own interest

rather than that of common man. Augustine delineates the role of television and according to him the television should provide ample possibilities towards social change and development. The role of television as listed by Augustine, • To keep us up-to-date about present-day happenings. It lets you to track the newest progresses in sports, science, technology and politics. It deals ceaseless sequences of interesting items which are informative and entertaining. • To present to societies about various subjects which people would have otherwise never heard of or even never thought of. • To disseminate numerous legendary masterworks of literature. • Television delivers vast opportunities for training, like educative programmes via closed-circuit television. • Television offers exceptional transmissions for students pursuing distant education or those in Open University. • It also renders focussed subjects enabling the viewers to learn languages, to sow, to cook, to paint and to the art of cosmetics. • Television carries out the responsibility educating public. Educational packages attain their objective by actively engaging the viewers. • Television offers a channel for imaginative talents and creative minds to explore a world of opportunities. • People across the nations are not any more strangers to one another but they are all related to one another in a global village that the world has become now. Television enables the people to be updated with every happening occurring across the borders. Compared with radio, everything on television is more lifelike, vivid, and real. Television creates awareness among the public about the various governmental schemes and programmes, news and weather, disasters like floods, winds, etc. (Augustine, 2015). In democracy, television must play their role of being the fourth pillar of democracy. The media should be such that their primary focus should be that of socio-economic development of the people. However it is sad that today the media industry is caught in the web of business interests and commercial undertakings because of which it faces the competition and to survive in this web, the media have come to lose their original purpose for which they were really intended for. That shows itself in channels running behind TRP and other rating points. (Ponraj, 2015).

Chapter 5

CONCLUSION

5.1 Introduction

It is said that there is a connection between exposure to the mass media and socio economic development. Whenever there is a plan to implement strategies to bring about a social change, the process of communication should be the prime strategy. The television in this way has to become a new communicator who plays the role of a catalyst in creating the environment for social change and influences with the power content, the behaviour and attitudes of the people. The participatory model of development has become a well-known concept since the 1980s. This model provides a new level of perceiving the role of communication for social change. In conclusion, the researcher wants to state his findings based on the analysis of the survey. The researcher firmly believes that his hypothesis is proven true that Puthiya Thalaimurai channel plays a significant role in the development of the society.

5.2 Summary of the Results

Having analysed the Puthiya Thalaimurai channel, the researcher has arrived at the conclusion that this channel does play a vital role in contributing towards social development. With the commitment and dedication, the channel has been very consistent in coming up with various innovations that aim to improve the quality of life. This channel also lays a correct emphasis on creating awareness among the public which is the foundation to achieve the long term goals in terms of social change. What is more fascinating about this channel is that it has not only provided possibilities for development but it has also become a catalyst for change in other media houses. With the growing popularity for this channel and its manifold new programmes, the other channels in the state of Tamilnadu face a serious challenge as well as threat and they are all forced to alter their ways so that they remain relevant and current.

One of the challenges that the media face today everywhere in the world is that it needs to discover for itself the golden mean between its thirst for profit and the credibility which is at stake. India boasts of some 800 channels and in that there are 400 channels which are exclusives news channels. It is true that there are channels which need appreciation for their quality content but because the channel ownership is so embedded in the business model that it tends to think more in terms of profit than seriously thinking of the development in the society that media can promote. The existent business model of media sets the race to catch the positions in the TRP ratings. This quest which is solely for ratings destroys the nature of news channels and the reason why people lose trust in these channels. More than at the national level, it is at the regional level that the real change must take place. The regional political parties own television channels which play the role of being their political propaganda tools. One of the ways to redeem the nature of media from being further corrupted is to make a strong recommendation that political parties should not be allowed to enter the field of media. The next recommendation would be that the corporates being barred from owning news channels. (Mehta, 2015)

5.3 Discussion of the Results

If the media should bring a social change and development in the society, media must start from the alarming differences that exist between the kind of programmes that a channel produces and the needs of the viewers whom the media says that they wish to serve. It has been a failure that the producers, funders as well as the critics have not been conscious to the fact that media is an agent of social change. Due to lack of this recognition on the part of the elite who are vested with the authority to make decisions powered by their stake-holding, the media has not done its part in facilitating the participatory model of development and has not used the communication for development. In the creation of content and form of production, the approach of the media has not been one of its authentically purposeful. It will be a total failure on the part of television if it only goes after the content that is eye-grabbing or spell-binding or gripping so that the viewers get only what appease their eyes and that there is nothing to provoke the people to participation and action and making the viewers aware of the responsibility for social change. Media should help the viewers to construct the social reality in their daily lives. The media which works for social change would not treat the viewers as passive but as active

