MASS COMMUNICATION

Book by BestCurrentAffairs.com for IAS Prelims 2020

MASS COMMUNICATION

BestCurrentAffairs.com The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting is divided into four wings i.e., the Information Wing, the Broadcasting Wing, the Films Wing and the Integrated Finance Wing. The Ministry functions through its 21 media units/ attached and subordinate offices, autonomous bodies and PSUs. The Integrated Finance Wing looks after the financial aspects of the Ministry.  Prasar Bharati (Broadcasting Corporation of India) is the public service broadcaster in the country, with Akashvani (All India Radio) and Doordarshan as its two constituents. It came into existence on November 23, 1997. The Corporation, is governed by the Prasar Bharati Board, which comprises a Chairman, an Executive Member (also known as Chief Executive Officer), a Member (Finance), a Member (Personnel), six part-time Members, a representative of the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting and Directors General of All India Radio and Doordarshan as ex-officio Members. The Chairman is a part-time member with a three year tenure subject to an age limit of seventy years. The Executive Member is a whole time member with five-year tenure subject to an age limit of sixty five years. The Member (Finance) and the Member (Personnel) are whole time members also with a six-year tenure, subject to the age limit of 62 years. The Prasar Bharati Board meets from time to time and deliberates on important policy issues and gives directions to the executive to implement policy guidelines.  The first radio programme was broadcast by the Radio Club of Bombay in June, 1923. It was followed by the setting up of a Broadcasting Service that began broadcasting on July 23, 1927 on an experimental basis at Mumbai and Kolkata simultaneously under an agreement between the Government of India and a private company called the Indian Broadcasting Company Ltd. When this company went into liquidation in 1930, Indian State Broadcasting Service under the Department of ―Controller of Broadcasts was constituted and in 1935 Lionel Fielden was appointed the Controller of Broadcasting in India.  The Indian State Broadcasting Service was renamed as All India Radio in January 1936. It remained under Department of Communication, Department of I&B, Department of Information and Arts for periods ranging from 1 to 4 years and finally has been under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. At the time of partition, India had six radio stations (Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Tiruchirapalli and Lucknow) and three radio stations went to Pakistan (Lahore, Peshawar and Dacca, now in Bangladesh).  A 1,000 kw super power medium wave transmitter each was commissioned at Mogra near Kolkata in 1969 and at Rajkot in 1971. Four 500 kw super power short wave transmitters were inaugurated at Bangalore in 1994. This made it one of the biggest transmitting centres in the world. The first ever FM service was started in Madras on July 23, 1977. All AIR stations were provided with 5 channel receiver terminals in 1985. Multitrack recording studio was commissioned at Mumbai in 1994 and in Chennai in 1995.  All India Radio came to be known as Akashvani from 1957. AIR took over radio stations being run by native states since British days such as Akashvani Mysore, Hyderabad Radio, and Radio Kashmir, etc.  From a meagre 18 transmitters in 1947, the total number of transmitters went up to 612, consisting of 143 mw, 48 SW and 421 FM transmitters. The number of radio stations went up from six in 1947 to 469 by March, 2018.  The entertainment channel of AIR named Vividh Bharati was started on October 3, 1957 and since November 1, 1967, commercials were aired on this channel. The first Radio Sangeet Sammelan was organised in 1954, which has since become annual feature. Akashvani Annual Awards to promote excellence in Programme, Engineering, News and Audience Research were instituted in 1974. Doordarshan was separated from AIR on April 1, 1976. The first broadcast by political parties before Elections went on the air in 1977 from different stations of AIR.  The North Eastern Service was commissioned on January 3, 1990 at Shillong in the campus of AIR, Shillong. The public service broadcasting initially in the evening transmission for about five and a half hour daily has since been extended to three transmissions. The programmes are beamed through a 50 kw SW transmitter in Hindi and English besides music programmes in different languages/ dialects of all the states of the North East. Phone-in-Programmes were introduced.  The phenomenal growth achieved by All India Radio through eight decades has made it one of the largest media organisations in the world. Now, it has 469 stations and 662 transmitters.  The three-tier system of broadcasting of AIR caters to the information, education, and entertainment needs of the audiences.  They provide news, music, spoken word and other programmes to almost the entire population of the country, 121.0 crore as per the 2011 census.  In National Service the national programmes, which are heard on the Medium Wave in most parts of the country, cater to the first-tier broadcasting. Recently, it has started airing on Short Wave also.  The regional and sub-regional stations provide the second-tier of broadcasting giving the programmes in the regional languages and promoting regional cultural facets. In addition, FM Channels at metros cater to the modern needs of the people primarily the youth. The Vividh Bharati has also been shifted to FM broadcasting system at 40 places. The 86 stations on FM mode set up to cater to the needs and tastes of the audiences of small towns in various parts of the country are the Local Radio stations (LRS).  Recently, the community radio has become very popular among different electronic media available in the country. All India Radio has also set-up Community Radio Service at five places in the North Eastern India as the voice of the local tribal population.

