Views For The Nationalists

Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee Research Foundation has launched a new bilingual views portal – Nationalistonline.com, in English and Hindi. Research Fellow at the foundation, Shivanand Dwivedi has been roped in as Editor of the portal hoping to follow in ‘The Nationalist’ newspaper’s footsteps. Dwivedi said that the views portal will take on the responsibility of furthering the ideology of national development since it has been ignored by the mainstream media for long. » The three-day ‘Talk Journalism’ conference concluded in Jaipur on Sunday. This year many prominent journalists such as Shekhar Gupta, Ravish Kumar, and Rajdeep Sardesai discussed the rapidly changing media landscape and newly emerging trends. Read the detailed report on what was talked about here. » DD Freedish to add Zee News to its FTA kitty. Being the only channel to have won a slot in the new e-auction round for DD Freedish, Zee News will be available on the pubcaster’s DTH platform starting August 1. » Maharashtra Government turns Big Brother. In an initiative modelling the Centre, CM Devendra Fadnavis plans to set up a special media monitoring cell in the state secretariat to track content on news channels lest any ‘negative’ stories need to be countered. A dedicated social media wing is also in the pipeline. » In an attempt to attract more producers, Prasar Bharti has relaxed DD’s prime-time slot auction norms. Now accepting other programming languages apart from Hindi, DD has opened the doors for film production companies too.

Descent into own Cliff

Read the poster boy of TV News, Dr. Prannoy Roy’s take on news channels finding profit in becoming tabloid-ish, TRP fixing, ‘paid news’, and the ‘soft power’ of media. Dr. Roy also points out that the unfettered nature of journalism has started its descent; Indian media appears to be hurtling towards its own regulatory cliff. » IGNOU is jumping aboard the DTH bandwagon, with a nod from the HRD ministry. Planning to launch four new DTH channels for interactive and multimedia learning, IGNOU will also be restoring two ‘Gyan Darshan’ channels which went off-air in 2014 on account of unpaid dues. The administration hopes to inaugurate the new channels by August 15th. » After getting off to a great start in 2016, India News, reeling from the positive impact of DAS III roll out, held fort at the third spot in the Hindi News channels category. India News followed Aaj Tak and India TV with 52,552 impressions in Week 28 of the BARC ratings data. » Three journalists from Chinese news agency Xinhua’s Delhi and Mumbai bureaus have been denied visa extension. Authorities state that the rationale is legit and the Xinhua scribes took to illegal activities to gain access to restricted areas. Chinese media doesn’t seem to be buying it though and warned India of ‘serious consequences’. » A mere 50 days into his second stint at IBN7, Prabal Pratap Singh is harbouring high hopes from the channel’s new programming strategy. Disrupting the routine debate timings with ‘Aar Paar’, airing at 7PM, and recreating the crime scenes with plenty of visual effects in “Super Crime Time”, Singh hopes to boost IBN7’s viewership largely in Hindi markets.

Photoshopping For Trouble

Known for their often controversial covers, India Today managed to cross Delhi CM Kejriwal and Majinder Singh Sirsa, general secretary of Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee this time. Titled “AAP ki Lalkaar”, the cover featured Kejriwal’s face over a Nihang warrior representing AAP’s Punjab run. While Sirsa took offence over Kejriwal’s clean-shaven form in a traditional Sikh dress, the Delhi CM complained that his image was used without seeking his consent. » After Hizbul militant Burhan Wani was killed on July 8th, the J&K state government imposed a ban on news and entertainment channels to stop ‘dissemination of information’ that could provoke violence. Internet and mobile communication has also been severed. A week later, there have been reports of police raiding newspaper offices and seizing printing plates. Kashmir has had no news print from July 16th, local journalists have also been harassed. Editors Guild of India described the crackdown as “unwarranted muzzling of the media” in their statement issued on Sunday. » Bangalore based Dailyhunt, formerly Newshunt, acquired minority stake in local-language news portal OneIndia. This will help Dailyhunt generate multimedia content, especially short-format audio and video in local languages. Virendra Gupta, Founder & CEO Dailyhunt, will also join the board of OneIndia’s parent company Greynium Information Technologies. » Deloitte, in a report titled ‘Media and entertainment industry – India tax landscape’, terms the Indian media and entertainment industry as  a sunrise sector with rapid growth. The industry is expected to grow at CAGR of 13.98% till 2018. The report is also optimistic about GST, which is not far from reality, addressing most of the key challenges that the industry faces from a tax perspective such as cascading and dual taxation.

