Five Major Trends in media

There are now several models of journalism, and the trajectory increasingly is toward those that are faster, looser, and cheaper. The traditional press model - the journalism of verification - is one in which journalists are concerned first with trying to substantiate facts. It has ceded ground for years on talk shows and cable to a new journalism of assertion, where information is offered with little time and little attempt to independently verify its veracity. Consider the allegations by the "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth," and the weeks of reporting required to find that their claims were unsubstantiated. The blogosphere, while adding the richness of citizen voices, expands this culture of assertion exponentially, and brings to it an affirmative philosophy: publish anything, especially points of view, and the reporting and verification will occur afterward in the response of fellow bloggers. The result is sometimes true and sometimes false. Blogs helped unmask errors at CBS, but also spread the unfounded conspiracy theory that the GOP stole the presidential election in Ohio. All this makes it easier for those who would manipulate public opinion - government, interest groups and corporations - to deliver unchecked messages, through independent outlets or their own faux-news Web sites, video and text news releases and paid commentators. Next, computerized editing has the potential to take this further, blending all these elements into a mix.

The rise in partisanship of news consumption and the notion that people have retreated to their ideological corners for news has been widely exaggerated. A year ago we mentioned a third, older form of news that seemed to be gaining momentum - the journalism of affirmation. Here the news is gathered with a point of view, whether acknowledged or not, and audiences come to have their preconceptions reinforced. In 2004, that notion gained new force when Pew Research Center survey data revealed that Republicans and conservatives had become more distrustful of the news media over the past four years, while the perceptions of Democrats, moderates and liberals had remained about the same. This led to the popular impression that independent journalism was giving way to a European-style partisan press, in which some Americans consume Red Media and others Blue. The evidence suggests that such perceptions are greatly overstated. The overwhelming majority of Americans say they prefer independent, non-partisan news media. So, apparently, do advertisers and investors. In addition, distrusting the media does not correlate to how or whether people use it. Not only do Republicans and Democrats consume most news media outlets in similar levels, but those in both parties who distrust the news media are often heavier consumers of news outlets than those who are more trusting. The only exceptions to this are talk radio and cable news. In the latter, Republicans have tended to congregate in one place, Fox. For most other media, the political orientation of the audience mirrors the population. The political makeup of the network news audience, for instance, matches that of the Weather Channel.


To adapt, journalism may have to move in the direction of making its work more transparent and more expert, and of widening the scope of its searchlight. Journalists aspire in the new landscape to be the one source that can best help citizens discover what to believe and what to disbelieve - a shift from the role of gatekeeper to that of authenticator or referee. To do that, however, it appears news organizations may have to make some significant changes. They may have to document their reporting process more openly so that audiences can decide for themselves whether to trust it. Doing so would help inoculate their work from the rapid citizen review that increasingly will occur online and elsewhere. In effect, the era of trust-me journalism has passed, and the era of show-me journalism has begun. As they move toward being authenticators, news organizations also may have to enrich their expertise, both on staff and in their reporting. Since citizens have a deeper range of information at their fingertips, the level of proof in the press must rise accordingly. The notion of filling newsrooms only with talented generalists may not be enough. And rather than merely monitoring the official corridors of power, news organizations may need to monitor the new alternative means of public discussion as well. How else can the press referee what people are hearing in those venues? Such changes will require experimentation, investment, vision and a reorganization of newsrooms.


Despite the new demands, there is more evidence than ever that the mainstream media are investing only cautiously in building new audiences. That is true even online, where audiences are growing. Our data suggest that news organizations have imposed more cutbacks in their Internet operations than in their old media, and where the investment has come is in technology for processing information, not people to gather it. One reason is that the new technologies are still providing relatively modest revenues. The problem is that the traditional media are leaving it to technology companies - like Google - and to individuals and entrepreneurs - like bloggers - to explore and innovate on the Internet. The risk is that traditional journalism will cede to such competitors both the new technology and the audience that is building there. For now, traditional media brands still control most of where audiences go online for news, but that is already beginning to change. In 2004, Google News emerged as a major new player in online news, and the audience for bloggers grew by 58% in six months, to 32 million people.


