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Mass media in India

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Mass media in India consists of several different means of communication: television, radio, internet, cinema, newspapers and magazines. Indian media was active since the late 18th century; the print media started in India as early as 1780. Radio broadcasting began in 1927.[1][2] Today much of the media is controlled by large, corporations, which reap revenue from advertising, subscriptions, and sale of copyrighted material.

India has over 500 satellite channels (more than 80 are news channels) and 70,000 newspapers, the biggest newspaper market in the world with over 100 million copies sold each day.[3]

The French NGO Reporters Without Borders compiles and publishes an annual ranking of countries based upon the organisation's assessment of its Press Freedom Index. In its 2023 downgraded India by 11 points to 161st level out of 180 countries. Indian media freedom now stands below Afghanistan, Somalia and Columbia. It stated its reason saying "The violence against journalists, the politically partisan media and the concentration of media ownership all demonstrate that press freedom is in crisis in “the world’s largest democracy”, ruled since 2014 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the embodiment of the Hindu nationalist right."[4] In 2022, India was ranked 150th, which declined from 133rd rank in 2016. It stated that this was due to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party and their followers of Hindutva having greater exertion of control of the media.[5] Freedom House, a US-based NGO stated in its 2021 report that harassment of journalists increased under Modi's administration.[6] The English-language media of India are described as traditionally left-leaning liberal, which has been a point of friction recently due to an upsurge in popularity of Hindu nationalist politics.[7] According to BBC News, "A look at Indian news channels - be it English or Hindi - shows that fairly one-sided news prevails. And that side is BJP and Hindutva."[8]

Hicky's Bengal Gazette, founded in 1780, was the first Indian newspaper. Auguste and Louis Lumière moving pictures were screened in Bombay during July 1895, and radio broadcasting began in 1927.[9]

Press Council of Indian act 1978

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Where the norms are breached and the freedom is defiled by unprofessional conduct, a way must exist to check and control it. But control by the government or official authorities may prove destructive of this freedom. Therefore, the best way is to let the peers of the profession, assisted by a few discerning laymen, regulate it through a properly structured, representative, and impartial machinery. Hence, the Press Council of India was established.[10]

Overview

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The traditional print media, but also the television media, are largely family-owned and often partake in self-censorship, primarily due to political ties by the owner and the establishment. However, the new media are generally more professional and corporate-owned, though these, too, have been acquired or affiliated with established figures. At the same time, the Indian media, viewed as "feisty," have also not reported on issues of the media itself.[11]

Print

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The headquarters of Doordarshan, for which experimental telecast started in September 1959. Regular daily transmission followed in 1965 as a part of All India Radio.

The first newspaper printed in India was Hicky's Bengal Gazette, started in 1780 under the British Raj by James Augustus Hicky.[12] Other newspapers such as The India Gazette, The Calcutta Gazette, The Madras Courier (1785), and The Bombay Herald (1789) soon followed.[12] These newspapers carried news of the areas under the British rule.[12] The Bombay Samachar, founded in 1822 and printed in Gujarati is the oldest newspaper in Asia still in print.[13] On 30 May 1826 Udant Martand (The Rising Sun), the first Hindi-language newspaper published in India, started from Calcutta (now Kolkata), published every Tuesday by Pt. Jugal Kishore Shukla.[14][15]

Even after independence from Britain in 1947, the English-language papers were prominent due to a number of reasons. The telegraphic circuits of news agencies used the Roman Alphabet and the Morse code, giving the English press an advantage in speed. The speed of typesetting was also much slower in Indian languages because of the Diacritics. Also, the press largely relied on advertisements of imported goods for revenue, and the foreign advertisers naturally preferred English-language media. The language of the administration had also remained English.[16]

Currently, India publishes about 1,000 Hindi dailies that have a total circulation of about 80 million copies. English, the second language in terms of a number of daily newspapers, has about 250 dailies with a circulation of about 40 million copies.[17] The prominent Hindi newspapers are Dainik Jagran, Dainik Bhaskar, Amar Ujala, Devbhumi Mirror, Navbharat Times, Hindustan Dainik, Prabhat Khabar, Rajasthan Patrika, and Dainik Aaj.