The Wide Angle

Read IndianTelevision.com’s feature on CEO Deepak Lamba’s strategy to take WorldWide Media beyond print publishing. Lamba’s transformation plans for the network have been looking at how WWM brands can be put across television platforms. Get a glimpse of the brand expansion strategies for Top Gear, Hello, Good Homes, and Filmfare. » A day after he joined office, new I&B Minister M Venkaiah Naidu held a meeting to tighten strings on cable operators violating norms. Cable operators who have undergone digitization are mandated to carry over 20 DD channels and Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha channels, but many have failed to do so. The matter had been raised in the past as well and now the focus is turning on implementing this rule. » MDMK Party General Secretary Vaiko is all set to launch a news cum entertainment channel – Madhimugam in Chennai. Although not positioned as a party mouthpiece, the channel will ensure adequate mainstream coverage for MDMK, explained Mr. Vaiko. The Tamil TV channel will be launched on July 14th. » Mumbai based televangelist Zakir Naik’s Peace TV Bangla has been banned by the Bangladesh government. After reports that Naik’s “provocative” speeches inspired some Bangladeshi militants who killed 22 people at a restaurant in Dhaka on July 1, the government decided to blackout the channel on Sunday. The Maharashtra government has also ordered a probe into the sermons by the 50-year-old televangelist that has kicked up a storm.

National News to Get Crunchy

Owner of popular biscuit brand ‘Priyagold’, Surya Food and Agro forays into the news space. With plans to launch their first National news channel soon, the biscuit manufacturer has roped in veteran journalist Mukesh Kumar to head ‘Surya News’. » Following the announcement of three News18 regional channels, Panorama Television has pulled the curtain on their Malayalam news channel. Called News18 Kerala, the channel is being formally launched in Trivandrum, today. Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan and other dignitaries will be gracing the occasion. » DD India and DD Sports have found a new beaming spot. As part of a plan to shift all channels to new satellites to improve the viewing experience, DD India was moved from GSAT-10 to INSAT-4B and DD Sports was moved to GSAT-10 today. » World’s largest OTT provider for South Asian content, YuppTV has joined hands with Arré, a multi-genre, multi-format digital media brand. Many products from the Arré stable, ranging from trending web series, social experiments, reality shows, and documentaries will now be available on YuppTV Bazaar.

#PMSpeaksToArnab

PM NaMo’s debut on the small screen was the talk of the town yesterday. #PMSpeaksToArnab was trending and twitterati took jabs at Kejriwal and other journalists who lost the opportunity of being the first private news channel to interview Modi as PM. Modi in his interview with Arnab Goswami on Times Now, spoke about his plans to restart media outreach to generate goodwill for his government, and also explained why he needed to travel and engage with world leaders. » As New Delhi looks to strengthen diplomatic ties with Dhaka, AIR gears up to launch ‘Akashvani Maitree’ next month. The Bengali radio service, aimed primarily at Bangladeshis, comes after five months of prep by the AIR Kolkata station. Bangladesh Betar (public radio) is also expected to contribute content to the 16-hours-a-day service. Initially Akashvani Maitree will have entertainment programmes and three news bulletins, including one from Dhaka. » ETV news network recently launched News 18 Assam/NorthEast channel in Assam. To be aired in 8 states of the north-east, the channel will feature entertainment and sports news, and bulletins in both Assamese and English. Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and Assam Chief Minister Sarbanand Sonowal were present at the launch program in Guwahati. » VICE teams up with TOI to bring VICE to India. With a bureau and production hub in Mumbai, the partnership will also launch VICELAND as a paid TV channel in the market. » #Brexit, Britain’s big decision to leave the European Union might not be understood by all. BBC World News and BBC.com bring in special programming to help its viewers around the world make sense of the result. Check details of the coverage plan here.

Living With Technology

Snapchat to launch Real Life, an online magazine which will feature essays and narratives about living with technology, on June 27th. Having complete editorial independence from Snapchat, Real Life will focus on “how we live today and how our lives are mediated by devices”. The online magazine will have social theorist Nathan Jurgenson as Editor-in-Chief. » After The Indian Express and Outlook exposed the story of the ‘Essar tapes’ leak on Friday June 17th, only a handful of newspapers and TV channels gave it due coverage. The Essar tapes indicate corruption in houses of the most powerful, the allegedly tapped conversations are said to involve politicians like Jaswant Singh, Suresh Prabhu, Mulayam Singh Yadav, industrialists Mukesh and Anil Ambani, Subroto Roy, and many more. Read Newslaundry’s detailed report on media’s subdued reactions here. » Zee ties up with DISH and Sling TV to expand its presence in the US market. The ZEE channel tally available in the US goes up from 10 to 37, with a combined reach of 52 million homes. Zee’s premium on-demand library will also be exclusively available on DISH and Sling TV. The new channels will be available in varied languages like Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Tamil, Bhojpuri, Odia, Rajasthani and Urdu. » After tracing the history of Asia’s oldest newspaper – Mumbai Samachar, The Hoot explores the story of Asia’s second oldest newspaper – Jam-e-Jamshed in their special series ‘Living Legends’. » Aiming to strengthen education in the state, Punjab Education Minister Daljit Singh Cheema announced the government’s plans to launch Vidya TV soon. A dedicated educational channel, mostly for the benefit of school students preparing for competitive exams, Vidya TV will present recorded lectures by experts, initially focusing on Class X and XII students. The channel is likely to be launched in a month’s time, said the minister.

