Aayvagam an International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research , Volume No. 1 Issue No. 5 June 2013 10 Media in Assam: Moving From Late News Syndrome to 24 x &7 P. Anbarasan*, Associate Professor, Tezpur University, Tezpur, Assam. Abstract Like rest of India the media landscape in Assam is undergoing swift ‘mediamorphosis’. The immediate causes of recent changes are, Guwahati editions of The Telegraph and Times of India , and strides in return of normalcy in most parts of Assam accompanied by telecom and digital technology revolution sweeping the globe. The latest in the media scene in Assam is the launching of a new English daily The Seven Sisters’ Post. Printing and publishing of newspaper began as early as 1846 with Arunodai . At present there are more than 30 newspapers in Assam in Assamese, English and other languages. One of the prominent English dailies The Assam Tribune is nearing its 75 years of journalism. But for long these modern mass media had not penetrated to desirable level due to its geographical disadvantages, cultural and linguistic diversities. The dailies were distributed either in the evenings or the following day after covering long and winding road transportation for years. The presence of All India Radio and DD was not enough to reduce the vast information gap in a region that had unique of social, political and cultural confabulations. The scenario drastically changed with coming up of private television channels, more than a decade after they hit other parts of India. NE TV was the first to be launched in 2004 targeting entire northeast for viewership. Gradually more channels followed. Today besides NE Television, there are NewsLive, DY365, NewsTime Assam, Frontier TV and Prime News, all broadcasting news and current affairs programme 24 x 7 . The internet revolution like everywhere else opened new vistas for a whole new definition of media in Assam. In principle, the internet contained immediate, wide and multiple sources of information to a region thirsting for reliable and speedy access for information. On the flip side launching of media outlets, either newspapers or television or radio channels has become a matter of investment choice rather than any ideological drive. There is an interesting story about a small businessman who had an appointment with a union minister. The businessman had to wait for quite some time at the reception but he noticed that some people just arrived and went in and out without having to wait like him. On enquiry he found out that they were media persons. It just struck to him that with all his riches he could wield less power than those media persons. And he decided to launch a channel himself. This may or may not be true for media entrepreneurs in Assam. But it subtly says about motives of lots of media houses today. Delayed News Syndrome There are many places within Assam who don’t get their newspapers along with their morning cup of tea. The newspapers are transported by road covering a long distance up to 12 to 18 hours before it reaches its destinations, for instance, Silchar one of the major towns of south Assam is about 400 KMs from Guwahati and the road travels through the hills of Meghalaya it takes 12 hours to reach. There is a medical college, NIT, Central University, AIR and DD stations besides many colleges. Yet newspapers published from Guwahati would only reach there in the evening. However, since the town well connected to Kolkatta by air received major national newspapers like The Stateman, Ananda Bazar Patrika, The Hindu by air which also reached in the evenings. Most homes got their newspaper delivery the next day. In case of Silchar the centre of Barak valley with 90 per cent Bengali speaking population the media habits differed from rest of Assam, with its own local publications like Dainik Jugasankha (Bengali), Dainik Prantajythi (Bengali) , Eastern Chronicle ( English) and others. Readers who subscribe to The Hindu and The Economic Times and some more papers published outside have to pay additional air surcharge of Re. 1 a day. The delayed delivery syndrome is true for many other towns in Assam even today. Only in recent times some newspapers started their multi-editions. The Telegraph which launched its Guwahati edition in only in 2010 has extended its Assam edition at Jorhat to cater to upper Assam and Nagaland. In essence this delayed reach of newspaper defeats the very definition of news. People who read the paper one day late and having gathered the information through other sources experience the delayed news syndrome -mosaic of timeline. ஆவக : பைற ஆககான பனா ஆவித | ெதாதி- 01: ெவளி- 05 2013 Aayvagam an International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research , Volume No. 1 Issue No. 5 June 2013 11 Private Channels Redraw Information Maps The state owned Doordarshan and All India Radio somewhat offset the information vacuum at many levels but there was always the sense of