In terms of readership, Dainik Jagran is the most popular Hindi daily with a total readership (TR) of 70,377,000, according to IRS Q1 2019. Dainik Bhaskar is the second most popular with a total readership of 51,405,000. Amar Ujala with a TR of 47,645,000, Rajasthan Patrika with a TR of 18,036,000 and Prabhat Khabar with a TR of 14,102,000 are placed at the next three positions. The total readership of the top 10 Hindi dailies is estimated at 188.68 million, nearly five times that of the top 10 English dailies that have a 38.76 million total readership.[18]

The prominent English newspapers are The Times of India, founded in 1838 as The Bombay Times and Journal of Commerce by Bennett, Coleman and Co. Ltd, a colonial enterprise now owned by an Indian conglomerate; The Times Group. The Hindustan Times was founded in 1924 during the Indian Independence Movement ('Hindustan' being the historical name of India), it is published by HT Media Ltd. The Hindu was founded in 1878 by a group known as the Triplicane Six consisting of four law students and two teachers in Madras (now Chennai), it is now owned by The Hindu Group.

In the 1950s, 214 daily newspapers were published in the country.[12] Out of these, 44 were English language dailies while the rest were published in various regional and national languages.[12] This number rose to 3,805 dailies in 1993 with the total number of newspapers published in the country having reached 35,595.[12]

The main regional newspapers of India include the Marathi language Lokmat, the Gujarati Language Gujarat Samachar, the Malayalam language Malayala Manorama, the Tamil language Daily Thanthi, the Telugu language Eenadu, the Kannada language Vijaya Karnataka and the Bengali language Anandabazar Patrika.

The Dispatch

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The Dispatch (Jammu and Kashmir) currently, operates from Jammu and Kashmir and covers all the happening in the Northern States of India focusing on Kashmir.[19]

Newspaper sales in the country increased by 11.22% in 2007.[20] By 2007, 62 of the world's best selling newspaper dailies were published in China, Japan, and India.[20] India consumed 99 million newspaper copies as of 2007—making it the second largest market in the world for newspapers.[20]

Dailies in India

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  • Top 10 Hindi Dailies
Ref: Indian Readership Survey Q4 2019 pdf
  • Top 10 English dailies
Ref: Indian Readership Survey Q1 2019 [1]
  • Top 10 regional dailies
  1. Daily Thanthi (Tamil)
  2. Lokmat (Marathi)
  3. Malayala Manorama (Malayalam)
  4. Eenadu (Telugu)
  5. Mathrubhumi (Malayalam)
  6. Mandsaur Today ( Hindi)
  7. Dinakaran (Tamil)
  8. Anandabazar Patrika (Bengali)
  9. Gujarat Samachar (Gujarati)
  10. Sakal (Marathi)
Ref: Indian Readership Survey Q1 2019 [1]

Magazines in India

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  • Top 10 Hindi magazines
Ref: Indian Readership Survey Q1 2019 [2]
  • Top 10 English magazines
Ref: Indian Readership Survey Q1 2019 [3]
  • Top 10 regional magazines
  1. Vanitha (Malayalam)
  2. Ananda Vikatan (Tamil)
  3. Mathrubhumi Arogya Masika (Malayalam)
  4. Kumudam (Tamil)
  5. Mathrubhumi Thozhilvartha (Malayalam)
  6. Balarama (Malayalam)
  7. Kungumam (Tamil)
  8. Grihalakshmi
  9. Manorama Thozhil Veedhi (Malayalam)
  10. Puthiya Thalaimurai (Tamil)
Ref: Indian Readership Survey Q1 2019 [4]

Broadcasting

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Radio broadcasting was initiated in 1927 but became a state responsibility only in 1930.[21] In 1937 it was given the name All India Radio and since 1957 it has been called Akashvani.[21] Limited duration of television programming began in 1959, and complete broadcasting followed in 1965.[21] The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting owned and maintained the audio-visual apparatus—including the television channel Doordarshan—in the country prior to the economic reforms of 1991.[22]