Book by BestCurrentAffairs.com for IAS Prelims 2020  Regional Channels are located mostly in the state capitals and in the major linguistic-cultural regions of every state. Altogether 128 such channels are spread over 29 states and 6 UTs of the country. The public service broadcasting arm of AIR, the Regional Channels put out infotainment programmes with the objective of BestCurrentAffairs.com enriching the lives of their listeners. The Regional Channels, broadcast largely on the Medium Wave frequency, follow a composite programming mix. They also promote art and culture with a major emphasis on Indian classical music.  At present 86 Local Radio Stations (LRS) are located across the country.  Community radio centres were set up at 5 places in the North Eastern Region to serve the local tribal population.  At present AIR has 475 FM transmitters across the country, by which it covers 34 per cent of the area and 47 per cent of the population of the country. Out of these, FM Rainbow channel is available at 23 places. Besides this, Delhi Rainbow is also relayed fully from Mussorie, Aligarh, and partly from Dharamshala, and Bhatinda.  FM Gold channel was on air in September 1, 2001 at Delhi as a niche infotainment channel with 30 per cent of news and current affairs component and 70 per cent of entertainment programming. At present, FM Gold channel is available daily round the clock. FM Gold channel is available at five places four metros i.e., Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and Ludhiana.  DTH Radio Channel is a satellite service meant for the listeners, who own a TV set. The Service is available through the DTH platform of Prasar Bharati with uplinking facilities at Todapur, Delhi. It is not a terrestrial broadcast service and its programmes cannot be tuned in through the ordinary radio receiver sets. It is a 24 hour service broadcast digitally.  The popular Vividh Bharati Service provides entertainment for 15 hours a day from 41 CBS-VB centres.  The News Services Division (NSD) of All India Radio has been expanding its presence. NSD‘s 46 Regional News Units (RNUs) play a vital role to cater to the information needs of the people.  The Transcription Service was started in April, 1954 and entrusted with the main function of preparing transcription of speeches of all dignitaries with a special reference to the Presidents and Prime Ministers of India. This unit was also performing the duty of the processing of vinyl disc labelled ―AIR-TS records‖ for preservation of recordings for future broadcast. The nomenclature of Service was changed to ―Transcription and Programme Exchange Service‖ from 1959. As the processed records eventually proved to be uneconomical, the processing work had to be closed down in 1967 and new modes of preservation like analogue magnetic tapes, etc., came into use.  The Sound Archives of All India Radio can be called the National Audio Archives of the nation as it is the treasure house of precious recordings of music and spoken word in different categories. It is the largest audio library of Indian Music recordings. The library preserves a separate collection of Mahatma Gandhi‘s speeches including his first and the last prayer speeches recorded on May 11, 1947 at Sodepur Ashram, Calcutta and January 29, 1948 at Birla House, Delhi respectively. The only broadcast by Gandhiji from AIR Delhi on November 12, 1947 is also preserved. The library contains recordings of all the Presidents and Prime Ministers of India. Voice recordings of eminent personalities like Rabindra Nath Tagore, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, Sardar Patel, Sarojini Naidu etc. have also been preserved. Apart from this, award-winning radio dramas, features, documentaries and memorial lectures are available in the library.  Transcription and Programme Exchange Service (T&PES) has taken up a mega project of digitizing all the analogue content. Major steps have been taken in this direction. Resultantly, Akashvani has become one of the major digital libraries in the broadcasting network with internationally accepted norms.  In Radio Autobiography, recordings of eminent personalities from various walks of life are preserved. The Central Archives of All India Radio is a rich repository of priceless recordings of Radio Autobiographies of renowned musicians, public figures, litterateurs etc. Among such eminent persons recorded are Sh. JRD Tata, Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, Sh. Harivansh Rai Bachchan and Dr. Verghese Kurien. With the inputs from different AIR stations, the people of eminence are identified.  