The three broadcast network news divisions face their most important moment of transition in decades. A generation of network journalists is retiring. Two of the three anchors are new. One network, CBS, has said it wants to rethink nightly news entirely. Nightline, one of the ornaments of American broadcast journalism, was fighting for its life. After years of programming inertia and audience decline, network news finds itself at a crossroads. If the networks rethink nightly news, will they build on the programs' strengths - carefully written, taped and edited storytelling - or cut costs and make the shows more unscripted, like cable interview programs? Will they try to find network evening news a better time slot, or begin to walk away from producing signature nightly newscasts altogether because of the programs' aging demographics? Will ABC try to save Nightline because it adds to the network's brand, or drop it because the company could make more money with a variety show? The next year will likely signal the degree to which passion, inertia or math drives the future of network news.

Dasari bogey

AP has become lab of media experimentation nowadays. Start a channel or a newspaper become a star. The people, who have got black money out of real estate boom or from a ministerial deal, are developed itching towards media clout. NTV choudary, Tanla Udaykumar and so on. Here is a old man with new game of things-Dasari Narayana Rao is planning a channel. He has already opened his newspaper shop with pitiable Patanjali garu. Nothing was done to advance the newspaper business. But he is talking more about channel. The pity is that, no body is believing him, except Patanjaligaru. Somebody is saying that he is only opened this bogey to safeguard the land, which was alloted by the Govt. So he wants to make journalists once again bakhras. Can there be bakhras again?

Demand is there, but journalists are choosy

People in the media are facing a peculiar situation. There are plenty of opportunities. NTV is shortly going to break the ground. Same is with SURYA daily. By next October, launching of another big daily is on the cards. There is a murmur in the industry that Andhra Jyothi is also planning to launch It is estimated that, in the coming months media industry needs nearly 650 journalists. Of them, more than fifty percent only experienced people needed. Today there is a big gap between demand and supply. Eventhough industry offering a good salary,

They are very cautious about the people who lead the teams. NTV is offering big cakes. But the problem is its survival and success. The people who are at the helm in the channel are not have history of success. Ramanujam may be a old war horse, but he was defeated at newsstalls and at drawing room dolls. In his penwardship Newstime suffered and failed miserably. None of the TV channels, he launched are successful. Kommineni Srinivas Rao cannot be a Raviprakash of NTV. Satyanarayana has mixed history of hits an failures. After three years of its launching TV9 is still struggling for profits, though it has showed its brilliance. 'How can we believe the people with this history and sacrifice the carrier. OK. KSR has three year guarantee what about me. Can he?'-that is the echo people raising nowadays.

Surya's agony is much more. The people, who are looking after the recruitment, calling the people and offering big salary packs. The question is bounced back-'How many months you pay?'. Shall we depend upon the people, who have no good track record at all? That is the dilemma, people have. Offers are plenty, takers are few.

Nowadays, journalists are choosy. They are not in hurry. They are bargaining. They are looking for a good pack and also secured one. Good days are yet to come.

Go getter

When you want to get away, find a hole to show. When you are at weak wicket, be offensive and begin a ruthless campaign. This the way some people behave like. Kommineni Srinivas Rao's exit from Andhra Jyothi created some flutter in the media. Why this was happened? What drove Kommineni out? Many says it is that big salary he was offered was main reason. It is only visible reason There are many questions unanswered? KSR has to say about why he met YSR on the next day of his resignation? He is not a reporter for that day. His channel is yet to see the light. Even it has no licence. Once bitter critic of YSR, KSR has become the darling of the same. Earlier he said he has no complaints to quit, but for better salary. Now that he began to say that he was not given 'that', he was not paid 'this' and he was ignored. Few weeks before his quittal, he has visited china. It is learnt that unmindful of contractors package support, AJ paid one lakh rupees for his shopping and entertainment. If it is true, what will KSR say?

Battles ahead

As market leaders consolidate and expand into new territories, we are likely to see escalating price wars this year.