Following the economic reforms satellite television channels from around the world—including the BBC, CNN, CNBC, and other foreign television channels gained a foothold in the country.[23] 47 million households with television sets emerged in 1993, which was also the year when Rupert Murdoch entered the Indian market.[24] Satellite and cable television soon gained a foothold.[24] Doordarshan, in turn, initiated reforms and modernisation.[24] With 1,400 television stations as of 2009, the country ranks 4th in the list of countries by number of television broadcast stations.[25]

Communications

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The Indian Government acquired ES EVM computers from the Soviet Union, which were used in large companies and research laboratories.[26] Tata Consultancy Services – established in 1968 by the Tata Group – were the country's largest software producers during the 1960s.[26] The 'microchip revolution' of the 1980s had convinced both Indira Gandhi and her successor Rajiv Gandhi that electronics and telecommunications were vital to India's growth and development.[27] MTNL underwent technological improvements.[27] Between 1986 and 1987, the Indian government embarked upon the creation of three wide-area computer networking schemes: INDONET (intended to serve the IBM mainframes in India), NICNET (network for the National Informatics Centre), and the academic research oriented Education and Research Network (ERNET).[28]

The Indian economy underwent economic reforms in 1991, leading to a new era of globalisation and international economic integration.[29] Economic growth of over 6% annually was seen between 1993 and 2002.[29] The economic reforms were driven in part by significant the internet usage in India.[30] The new administration under Atal Bihari Vajpayee which placed the development of Information technology among its top five priorities— formed the Indian National Task Force on Information Technology and Software Development.[31] Internet gained a foothold in India by 1998.[26] India had a total of 100 million Internet users—comprising 8.5% of the country's population—by 2010.[32]

India had a total of 34 million fixed lines in use by 2011.[33] In the fixed line arena, BSNL and MTNL are the incumbents in their respective areas of operation and continue to enjoy the dominant service provider status in the domain of fixed line services.[34] BSNL controls 79% of fixed line share in the country.[34]

In the mobile telephony sector, Bharti Airtel controls 24.3% subscriber base followed by Reliance Communications with 18.9%, Vodafone with 18.8%, BSNL] with 12.7% subscriber base as of June 2009.[34] India had a total of 880 million mobile phone connections by 2011.[35] Total fixed-line and wireless subscribers reached 688 million as of August 2010.[36]

Motion pictures

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The history of film in India begins with the screening of Auguste and Louis Lumière moving pictures in Bombay during the July 1895.[37] Raja Harishchandra, a full-length feature film, was initiated in 1912 and completed later.[37] Alam Ara (released 14 March 1931), directed by Ardeshir Irani, was the first Indian movie with dialogues.[38]

Indian films were soon being followed throughout Southeast Asia and the Middle East—where modest dressing and subdued sexuality of these films was found to be acceptable to the sensibilities of the audience belonging to the various Islamic countries of the region.[39] As cinema as a medium gained popularity in the country as many as 1,000 films in various languages of India were produced annually.[39] Hollywood also gained a foothold in India with special effects films such as Jurassic Park (1993) and Speed (1994) being specially appreciated by the local audiences.[39] Expatriates throughout the United Kingdom and in the United States continued to give rise to an international audiences to Indian movies, which, according to The Encyclopædia Britannica (2008) entry on Bollywood, "continued to be formulaic story lines, expertly choreographed fight scenes, spectacular song-and-dance routines, emotion-charged melodrama, and larger-than-life heroes".[40] Present-day India produces the most films of any country in the world.[41] Major media investors in the country are production houses such as Yash Raj Films, Dharma Productions, Aamir Khan Productions, Disney India and Reliance Entertainment. Most of these productions are funded by investors since there are limited banking and credit facilities maturity in India for the motion picture industry. Many international corporations, such as Disney (formerly UTV) and Viacom (Network18 Studios) have entered the nation's media industry on a large scale.