alienation between centrally controlled media content and local aspirations. In case of northeast India they looked more like suspicious objects rather than tools of reassurance. The coming in of cable television and later satellite television brought whole new world of infotainment to this region whose major defect is distance which the cable and satellite channels killed. They lapped up Hindi entertainment channels readily. The consumption of Hindi cinema stars, songs, and idioms paralleled along with local cultural products, sometimes even at the cost of regional cinema and songs. The needs of local colour to entertainment was added by unique methods of some enterprising youth who made a collage of programmes, ranging from video recordings of events, commercial information and music and embedded into cable packages in many towns and small cities. Perhaps this practice continues to influence regional television even today in spite of coming of age with beginning of number of regional television channels the programming and packaging is more modeled after the unique collage pattern than modern professional division of labour based on expertise. This is evident in employment and their compensation which is meagre and negotiable rather than based on any standard pay structures. Perhaps it is due to this situation we don’t see many candidates even with professional qualifications gainfully employed. There is large amount of continuous employee turnover. NE TV launched in 2004 is the first regional private television channel catered to almost all of Northeast India by Guwahati based company of NE Television Networks. Now rechristened as Positiv Television Private Limited, runs a bouquet of channels including NETV a 24 hour news channel that broadcast news to all the eight states of Northeast India in Assamese, English, Hindi, Bengali, Manipuri, Nagamese, Bodo, Mizo, Garo, Karbi, Nepali, Rongmei Naga and Sadri languages. The other channels are NE Hi Fi, a 24 hour entertainment channel launched in 2006, NE Bangla , Focus TV. This group claims that the region was bereft of popular entertainment in the absence of any quality television and radio programming until they came in. The group also now runs a popular FM radio, Radio Ooo La La at Guwahati and Shilong, the capital of neighbouring Meghalaya. NewsLive launched in 2008 with its catch line pushing Northeast 24 x 7 is run by Pride East Entertainment Pvt Ltd. It broadcast news and current affairs round the clock in Assamese and English. The company has added two channels to its bouquet Rang and Ramdhenu . As the channel is owned by the wife of high profile Congress Minister, Himanta Biswas Sharma it portrays a pro-government viewpoint. Dy365 was the third news channel to be launched in Guwahati under Brahmaputra Tele Productions Pvt Ltd broadcasts in addition to news and current affairs also airs entertainment prgrammes. It has positioned itself as antigovernment rivaling NewsLive viewership. It broadcasts in multiple languages of Assamese, English, Hindi and Bengali. Prime News channel is another one launched early this year to broadcast news and current affairs in Assamese and English. News Network is also another news genre television channel launched recently. Some other regional channels that are operating in the NE region currently, include Prag, Frontier TV, and Hit7 , among others. With increasing speed of new channels and FM radios the electronic media is far from saturation point someone says there is enough room for new initiatives to bring out news and contents with sensible, impartial and social commitment as well as maintaining the standards of the journalism. Declining Newspaper Readership In spite of major changes in media landscape in Northeast or rest of India newspapers continue to be the torchbearers of journalism and democratic institutions. Predictions of death of newspapers have been there for too long yet the medium has survived against many odds but the warning bells are clear and present. Hope the editors have taken note of the warning signs. There has been a steady decline of readership of both language and English papers in Assam for the past few years but the silver lining is birth of a new English daily The Seven Sisters Post and launching of new edition of The Telegraph in Jorhat and finally marginal increase in readership of The Assam Tribune . ஆவக : பைற ஆககான பனா ஆவித | ெதாதி- 01: ெவளி- 05 2013 Aayvagam an International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research , Volume No. 1 Issue No. 5 June 2013 12 Presently there are more than 30 newspapers and many magazines published in different languages in Assam including two Guwahati editions of National dailies, The Telegraph and The Times of India . Majority newspapers are published in Assamese and others are in English, Bengali, Hindi, Bodo and Karbi languages. Among the Assamese dailies except Dainik Janambhumi all other major dailies witnesses a decline.