JOURNAL OF THE PRESS INSTITUTE OF INDIA JANUARY - MARCH 2011 VOLUME 3 ISSUE 1 RS. 50 Editorial Media must be above criticism Dear Reader, The fourth pillar of democracy is being attacked from all sides. This is a sad state. While the “paid news” syndrome is really disturbing the “tapes affair” have added great anguish. There is a charge from some quarters that media reports are centered only on controversies rather than on factual accounts. A senior journalist of four decades of experience laments over the present day reporting of journalists and wants the leaders of media organizations, both print and electronic, to put together their heads to reorder the news values with accent on constructive news by playing up socio-economic development and playing down petty politics. It is an unquestionable fact that with the advent of electronic media the main source of income that sustains media houses is terribly eroded. This has forced media houses to resort to all sorts of gimmicks to attract readers and thereby advertisers for sustenance of the business. In the process a big drift in the standards and values practiced by media houses has been created and is very visible these days. National cause and outlook are missing but sensational news and gossips occupy the pages of newspapers every day. Media houses certainly need increased revenue to modernize their plants, employ professionals of impeccable stature to write on issues of relevance and importance and face challenges in the price of their input costs. All these must be achieved without a blot on their credibility. There cannot be a second opinion on this. Gandhiji said that the goal should be pure and the means adopted to reach the goal should also be pure and clean. How relevant it is today to media houses, and in particular to journalists who struggle to earn a good name for them and to the media houses in which they are employed. Journalists must be well aware of their social and moral responsibilities as a journalist in a democratic society. There is strong feeling among the general public that the profession of journalism that is being practiced today needs self introspection. Democracy survives in India because of a free and fearless press that disseminates news and views to the common man, exposing the mistakes of the executive and government. Media is the true representative of people to voice their protest and concern on important issues and therefore must be above criticism. Otherwise on what moral authority media can exercise its responsibility. It is high time owners of media houses, editors and senior journalists take up the matter seriously and find a solution. V. Murali Editor January - March 2011 VIDURA 1 Editorial ........................................................................... 1 N. Ravi, Embarrassing Moments Editor, The Hindu, for the Media ....................... 4 Chennai Dr. Kamlesh Singh Duggal, Media Education Head Department of Journalism & Industry & Mass Communication, Linkage .................. 7 07 Jalandhar Ambujam Anantharaman, Morality plays and the media ................. 10 Associate Editor, VIDURA Chennai Hampesh K.S, Development of Media Literacy Assistant Professor Department Skills ............................................................ 12 of P.G Studies in Mass Communication & Journalism, Ujire Sakuntala Narasimhan, Harnessing media literacy for Columnist and a recipient of the sustainability .............................................. 15 Media Foundation’s Chameli Devi Award, Bangalore Jyoti Raghavan, Ethical dilemmas dog the press .............. 18 Assistant Professor, Department of Journalism, Delhi University, Delhi N. Krishna, Time to reorder our news values ............ 20 Professional Journalist for four decades 15 Hyderabad Dr. Abhijit Bora, A few tenets of the U.S. ............................. 22 Associate Professor & Head Mass Media of Department, Tezpur University, Tezpur Prof. C.K. Sardana, Challenges galore in Economy ................ 26 Presently Specialist and Media Faculty Member, MCN University of Journalism 26 Bhopal M.J. Warsi, Linguistic Manipulations ......................... 29 Professor at Department of Asian and Near Eastern Languages and Literatures, Washington University in St. Louis, USA Parul Mehta Advertising via Mobile Devices .............. 32 Assistant Professor, & Sunil Hooda, Assistant Professor, 42 Kasturi Ram College of Higher Education, New Delhi C O N T E N T S T E C N O N January - March 2011 Dr. S. Nagarathinam, Tamil Bloggers as Storytellers .......................... 36 Deputy Editor Special Content, Dinamalar, Madurai S. Ganesh, Changing Trends in Indian Private & Public Lecturer, Visual TV: a content analysis ........................................ 