77 participants in the society. This is what we see in the model of Puthiya Thalaimurai channel. This channel under discussion considers its audiences as their true subjects. Puthiya Thalaimurai as a social change agent intervenes in people‟s lives and create the necessary awareness for social change. Puthiya Thalaimurai as media for social change focuses to unify itself into a powerful force that raises queries proposing anew the arguments for new directions for social change or additional resources needed for development, in short, offering a structural frame for innovations to provide social change and development. Communication for social change, which is the goal of this channel, enables the communities and societies to state very clearly their own agenda for change, progress, advancement and development starting from local to the international level. It involves coming up with new language phrasing and new forms that is all-inclusive which sees the media as continuing to play the role of social change agent by informing the public and creating the strategies for development. The media should promote participatory model of development. It is aimed at first of all finding the novel systems of knowledge and thus enabling the process of development to take place efficiently. The objective of the participatory development model of media should be to legitimise the social change and development as a possibility for assisting the marginalized and also it should empower the powerless so as to create society that is based on equality. This model of development is one which makes things work by offering new techniques and avenues. Through this model people are encouraged to take up farming and other activities that are not necessarily industrial oriented. This model is the approach through which the development can be brought about to address the basic needs and to fulfil the same. By taking up the much needed initiative of preserving the water reservoirs in various villages, Puthiya Thalaimurai news channel has redefined the role of television. It facilitates the participatory model of development and thus engages the people in responsible actions.

5.4 Discussion of the Conclusions in Relation to the Literature and the Field

The Literature that the researcher came across all highlighted the importance of the role of Media in the development of the society and at the same time some authors also recognized the problems that the media houses encounter on account of high profits, interference from the political ownership and commercial interests

influencing the kind of programmes to be aired. The researcher has come to conclude through his analysis that people look more and more towards the media that runs developmental projects like the channel Puthiya Thalaimurai. There is no in-depth study yet conducted on this particular channel. Various authors also analyse the kind of development that the channel should promote and many of them speak participatory model of development especially for developing nations who can make best use of the man power as well as this model could be a means to create awareness among the people.

5.5 Limitations

The researcher admits that the manner in which the study has been conducted is not free from the limitations. The researcher has made an in-depth analysis of one particular news channel in Tamilnadu, namely Puthiya Thalaimurai. The researcher could also have made an in-depth study of other news channels in Tamilnadu to analyse various programmes that the other channels produce and the reason why these other channels come up with such programmes. The researcher has chosen relatively a new arrival in the media field of television in Tamilnadu which makes it difficult to assume the long term results as same as that the channel now is able to gather. The researcher has collected samples only from two Taluks in two districts covering a few villages. The study would become very comprehensive and general if the sample size covers the state of Tamilnadu. The researcher could have also visited the Puthiya Thalaimurai head office in Chennai to collect the first hand information on its role in the development of the society.

5.6 Recommendations for Further Study

The researcher recommends that there is much scope for further study as the limitations mentioned above could be addressed in the new study that is made. In a state like Tamilnadu where Television has become a political tool in the hands of the elite and powerful politicians who make use of their channel for the propaganda activities, it would really be an academically interesting and socially awakening if a study is carried out on the role of television in Tamilnadu in development of the society. Such a study should comprise of entire population of Tamilnadu so as to get wider perspective and also to give representation to all. The study could also include an analysis on the kind of the programmes that various channels run and to see if

79 these programmes are any way oriented towards social development. The further study could also make an analysis on the viewers‟ perception regarding the channels as to if their political affiliations prevent from seeing other channels.