Digital media

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List of notable digital-only publications

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List

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Ownership and funding

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Digital media is opening up to paywalls and other subscription based models. However a majority of readers still do not pay for the content they read, causing the media houses to rely on other means of funding.[42]

Independent and Public Spirited Media Trust is a syndicate that promotes media in India with the aim of creating a news content creation network.[43] It was founded in 2015 and funds organisations such as The Wire,[44] IndiaSpend, CGNet Swara,[45][46] Alt News,[47] and The Caravan.[48] Omidyar Network has invested in Scroll.in and Newslaundry.[49] Odisha TV is owned by the Panda Family, Baijayant Jay Panda.[50] NewsLive in Assam is run by the wife of Himanta Biswa Sarma.[50] The Caravan points out that NDTV, News Nation, India TV, News24 and Network18 are linked to Reliance.[51] Another Indian billionaire businessman who funds media is Subhash Chandra.[52]

Funding ideology

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Investor Rohini Nilekani explains her ideology as follows:[49]

"In my case, my ideology, if I must confess to one, is that of the preservation of diversity. As a funder, I am willing to support individuals and institutions that are demonstrably committed to the largest public interest, that demonstrate high integrity and clarity of thought [...] I am quite okay with differing points of view. That’s why I can comfortably fund a somewhat 'right-wing' think tank, even as I fund something 'left-wing' like EPW. This is important to explain, because, in my understanding, I am true to a higher ideology, which is freedom of expression, freedom of the press."

Criticism

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Some sections of Indian media, controlled by businessmen, Politicians, and government bureaucrats, are facing criticism for biased, motivated reporting, behave like one party owned or governing party owned and selective presentation. After the devastating earthquake in Nepal on 25 April 2015, in spite of India helping, tweets from Nepal trended effectively saying, "Go home, Indian media".[53] Disturbed by corruption, Delhi chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal suggested on 3 May 2015 to have a public trial of Indian media.[54][55][56] On 8 May 2015, the then I & B Minister, Arun Jaitley echoed a similar rhetoric saying that there was a, "flood of channels but dearth of facts".[57][58] Of late, a lot of mainstream media channels have been accused of printing and telecasting unverified and biased news which they retracted later. In a few instances content from Twitter's parody accounts were cited as a source. Indian mainstream media has often been accused of showing sensationalized news items.[59] In March 2018, the then Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra said that, "journalists cannot write anything they imagine and behave as if they are sitting in some pulpit".[60] Godi media is a pejorative term coined & popularised by former NDTV journalist Ravish Kumar referring to the sensationalist and biased Indian mainstream media which supports the ruling party of India.

Chief Justice of India N. V. Ramana criticized Indian media in a speech in July 2022 accusing the media of running Kangaroo courts and running agenda driven debates without any accountability, which he thinks is bad for democracy.[61]