THE issue of the Times of India on the first day of the new year displayed this group's usual flamboyance: the full page advertisement in which the paper was wrapped, and its lead story and other stories scattered across the paper, were all about itself. Specifically, about its new campaign called India Poised, which Amitabh Bachchan was helping to kick off. But for the trade, the real point of interest was the very small print on the masthead, the paper's price, which it put like this: "Rs. 3.75 along with the Economic Times or Rs. 4.50 along with Navbharat Times."
2007 heralds an era of even bigger price wars than have been seen so far in India's metro cities. Two newspapers for the price of one, made possible by the fact that they are all flooded with advertising. The Hindustan Times is about to launch a business daily in Delhi and Mumbai this month. Both market leaders, HT and TOI are offering one newspaper virtually free along with their flagship edition, in the case of the former, its new business paper. In doing so they are also taking pre-emptive action against another new entrant into this market. India Today, the country's leading magazine publisher, is also poised to launch a morning daily in Delhi this month. Last year, TOI and HT jointly announced a collaborative new daily for Delhi to send a signal to likely contenders. And in Mumbai, Bennet Coleman and Co. launched an afternoon edition of Mumbai Mirror to extend the group's dominance to the afternoon paper market.
New markets
In December 2006, the country's market leader, Dainik Jagran, launched a new paper in Lucknow and Kanpur, a bilingual daily called Inext. The Rajasthan Patrika meanwhile launched a Hindi daily called Daily News, aimed at a similar market. Earlier in the year it had launched an evening daily called News Today in Rajasthan, and later in the year in Indore. The Bhaskar group added a financial newspaper to its stable, DNA Money. The year 2007 will further what is as yet an incipient trend: of media consolidation through expansion.
The Times of India had decided when it closed Hindi belt editions of Navbharat Times in the 1990s that it would focus on the English market. But its acquisition of Vijay Karnataka in 2006 demonstrated a change of mind, and signalled that it was now eyeing opportunities in the regional language press.
Last year also saw Prabhat Khabar, the Ranchi newspaper that has been winning attention in the last few years for standing up to competition through the quality of its journalism, become a possible target for acquisition. Its owners set out to seek a private equity placement to raise finance for sustained expansion and ended up discovering that the paper had a market valuation that they had not dreamt of. So then they began to look at selling the paper and those who came forward were the Hindi market leaders — Dainik Jagran, Hindustan and Amar Ujala. As the new year dawns this paper's fate remains undecided and its journalists are restive. If Jagran or Hindustan buy it, it will represent consolidation of the Jharkhand newspaper market.
Another feature of the media consolidation witnessed in 2006 was the way the bidding for FM licenses went. Leading TV and newspaper groups bid for them, acquiring licenses in places across the country, away from their traditional territories. The Times of India, Dainik Jagran, Rajasthan Patrika and Sun TV have all acquired a handful or more of radio licenses each. Cross media empires are growing. Big business is entering the media in DTH, the Tatas are already there, R-ADAG and Sunil Mittal of Bharti have announced their DTH ventures. And when a very big player comes in, the scale of his entry itself represents consolidation. Though its radio venture did not exist in July last year, Adlabs, whose majority owner is Anil Ambani, now has radio stations in nine cities. The draft Broadcasting Bill was partly aimed at containing cross media expansion, but it hasn't been heard of in a while.
Similar trends
The magazine market is seeing expansion by existing leaders such Outlook and India Today because advertising is booming. The Outlook group launched Outlook Business and Marie Claire, and both market leaders spawned new lifestyle adjuncts to the main magazine, bursting with advertising, plastic-encased freebies which are a pain to extricate, but which make money for their owners. Business Today added a new monthly magazine. Meanwhile, for a few years now, glossy supplements in Hindi newspapers have already dampened the magazine market in that language.
Consolidation is increased by the multi-edition spread of existing leaders, and not surprisingly, many added editions in the course of 2006, notably Dainik Jagran, Dainik Bhaskar, Amar Ujala and Hindustan among Hindi newspapers. India Today launched a Bengali edition. When market leaders expand, the competition spends more to stay where it is. And those on the margin, particularly small regional papers with local markets, fight for survival.

SEVANTI NINAN