Changing contours
of media in India
A round-table debate to mark the
launch of the India Media Centre
Tuesday 9 March 2010, 3-5.45 pm
The Boardroom
University of Westminster
309 Regent Street
London
The
transformation of media in India – the world’s largest democracy
and one of its fastest growing economies – has implications for media and
communication globally. According
to Goldman Sachs’ estimates, within a generation India will become the
planet’s third largest economy, in terms of purchasing power parity. With 70
round-the-clock news channels – soon to touch three figures - unrivalled
in any other country - India
boasts the world’s most linguistically diverse media
landscape, as well its largest film factory.
According to the World Association of
Newspapers, sale of newspapers in India is booming – between 2000 and
2008 circulation grew by 46 per cent: every day more than 99 million copies of
newspapers are sold in India, at a time when newspapers are closing down in the
West on a regular basis. The Times of India now claims to be the
world’s largest circulated ‘quality’ English-language
newspaper. From FM and community radio to on-line media, journalists are
finding new ways to communicate with a demanding and fragmenting audience,
including a young and vocal, middle-class diaspora.
The
study of journalism has not kept up with this massive expansion and
proliferation of media outlets, although it has led to a mushrooming of mostly private,
vocationally-oriented journalism institutes. The media revolution in India
offers exciting opportunities, as well as challenges to professional
journalists and scholars of international journalism. This raises some key
questions: has
marketization and competition encouraged journalists to move away from a
public-service news agenda to a ‘soft,’ version of news, with its
emphasis on consumer journalism, sports and entertainment? Is a market-driven news media eroding the public sphere in
a Habermasian sense, in a country where a majority of the people still live in
poverty? Given the scale and globalizing tendencies of media in India, what are
the international implications of these developments for journalism?
Studying
journalism in an international context is an important component of research at
the Communication and Media Research Institute (CAMRI) of the University of
Westminster, which was officially rated in 2008 as the UK’s top media
research department. CAMRI
hosts China, Arab and African Media Centres. The latest addition in this
internationalization strategy is the India Media Centre, a collaborative
project of CAMRI and
the Centre for Research and Education in Arts and Media (CREAM), whose Director
Rosie Thomas is Co-Director of the India Media Centre.
This
round-table discussion will bring together journalists and journalism scholars
to examine the changing contours of media in India and its impact on the rest
of the world.
A round-table debate to mark the
launch of the India Media Centre
Programme
The Boardroom
3:00 |
Welcome
and introduction Dr Daya
Thussu Professor
of International Communication Co-Director
of India Media Centre University
of Westminster |
3:10 |
Keynote
address Dr
Sarmila Bose University
of Oxford |
3:25 |
Short
presentations (5-7 minutes each) Dr
Chandrika Kaul University
of St. Andrews Andrew
Whitehead Editor,
BBC World Service News and Current Affairs Hasan Suroor Deputy Editor, The Hindu |
4:00 |
Tea/coffee |
4.15 |
Rita
Payne Vijay
Rana Formerly
BBC World Service Dipankar
De Sarkar India
Abroad News Service |
4.45-
5.45 |
Discussion
|
6:00 |
Wine reception
and formal launch of India Media Centre Chief
guest, Shyam Benegal, eminent filmmaker and member of Rajya Sabha (the upper
house of India’s parliament) to be introduced by Rosie Thomas,
Co-Director of India Media Centre. Fyvie
Hall |
Please
RSVP Ranita Chatterjee at [log in to unmask]
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