Still Going Strong

193, going on 194, The Hoot tells the story of Asia’s oldest newspaper – Mumbai Samachar. Now published as a Gujarati language daily, the Mumbai Samachar was born as a weekly in 1822 to disseminate need-based information, mostly to the trader community of Gujaratis and Parsis. » Check out Newslaundry’s detailed report on how NewsX Editor-in-Chief Rahul Shivshankar totally ignored the basic definition of ‘raw footage’ while tweeting. He claims NewsX carried the raw footage (proved authentic) in the JNU case. » I&B Ministry has put in place a new policy for advertisement in print media. Aimed at the Directorate of Advertising & Visual Publicity (DAVP), the policy focuses on three main objectives – promoting transparency and accountability, incentivizing all categories of newspapers, and ensuring equity and fairness in release of government advertisements. Read details here. » DD to use the Swiss challenge method to invite bids for the kids’ entertainment slots on DD National – 3-4pm Monday to Saturday. The SC approved method encourages transparency and will give an equal chance to all interested proposers. The last date for bid submission is 30th June. » The Andhra Pradesh government’s blockade of broadcast for Sakshi TV was met with protest and criticism. Opposition leaders termed the TDP decision as “highly objectionable” and accused CM Chandrababu Naidu of violating press freedom. Protests were staged Srikalhasti, Madanapalli, Chittoor and Tirupati, with various journalist associations joining in.

Don’t Angry Arnab

Karnataka MLA Ashok Kheny was on the receiving end of Arnab Goswami’s wrath on public television recently. Arnab called up Kheny to take him to task for using “disgraceful language” with Times Now Mumbai Bureau Chief, Meghna Prasad. He also demanded a public apology from the MLA. Both Goswami and Prasad received much needed appreciation from Twitterati. » A new daily to hit the stands in India’s newest state next month. The second newspaper from Telangana Publications, after Namasthe Telangana, is an English daily called Telangana Today. Former Associate Managing Editor of The Hindu, K Srinivas Reddy has been roped in as Editor. » Business Standard introduces digital subscriptions and a partnership with Wall Street Journal. The opinion section and premium features of Business-Standard.com, including stock tips and industry newsletters, will now be available to subscribers for Rs. 149 per month. The WSJ.com add-on subscription is prized at Rs. 299 per month. Users can login with the same credentials on both websites. » ABC to commence measurement of digital media properties from Q3 2016. The metrics, an outcome of a solution by Neilsen, will measure online text content and include reach, frequency and demographics. The ABC also said that the digital segment “is witnessing the highest year-on-year growth of nearly 30%”. » Read an account on how the largest democracy in the world is turning into the worst place for working scribes.

Wider Stronger Better

Furthering the News18 brand identity, Network18 is all set to launch three regional channels in June – in Assamese, Tamil, and Malayalam. Regional Business Head, ETV News Network, Mukund Setlur confirms that News18 is the brand they will be working on. » Good news for bongs, Tehelka Group to launch Tehelka Bangla news channel. The group CEO, Upendra Rai also confirmed that they will follow up with regional Hindi channels soon. » nexGTv, India’s largest subscription-led video entertainment app, now adds Bengali and Oriya channels to its kitty. With worldwide broadcast rights for Rupashi Bangla, Dhoom Music, News Time Bangla, and Alankar TV, nexGTv promises convenience to its expatriate audiences. » In light of the growing attacks on African nationals in the country, India Today attempts to uncover whether it’s focused racism or random coincidence being hyped. Meanwhile, Union Minister VK Singh was slammed by the Broadcast Editors Association (BEA) for his remarks terming the attacks as a ‘minor scuffle blown up by media’. » In protest of recent journo killings in central India, various journalist associations came out in front of the Guwahati Press Club on May 16th. Apart from demanding stringent action against the culprits, the demonstrators also sought special protection laws for working journalists from the Modi led Government. Meanwhile, recognizing the hardships faced by scribes in J&K, the Mehbooba Mufti government proposed a welfare fund with an initial corpus of 2 Cr for working and accredited journalists in the state.