39 Communication, St.Joseph College, Kovoor, Chennai Pradip Kumar Nath, Regional imbalance in Orissa: Faculty member Media & Govt.’s Role ......................................... 42 47 Centre forAgrarian Studies and Disaster, Mitigation (CAS & DM), NIRD, Hyderabad & Hemprabha Chauhan, Former Assistant Professor -Institute of Media & Technology, Gurgaon Bharat Dogra, Tilonia’s Communication Group – Combining Freelance journalist Tradition and Modernity ................................... 47 specializing in development, 58 environment, social reform and human rights Dr. C.S.H.N Murthy, TV Channels’ Support for Agriculture and Associate Professor, Alternate Livelihoods ........................................ 50 Reetamoni Das Research Scholar, Department of Mass Communication, Tezpur University, Tezpur Abhishek K Singh, BLOGGING: An alternative medium ............. 55 Assistant Professor Department of Journalism & Mass Communication New Delhi 65 Manoj Kumar Sharma, Innovation in Media Education ....................... 58 Consultant, FDDI New Delhi & Trishu Sharma, Assistant Professor TIAS, New Delhi N. Meera Raghavendra Rao, Newspaper: more than a Business Freelance journalist and author an Institution ...................................................... 62 BOOK REVIEW Prof. M.R. Dua, Best Compendium of Former Professor Applied Communication & Head, Indian Research............................................... 65 Institute of Mass Communication New Delhi MEDIA NOTES 69 INDUSTRY UPDATES 72 20 LETTERS 79 T S T E C N O N Embarrassing Moments for the Media utumn 2010 has been a "foreign investment," the income season of political storms in tax department, after obtaining AIndia, and the media finds authorisation from the home itself in the midst of a controversy, secretary, tapped the telephones with its role and ethics under of a lobbyist, Niira Radia, and her public scrutiny. In the centre of it associates over two periods from all is a massive corruption scandal September to December 2008 and over the allocation of radio again from May to July 2009. In Did the frequency spectrum to mobile all, over 5000 conversations were telephone operators at 2001 recorded that indicated tax fraud journalists whose prices in 2008 leading to windfall and how the lobbyist and her gains to the telephone companies associates "not only manage the conversations with and a corresponding loss to the media but as per conversations the lobbyist were exchequer that the government's apparently try to influence policy auditor estimates at between $12.8 decisions of various government recorded maintain and 39.3 billion. departments to suit the commercial that distance Evidence of the wrongdoing requirements of their clients," as had been surfacing in the media the income tax department put necessary for since April of this year, but it was it. The department handed an only in November that it became a analysis of the conclusions it could independent full-fledged political scandal when draw from the conversations and journalism, recorded telephone conversations the recordings themselves to the came to be placed in the public CBI after it took up investigation challenge or domain showing how a lobbyist, of the spectrum allocation case in businessmen, political officials and October, 2009. question the civil servants sought to influence News about the tapes and what lobbyist’s public policy to the advantage of they reveal was published in the a few telephone companies. The Pioneer newspaper in April of this viewpoint even if immediate fallout from this has year but the issue came to the fore been a crippling of the polity. It after two national publications, ever so politely or has seen, among other things, an Open magazine and Outlook give any indication investigation of corruption by the magazine, placed the recordings federal investigative agency, the of 140 of the conversations on other than that Central Bureau of Investigation their website. In this company they were wholly (CBI); a petition in the highest of the lobbyist, her associates, court of the country, the Supreme businessmen and political persuaded? Most Court, alleging a massive cover officials figure over 15 journalists, up and that the investigation was including some well-known of those figuring in being conducted in a non-serious names, and their conversations the tapes do not manner; the resignation of the open a fascinating window to the minister for telecommunications high pressure management of the and raids and seizures of media. Almost all the journalists documents from his house; and involved come out of it with a paralysis of parliament over their independence seemingly the demand of the opposition compromised. parties for a special committee It is not clear though that only to