A report by Oxfam and Newslaundry found out that employees from general category constitute around 90% of leadership positions in the Indian media, which means that the marginalized communities like Dalits, Adivasis and Bahujans do not have adequate representation.[62]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "History of Mass media from NIMC top media college New Delhi". Archived from the original on 16 January 2020. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
  2. ^ "History of Mass Media in India". National Institute of Mass Communication. Archived from the original on 16 January 2020. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
  3. ^ "Why are India's media under fire?". BBC News. 19 January 2012. Archived from the original on 3 June 2018. Retrieved 20 June 2018.
  4. ^ "India | RSF". rsf.org. Archived from the original on 6 May 2023. Retrieved 7 May 2023.
  5. ^ "RSF Index for 2022 Sees India's Global Press Freedom Ranking Fall to 150 From 142". The Wire. 3 May 2022. Archived from the original on 24 August 2022. Retrieved 29 August 2022.
  6. ^ Freedom House (2021). "India". Freedom in the World. Archived from the original on 4 March 2021. Retrieved 4 March 2021.
  7. ^ "Indian media: how free is it really?". South China Morning Post. 11 September 2016. Archived from the original on 3 October 2019. Retrieved 3 October 2019.
  8. ^ Bhattsali, Amitabh (2 December 2022). "NDTV ownership change: Will anyone else in India challenge the government like this?". BBC Bangla. Archived from the original on 1 December 2022. Retrieved 1 December 2022.
  9. ^ See Thomas 2006 and Burra & Rao 2006.
  10. ^ "Home | Press Council of India". Archived from the original on 20 February 2020. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
  11. ^ "'Managing' India's media". www.aljazeera.com. Archived from the original on 25 December 2019. Retrieved 25 December 2019.
  12. ^ a b c d e f Thomas, 105
  13. ^ "One night in Mumbai". National Post. 15 March 2011. Retrieved 24 December 2011.[permanent dead link]
  14. ^ Hena Naqvi (2007). Journalism And Mass Communication. Upkar Prakashan. pp. 42–. ISBN 978-81-7482-108-9.
  15. ^ S. B. Bhattacherjee (2009). Encyclopaedia of Indian Events & Dates. Sterling Publishers Pvt. Ltd. pp. A119. ISBN 978-81-207-4074-7.
  16. ^ Mani, A. D. (1952). "The Indian Press Today". Far Eastern Survey. 21 (11). Institute of Pacific Relations: 109–113. doi:10.2307/3023864. ISSN 0362-8949. JSTOR 3023864. Archived from the original on 24 December 2021. Retrieved 21 September 2020.
  17. ^ "Livemint Archive". Archived from the original on 15 June 2009. Retrieved 25 December 2019.
  18. ^ "IRS R1 2009: No surprises here – Dainik Jagran and TOI maintain leadership positions". www.exchange4media.com. Archived from the original on 20 February 2014. Retrieved 25 December 2019.
  19. ^ https://www.thedispatch.in/ [bare URL]
  20. ^ a b c "World Association of Newspapers (2008), World Press Trends: Newspapers Are A Growth Business". Wan-press.org. 2 June 2008. Archived from the original on 21 April 2010. Retrieved 1 September 2010.
  21. ^ a b c Schwartzberg (2008)
  22. ^ Thomas, 106
  23. ^ Thomas, 106–107
  24. ^ a b c Thomas, 107
  25. ^ CIA World Factbook: Field Listing – Television broadcast stations.
  26. ^ a b c Desai (2006)
  27. ^ a b Chand, 86
  28. ^ Wolcott & Goodman, 568
  29. ^ a b Sharma (2006)
  30. ^ Wolcott & Goodman, 564
  31. ^ Wolcott & Goodman, 564–565
  32. ^ See The World Factbook: Internet users and Internet World Stats Archived 24 January 2010 at the Wayback Machine.
  33. ^ CIA World Factbook: Rank Order – Telephones – main lines in use.
  34. ^ a b c From the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India see Study paper on State of Indian Telecom Network Archived 11 September 2008 at the Wayback Machine and Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Press Release No. 89 /2006. Archived 11 September 2008 at the Wayback Machine
  35. ^ CIA World Factbook: Rank Order – Telephones – mobile cellular.
  36. ^ Tripathy, Devidutta (25 July 2008). "Reuters (2008), India adds 8.94 mln mobile users in June". Uk.reuters.com. Archived from the original on 17 July 2012. Retrieved 1 September 2010.
  37. ^ a b Burra & Rao, 252
  38. ^ Burra & Rao, 253
  39. ^ a b c Watson (2008)
  40. ^ Encyclopædia Britannica (2008), Bollywood.
  41. ^ "Nation Master: Films produced (most recent) by country". Archived from the original on 25 August 2012. Retrieved 18 August 2012.
  42. ^ Roy, Tasmayee Laha (22 May 2020). "Are Indian newspapers heading towards a paywall model?". Exchange4media. Archived from the original on 26 May 2021. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
  43. ^ Rai, Saritha (20 September 2015). "With starting corpus of Rs 100 cr, Bengaluru billionaires register media trust". The Indian Express. Archived from the original on 26 May 2021. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
  44. ^ "How The Wire is Funded". The Wire. 19 August 2016. Archived from the original on 26 May 2021. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
  45. ^ "Impact-driven journalism during the pandemic". International Journalists' Network. Archived from the original on 26 May 2021. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
  46. ^ Choudhary, Vidhi (23 February 2016). "IPS Media Foundation receives two dozen applications for funds". mint. Archived from the original on 26 May 2021. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
  47. ^ "Transparency of funding". Alt News. Archived from the original on 29 May 2021. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
  48. ^ "About us | The Caravan". caravanmagazine.in. Archived from the original on 26 May 2021. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
  49. ^ a b Bansal, Shuchi (11 August 2016). "The ideology behind media investments". mint. Archived from the original on 17 July 2018. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
  50. ^ a b "Media Ownership Monitor: Who owns the media in India? | Reporters without borders". RSF. 29 May 2019. Archived from the original on 26 May 2021. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
  51. ^ Kaushik, Krishn (19 January 2016). "The Big Five: The Media Companies That the Modi Government Must Scrutinise To Fulfill its Promise of Ending Crony Capitalism". The Caravan. Archived from the original on 26 May 2021. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
  52. ^ "Who Finances India's Journalism? | CMDS". cmds.ceu.edu. Archived from the original on 26 May 2021. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
  53. ^ "Nepalese slam Indian media, #GoHomeIndianMedia trends". Deccan Herald. 3 May 2015. Archived from the original on 8 November 2020. Retrieved 28 December 2019.
  54. ^ "Delhi Chief Minister Suggests Vigilante-Style, Public Trials For Indian Media". HuffPost India. 4 May 2015. Archived from the original on 27 September 2018. Retrieved 28 December 2019.
  55. ^ "Kejriwal Seeks 'Public Trial' of Media Over 'Conspiracy to Finish Off AAP'". Outlook (magazine). Archived from the original on 9 January 2016. Retrieved 28 December 2019.
  56. ^ "Kejriwal wants to put media on 'janta ka trial'". The Indian Express. 5 May 2015. Archived from the original on 4 October 2018. Retrieved 28 December 2019.
  57. ^ "Flood of channels but dearth of facts: Arun Jaitley | India News – Times of India". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 8 November 2020. Retrieved 28 December 2019.
  58. ^ "Flood of channels but dearth of facts: Arun Jaitley | Our Hindustan". Archived from the original on 18 May 2015. Retrieved 9 May 2015.
  59. ^ "Does Indian media go overboard with breaking news?". Reuters Blogs. 12 September 2008. Archived from the original on 14 September 2008. Retrieved 28 December 2019.
  60. ^ "Chief Justice of India criticises section of media for 'irresponsible journalism'". Hindustan Times. 15 March 2018. Archived from the original on 4 October 2018. Retrieved 3 October 2018.
  61. ^ "'Incapable of Distinguishing Between Right and Wrong': CJI Criticises Media 'Kangaroo Courts'". The Wire. 23 July 2022. Archived from the original on 30 August 2022. Retrieved 30 August 2022.
  62. ^ Scroll Staff (15 October 2022). "General category employees hold 90% leadership positions in Indian media: Oxfam-Newslaundry report". Scroll.in. Archived from the original on 19 December 2022. Retrieved 19 December 2022.