Programme Exchange Library: The main purpose of this unit is to exchange good quality programmes among the stations as per their requirements.  Shortly after BBC started its first foreign language broadcast in Arabic in 1938 on All India Radio entered the domain of external broadcast on October 1, 1939 purely as a tool for propaganda for the Allies during the World War II with a service in Pushto language to counter the German Radio Blitzkrieg in the region and supplement the efforts by the BBC in this part of the world. At the dawn of Independence, ESD had to don a new avatar as the voice of an emerging nation, an old civilization, a tool for diplomacy and also effective propaganda machinery at the time of different crises. Since then the External Services Division of AIR has been a vital link between India and rest of the World, specially with those countries where the interest of India are intertwined because of Indian population staying in those countries.  External Services Division of All India Radio ranks high among the external radio networks of the world both in its reach and range covering about 100 countries in 27 languages. The AIR, through its external broadcasts, aims to keep the overseas listeners in touch with the ethos of India. The languages in which AIR reaches its foreign audience are English, French, Russian, Swahili, Arabic, Persian, Pushto, Dari, Baluchi, Sinhalese, Nepali, Tibetan, Chinese, Thai, Burmese, and Bhasha Indonesia. The services in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Gujarati are directed at overseas Indians, while those in Urdu, Punjabi, Sindhi, Saraiki, Kannada and Bengali are meant for listeners in the Indian sub-continent.  National Academy of Broadcasting and Multimedia (NABM) (Programme) hitherto known as Staff Training Institute (Programme) is the apex training institute of Prasar Bharati.  Doordarshan: From an experimental service begun at Delhi in September 1959, Doordarshan (DD) is presently operating 34 satellite channels and has a vast network of 67 studios and 1,416 transmitters of varying power providing TV coverage to about 92 per cent population of the country. In addition, it is providing free-to-air DTH service. India Year Book 2020 Synopsis [BestCurrentAffairs.com] Page No.89 © BestCurrentAffairs.com. All Rights Reserved. [For IAS Prelims 2020]

Book by BestCurrentAffairs.com for IAS Prelims 2020  DD National, a public service broadcaster is the largest terrestrial network in the world. It covers about 92.0 per cent population and 81.0 per cent land area of the country.  DD News is the only terrestrial-cum-satellite, multi-lingual news channel of the country. DD-News channel BestCurrentAffairs.com was launched in November 2003 by converting DD-Metro into a 24-hours news channel. DD News terrestrial reach is 49 per cent area of the country.  DD India: Doordarshan opened its windows to the world by launching its international channel on March 14, 1995. The Channel, initially known as DD-World was renamed DD-India in 2002. The programming offers international viewers an update on the Indian social, cultural, political and economic scene.  DD Bharati Channel was re-launched in 2012. It is the only Channel dedicated to art and culture in India.  DD Urdu came into existence in 2006 which became 24x7 channel with effect from 2007.  DD Sports Channel of Doordarshan was launched in 1999. The transmission of the channel is round the clock from 2000.  DD Kashir channel was launched in 2000 with fourteen and a half hours of transmission per day. This was converted into a 24-hour channel a year later.  Doordarshan Commercial Service (DCS) is responsible for framing of Commercial policies and updating of rate card as per inputs received from Marketing Divisions and regional Kendras, with the approval of Prasar Bharati Board.  Doordarshan Archives reinvented itself in 2003 with a new approach and prepared itself to meet the challenges of Audio Visual Digital World.  The Audience Research unit of Doordarshan with its 19 field units located with Doordarshan Kendras all over the country, is involved in Research studies on various aspects of broadcasting since 1976.  Electronic Media Monitoring Centre (EMMC) is entrusted with the task of monitoring the content being aired by TV channels. The Centre is also one of the youngest among the government-owned media units in the country.  EMMC records and monitors the content of around 600 channels, beaming over the Indian Territory, so that any violations of codes framed under the Cable Television Network (Regulation) Act, 1995 could be checked.  