5.7 Conclusion

History is evident of the fact that media was on several occasions instrumental in change of guard in several countries including India. It has the responsibility of guiding the nation while remaining a facilitator to the nation and its ruler. (Kumar, 2014) The media plays an important role between the government and the people of the nation taking the plights to the notice of the officials. It is precisely for this role that the media is recognized as the fourth pillar that safe guards and establishes Indian democracy. Every medium of communication and particularly the television must be reliable, accurate analysis and reporting, impartial and fair that functions in a unified way to ensure the progress and development of the people of the nation. The media cannot afford to be biased and be floated by elite few. While there is much good that is done by the media industry in India, still much more to be done. The media has the potential to turn things around for the wellbeing of the poor and marginalized. The media must have the commitment to bring about the change that the people are looking forward to. This is what the researcher has found Puthiya Thalaimurai doing as a medium of communication.

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Appendix A: The Survey Questionnaire

1. Gender ○Male ○Female ○Transgender

2. Age ○<18 ○18-25 ○26-30 ○30-35 ○35-40 ○40-45 ○45-50 ○50-55 ○55-60 ○>60

3. Education ○10th Std ○12th Std ○UG ○PG ○Diploma

4. Income ○<5000 ○5001- 10000 ○10001 - 15000 ○>15000

5. Employment ○Government Employee ○Private Employee ○Farmers ○Self Employed ○Student

6. Place of Residence ○Madurai East Taluk ○Dindigul Taluk

7. What is the frequency of watching news channels ? ○0 - 30 minutes ○30 minutes – 1 hour ○1 – 2 hours ○above 2 hours

8. What are the major sources of News for you? ○Television ○Radio ○Newspaper ○Friends ○Other:

9. The reason for watching News ○Politics ○Entertainment ○Sports ○Others

10. Which Tamil News Channel do you watch? ○Captain ○Jayaplus ○Kalaignar Seithigal ○Lotus ○Polimer ○Puthiya Thalaimurai

○Raj News ○Sathiyam News ○Sun News ○Thanthi News ○News 7 ○Makkal

11. Which News Channel in Tamil Nadu according to you is most credible? ○Captain ○Jayaplus ○Kalaignar Seithigal ○Lotus ○Polimer ○Puthiya Thalaimurai ○Raj News ○Sathiyam News ○Sun News ○Thanthi News ○News 7

12. Which News Channel addresses the problems of the poor, farmers and socially neglected? ○Captain ○Jayaplus ○Kalaignar Seithigal ○Lotus ○Polimer ○Puthiya Thalaimurai ○Raj News ○Sathiyam News ○Sun News ○Thanthi News ○News 7 ○Makkal

13. Which channel is known for its innovative programmes? ○Captain ○Jayaplus ○Kalaignar Seithigal ○Lotus ○Polimer ○Puthiya Thalaimurai ○Raj News ○Sathiyam News ○Sun News ○Thanthi News ○News 7 ○Makkal

14. Which News Channels creates awareness about the social issues today? ○Captain ○Jayaplus ○Kalaignar Seithigal ○Lotus ○Polimer ○Puthiya Thalaimurai ○Raj News ○Sathiyam News ○Sun News ○Thanthi News ○News 7 ○Makkal

14. Which Channel undertakes community developmental projects? ○Captain ○Jayaplus ○Kalaignar Seithigal ○Lotus ○Polimer

○Puthiya Thalaimurai ○Raj News ○Sathiyam News ○Sun News ○Thanthi News ○News 7 ○Makkal

15. Can Television bring social Change among the People? ○Yes ○No

Appendix B: Questions for Expert Interview

1. The media houses are today owned by some political leaders and how much does that affect the credibility of news channels? 2. What is the role of media and in particular, television, about the development today? 3. What are the challenges that the Television channels face today particularly with regard to initiating developmental programmes? 4. Which television do you think that has come up with various initiatives towards development? 5. Puthiya Thalaimurai channel has come up with various programmes towards development. What is your take on that channel? 6. Puthiya Thalaimurai channel has programmes like Nammal Mmudium nambu, Rowthiram Pazhagu, Uzhavukku Uyirootu and so on: how effective they are and how do they benefit the people? 7. Puthiya Thalaimurai channel visits various villages in Tamilnadu and has taken to initiative to preserve the water reservoir in villages. This initiative involves people. They participate in the movement as well. What do you say about this participatory model of providing development? 8. What shall be your recommendations for the television channels today especially in terms of participatory development?