Bibliography

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  • Burra, Rani Day & Rao, Maithili (2006), "Cinema", Encyclopaedia of India (vol. 1) edited by Stanley Wolpert, pp. 252–259, Thomson Gale, ISBN 0-684-31350-2.
  • Chand, Vikram K. (2006), Reinventing public service delivery in India: Selected Case Studies, Sage Publications, ISBN 0-7619-3489-8.
  • Desai, Ashok V. (2006), "Information and other Technology Development", Encyclopaedia of India (vol. 2) edited by Stanley Wolpert, pp. 269–273, Thomson Gale, ISBN 0-684-31351-0.
  • Schwartzberg, Joseph E. (2008), India, Encyclopædia Britannica.
  • Sharma, Shalendra D. (2006), "Globalisation", Encyclopaedia of India (vol. 2) edited by Stanley Wolpert, pp. 146–149, Thomson Gale, ISBN 0-684-31351-0.
  • Thomas, Raju G. C. (2006), "Media", Encyclopaedia of India (vol. 3) edited by Stanley Wolpert, pp. 105–107, Thomson Gale, ISBN 0-684-31352-9.
  • Watson, James L. (2008), Globalisation, Encyclopædia Britannica.
  • Wolcott, P. & Goodman, S. E. (2003), Global Diffusion of the Internet – I India: Is the Elephant Learning to Dance?, Communications of the Association for Information Systems, 11: 560–646.

Further reading

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