The EMMC has taken a big leap forward by starting Radio Monitoring since January 1, 2015. The newly started wing of EMMC is currently monitoring Community Radio Stations (CRS) for detection of possible violations. At present, 30 Community Radio Stations from across the country are being monitored to check whether they are airing any content that violates the ‗General Agreement between Government of India and Community Radio Stations (GOPA)‘ and ‗Programme and Advertisement Code of All India Radio‘.  The Office of the Registrar of Newspapers for India (RNI) is an attached office of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. Under its Statutory and derivative functions, it verifies and approves titles of newspapers, registers them, checks and establishes circulation claims. It also submits to the Secretary, I&Bby 31st December every year the ―Press in India Report, highlighting the state of Print Media in the country; the report is subsequently published under the title ―Press in India‖.  As per Section 19D of the PRB Act, an Annual Statement in Form-II prescribed in the Registration of Newspapers (Central) Rules 1956 is required to be submitted by the publishers of newspapers to the Press Registrar on or before the last day of May each year containing various information as prescribed under the rules.  The Press Information Bureau (PIB) is the nodal agency of the Government of India to disseminate information to the print and electronic media on government policies, programmes, initiatives and achievements.  The Press Information Bureau has been implementing the scheme of ‘Journalists‘ Welfare Fund‘. The revised scheme provides one time ex gratia relief on urgent basis to journalists and their families suffering from hardship. Assistance of up to an amount of ₹ 5 lakh can be sanctioned to the journalist under this scheme.  The media interactive sessions is the ‘Media Outreach Programme‘ which is planned in selected state capitals. Under this initiative, important Union Ministers and senior officials of the concerned Ministries are invited to participate in the event for interaction with national and local media to highlight the important initiatives taken by the Government.  Vartalaap is a programme organized for urban/rural journalists to keep them aware/updated about the various Central Government Flagship Schemes for the welfare of urban/rural populace.  The Press Information Bureau was part of the IFFI 2016 to facilitate dissemination of Festival related information to media at the venue in Goa.  India‘s largest news agency, Press Trust of India (PTI) is a non-profit sharing cooperative owned by the country‘s newspapers with a mandate to provide efficient and unbiased news to all subscribers. Founded in August, 1947, PTI began functioning from 1949. It offers its news services in English and Hindi languages. Bhasha is the Hindi language news service of the agency. PTI now has its own satellite delivery system through a transponder on an INSAT satellite for reaching its services. PTI commands 90% of news agency market share in India.  United News of India (UNI) was incorporated under the Companies Act, 1956 in December, 1959 and started functioning effectively from 1961. It also has a full-fledged Hindi wire service ‘UNIVARTA’ since 1982. In June 1992, it launched the first ever wire service in Urdu.  NAM News Network (NNN) is the internet-based news and photo exchange arrangement of the news agencies belonging to member countries of the non-aligned movement. Formally launched in April 2006, NNN replaces the Non-aligned News Agencies Pool (NANAP). NANAP, set up in 1976, was the first attempt of the nonaligned movement to provide for exchange of news among its member countries.  The Press Council of India is a statutory quasi-judicial autonomous authority mandated by the Parliament for the twin objective of preserving the freedom of the press and maintaining and improving the standards of newspapers and the news agencies in India exercising equal quasi-judicial functions over the authorities as India Year Book 2020 Synopsis [BestCurrentAffairs.com] Page No.90 © BestCurrentAffairs.com. All Rights Reserved. [For IAS Prelims 2020]

