Media Ownership Patterns in India

The media today is controlled by the corporate and it is the interests of the corporate to exploit the media in a manner which helps them in maximizing their profits. In order maximize their profits, the corporates have to ensure that their product sells. To make their product sell, the corporate controlled media has to take the the mass media away from mass reality and this has precisely what has happened. To make the matters worse, media pluralism has been effectively bulldozed over the past two decades.  The emergence of media monopolies and cross media ownership has drowned the media to generate debates with multiple view points. Select corporations now own the right to sell the network connections, air channels, print newspapers, run websites & radio and above all prevent new organizations from initiating their business.

This ownership patterns have also led to the development of corrupt practices like that of paid news and private treatise. In the case of paid news, the news source and not the reporter of the news organization is the one who pens down the news report. The said news report gets published in the paper (news paper) or gets aired on the channel (television /radio). This report is complete violation of journalistic mantra of objectivity and unbiased-ness and does nothing apart from favoring one party over the other. In exchange for this favor, the media organization is blessed with financial remuneration. Also the menace caused due private treatise is no less. 

Media organizations tie-up with different companies and their agreements revolves around the following: the media organizations would provide favorable coverage to the company and its products, as they get some stakes in the share capital of that company. the comes the issues of advertorial which are basically advertisements but are publishes in the form of articles in the favor of the company, after the company pays due money to the media organization. 

However the most worrying development is not only in terms of corporatization of the media but also its politicization. Nearly every political outfit in in India either owns media organizations or has some relationship with it. While Chandan Mishra of the BJP is the editor of The Pioneer, Vinod Sharma, a political editor of Hindustan Times is seen as close to Congress. Also down South, both Jayalalitha and Karunanidhi owns their respective channels (News). In other states too, politicians do own local news channels or newspapers or have invested in respective Media organization. 

This comes down to one question; What is the way out? In order to rectify the wrongs of the Indian Media, the most fundamental step which needs to be taken would definitely be to reinstate media pluralism. This can only happen when the sinister design of current media monopolies is sabotaged and their control over the market is made to shrink. Such radical rectification can only be institutionalized if the Government is brave enough to constitute a commission of Inquiry into the state of current media ownership in India and is able to implement its recommendations.