Book by BestCurrentAffairs.com for IAS Prelims 2020 well the press person. It comprises of a Chairman and 28 members. While the Chairman has, by convention, been a sitting or retired judge of the Supreme Court of India, of the 28 members, 20 represent various segments of the Press and eight overseeing the readers‘ interest, are representatives of the two Houses of BestCurrentAffairs.com Parliament (3 Lok Sabha and 2 Rajya Sabha) and premier literary and legal bodies of the country i.e. University Grants Commission, Bar Council of India and Sahitya Akademi. The Council has its own funds for performance of its functions under the Act that comprises the fee collected by it from newspapers, other receipts and also Grants in-Aid by from the Central Government.The Council is presently chaired by Mr. Justice Chandramauli Kumar Prasad.  The Council discharges its functions primarily through adjudications on complaint cases received by it, either against the Press for violation of journalistic ethics or by the Press for interference with its freedom.  The decisions of the Council are final and cannot be questioned in any court of law except by way of writ under relevant article of the constitution.  Section 8C of the Press and Registration of Books Act,1867 entrusts to the Press Council of India, the Appellate Jurisdiction over the Magisterial Orders of non-authentication of a Declaration under Section 6 or its subsequent cancellation under Section 8B of the said Act. The Board consist of a Chairman and another member to be nominated by the Press Council of India among its members.  Set up in 1945, the Research, Reference and Training Division now renamed as ―New Media Wing‖ functions as information serving unit for the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting.  Since its inception in 2012, Social Media Cell of Ministry of Information and Broadcasting performs various activities to reach out to the last mile.  The Publication Division compiles a reference book, India-A Reference Annual‘, on development and progress made by Central ministries/departments.  The National Documentation Centre on Mass Communication (NDCMC) was created in 1976 as a part of the Publication Division.  Photo Division, established in late 1959, an independent media unit meant for the visual support of the varied activities of the Government of India, is a subordinate office of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and the biggest production unit of its kind in the country in the field of photography.  The News Photo Network of the Division has been functioning on complete digital mode to avoid the delay in sending photographs to newspapers and Press Information Bureau.  Publications Division was established in 1941. It has published several books on Gandhian thoughts including the Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi (CWMG) in 100 volumes, in English and Sampoorna Gandhi Vangmaya in Hindi.  Publications Division also publishes 18 monthly journals, which include Yojana in English, Hindi and 11 other languages, Aajkal (Hindi and Urdu), Bal Bharati (Hindi), Kurukshetra (English and Hindi) and a weekly journal Employment News (English, Hindi and Urdu).  Employment News/Rozgar Samachar, is a weekly journal, released every Saturday, and is published simultaneously in Hindi, English and Urdu. It was launched in 1976.  Since 2015, the Reference Annual-India and Bharat were digitized and converted into fully searchable and downloadable e-books.  DPD has also developed a portal to sell its printed journals online through Bharatkosh payment gateway developed in collaboration with Controller General of Accounts (CGA), Ministry of Finance.  Archival Research Centre (ARC), a multi station research facility by Films Division has been opened on October 26, 2013.  The concept of National Museum of Indian Cinema (NMIC) is a unique idea to be pursued for the first time in the history of Indian Cinema.  FD Zone is a collaborative effort of Films Division with independent film makers to organize regular curated screenings of documentaries, short films and animation films and avant-garde and meaningful cinema.  The National Film Development Corporation Limited (NFDC), incorporated in 1975, (100% owned GOI body) was formed by the Government of India with the primary objective of planning and promoting an organized, efficient, and integrated development of the Indian film industry. NFDC was reincorporated in the year 1980, by merging the Film Finance Corporation (FFC) and Indian Motion Picture Export Corporation (IMPEC) with NFDC.  The erstwhile Film Finance Corporation (FFC) was set up in 1964, with the primary objective of extending finance to young talented film makers for film production, whereas, the Indian Motion Picture Export Corporation (MPEC), an autonomous body, was set up to regulate the import and export of Films and canalization of new stock into the country.  In recognition of the need for a body that could facilitate the growth of the Indian film industry, the Government of India merged the FFC and IMPEC and NFDC. The NFDC has so far funded/ produced over 200 films. The Corporation has its corporate office at Mumbai along with three regional offices situated at Chennai, Kolkata, and Delhi and a branch office at Thiruvananthapuram.  The Directorate of Film Festivals was set up in 1973 with the prime objective of promoting good cinema. This is undertaken by organizing a range of activities under these broad categories: (a) the International Film Festival of India; (b) the National Film Awards and the Dadasaheb Phalke Award; (c) cultural exchange programme and organizing screening of Indian films through the missions abroad; (d) the selection of Indian Panorama; (e) participation in international film festivals abroad; (f) special film expositions on behalf of the Government of India; and (g) print collection and documentation.  The 50th International Film Festival of India (IFFI), organized jointly by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and Government of Goa, successfully concluded on November 28, 2019, after nine days of film screenings, master classes, discussions and other events.

Book by BestCurrentAffairs.com for IAS Prelims 2020  The International Film Festival of India (IFFI) 2016 in collaboration with the International Council for Film,

Television and Audiovisual Communication (ICFT), Paris, presented a separate competitive section of 8 films.  The National Film Awards, the highest awards in the field of cinema continue to underline cinematic BestCurrentAffairs.com excellence. The National Awards along with cinema‘s highest honour, the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, are presented by the President of India. To commemorate the release of the first Indian Feature Film, Raja Harishchandra on 3rd May 1913, it has been decided to confer the National Film Awards on 3rd May of every year. Accordingly, 64th National Film Awards were given away for 2016.  The First BRICS Film Festival was organized in New Delhi from 2nd-6th September, 2016. Indian film Thithi bagged the best film award.  National Film Archive of India (NFAI) was established as a media unit in February 1964.  National Film Heritage Mission was set up in November, 2014 for restoring and preserving the film heritage of India.  Children‘s Film Society India (CFSI) was established in 1955 to provide value based entertainment to children through the medium of films. The head office of the CFSI is in Mumbai with branch offices at New Delhi and Chennai.  The second edition of National Children‘s Film Festival was organized at Jaipur in November, 2016. The theme of the festival was ‘Make in India‘.  Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity (DAVP), established in 1955, is the nodal multi media advertising agency of the Government of India.  Directorate of Field Publicity, (DFP), a media unit is the only Directorate under Government of India engaged in interpersonal communication.  The Song and Drama Division was set up in 1954 as a unit of All India Radio and was given the status of an Independent media unit in 1956 with the mandate of development communication.  The Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) was set up in 1960. Following the addition of Television wing in 1974, the Institute was re-designated as Film and Television Institute of India. The Institute became a Society in October, 1974 under the Registration of Societies Act, 1860.  Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute (SRFTI), Kolkata was established as an autonomous educational institution and was registered under the West Bengal Societies Registration Act, 1961. Located at Kolkata and named after the legendary film maestro Satyajit Ray, SRFTI is the second national level film training institute to be established by the Government of India.  The Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC), registered as a society under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 came into existence in 1965. The Institute, was established with the basic objective of undertaking teaching, training and research in the area of mass communication. With the growing popularity of the Institute‘s training activities and with a view to meeting regional aspirations, the Institute opened a branch at Dhenkanal, Orissa in 1993 for catering to the demands of the eastern region. The activities of the Institute are guided by its Executive Council, whose Chairman (Ex Officio) is the Secretary in the Ministry who is also the President of the Institute (Society).  Broadcast Engineering Consultants India Ltd. (BECIL), a profit making PSE was constituted in 1995 to provide the national broadcasters‘ expertise to the private broadcasters in the country.