Media is called the fourth pillar of democracy. It has been proven time and again. With the passage of time mass media has got immense power. Earlier it was not so strong but with the emergence of newer methods of communication, it has widened its arena. Today mass media has to play more proactive roles by exposing the corrupt practices in society. James Augustus Hickey is regarded as the father of Indian journalism. Before 1947 media was a mission whose primary aim was to get rid of British rule.
After independence, it was time to create a new India and make its all-round developments. But after a few years, it became a profession and at last, it has become a business. Still, we cannot ignore its power. It has exposed a large number of scams/
Media must refrain from hype and keep a balanced approach. One of the roles of media is to give a constructive approach. It must be constructive criticism like the parents of a child. Only then it can be called the friend of the masses and the voice of the deprived.
JOURNALISM
The word journalism is made of word journal which is derived from the French journal. Gradually the word came in practice for the person who wrote for newspapers, periodicals etc. with the modernization of press, the word journalist is being used for the persons who works in the newspaper, magazine, radio or television and is associated with the worked such as collecting, selecting , editing, writing processes in these media.
In fact, it is the practice of investigation and reporting of events and trends to a broad audience. It has the basic work of collecting and disseminating of news through the print media as well as the electronic media. There is much variation within journalism, the basic task is to inform and educate. It covers and is free to cover almost all the news and views.
Now we see flood of internet newspapers, where cyber journalists are engaged in purveying the information and entertainment to the audience. Thus the role of journalism is undergoing change.
Journalism can be classified into two categories i.e. Print Journalism and ii. Electronic Journalism. Newspapers, magazines come under the print journalism while Radio, Television and the Web portals come under electronic journalism. Journalists play a major role in the development of society and nation as a whole.
PRINT MEDIA
Print media includes newspapers, magazines, books etc.
NEWSPAPERS
Newspapers are the mirror of society. By reading a good newspaper, one can make an assessment of society. A newspaper contains news, views, reviews, features, articles, advertisements, etc. Although it has to face stiff competition from other media such as television, radio, magazine, television, and the Internet but still it has its own importance. The word ‘Press’ is in fact, used generally for newspapers. They are easy and cheap messengers who can provide insight into what is happening in the government. What welfare decisions are being taken by the government? Who is going to become the next chief minister of a certain state? In addition to giving news, newspapers also render great service to the nation by building public opinion. They clear the clouds engulfing the public minds. They also reveal the reality and expose the malpractices. They diagnose the disease.
Newspapers inform, educate, entertain, and influence us. Newspapers have something for everyone. Whether it is a school-going child, job seeker, businessman, political analyst, teacher or an owner of a manufacturing company. The newspaper provides a platform from where the masses can raise their voices and it is done through the letters from readers. Even newspapers can form and refine public opinion on some issues of national or international importance.
They also tell us about the social sector. The newspaper tells us about the couple who had .done inter-caste marriage. They tell us about the winning team. Some newspapers have great credibility in the masses. Some of the reputed newspapers of India are Times of India, Hindustan Times, Indian Express, Tehelaka, Navbharat Times, Hindustan, Dainik Jagran, Dainik Bhaskar, Punjab Kesari, etc. These newspapers are taken seriously by government agencies.
CONTENT OF NEWSPAPER : A newspaper has diversified contents, which touch almost all the parts of our life such as politics, society, religion, history, health, science and technology etc.
Now we can see a shifting of advertising revenue to other media, but in nations such as India where Internet is not accessible to all and newspapers enjoy the love of the masses.
KINDS OF NEWSPAPERS : Newspapers can be categorized into various types-Region wise, they can be categorized into national and city newspapers etc. in the same way they can be categorized into economic and political, and religious newspapers. Time factors also can divide it further such as morning newspaper, afternoon newspaper, and evening newspaper.
STRUCTURE OF NEWSPAPER COMPANY : Like other organizations, Newspaper Company has an organizational structure. The major sections of newspaper organization are editorial, Advertising, circulation, printing, Administrative, Accounting, Personnel, Legal, Public, etc.
Means of advertising: Advertisements are major source of revenues for newspapers. Advertisements may seem worthless to someone but the person who is looking a job, the businessman who wants to expand his business and the company who wants to hire employees for their company, the person who deals in property, the studies who want to know about the various existing opportunities in the field of education, for them theses relevant advertisements are of great importance. Sometimes advertiser may influence the policy of newspaper or convince the newspaper to work in his favour, but it is not good practice as it may be applied to some small newspaper.
HISTORY : In India, the first newspaper was published in Jan, 1780 by Jamesh Augustus Hickey by the name of Bengal gazette. It was first milestone in the history of Indian journalism. The newspaper is known for its attack on mighty people of the time. It attacked on Warren Hastings, the then governor general and his friend Elija Impay, the then Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. The newspaper was “A weekly political and commercial paper open to all parties but influence by none. It contained news related to fashion, politics, and belated description of the debates in the British Parliament. Sometimes its content seemed to be vulgar and improper.
The fact cannot be denied that the primary aim and objective of the East Indian Company was to make as much profit as it could. So many European who were not in agreement with the policies made by the company raised their voice and vent their anger through such publication.
Hickey became a great source of inspiration for others and we see emergence of a number of newspapers such as Madras Courier, the Harkara, Indian Gazette, Bombay Gazette, James Silk Buckingham was a noteworthy journalist, who come to India as an editor of Calcutta chronicle’ , the newspaper that was started by some merchants of Calcutta to protect their collective interest. Buckingham was a close friend of Raja Ram Mohan Roy, the great social reformer, who is also called the father of Indian journalism. He himself started three newspapers: Mirat-ulAkhbar in Persian, Sambad Kaumadi in Bengali and Brahmanical Magazine in English. He was a man of great vision.
In the beginning, the newspapers were doing the duties of promoting interest of some groups or institutions. But with the course of time, they began to become the voice of people.
KIND OF NEWSPAPERS : Newspapers can be broadly divided into two groups one which are of general-interest and second is of special interest. In fact newspaper can be categorized into many groups such as
MAGAZINES
The word magazine comes from the Arabic makhazin means ‘store house’. Magazines are different from newspapers. Views are more important than news in a magazine. It deals with interpretation, analysis and. it is a periodical publication containing a varied kinds of items. The language of magazines is more refined and well-structured than that of newspapers language. Magazines are published to express and promote certain ideas or views.
KINDS OF MAGAZINES : Magazine can be classified in various categories. All we have read magazines. Nowadays magazines are seen highly specialized. On the basis of its publication frequency it may be weekly, fortnightly, monthly, quarterly, half yearly or annually. If we have a close look. Likewise, keeping in view the content it may be categorized in various categories such as fashion, health, competitive examination, music, home, games, computer, finance, automobiles, footwear, travel, news and business. Etc.
SOURCE OF REVENUE :Magazines get revenue from three major sources; advertising, pre-paid subscription and purchase price.
History: The Gentlemans’ Magazine was the first magazine that was published in 1731 in London.
Prominent magazines of the world and India: Reader’s Digest, Time, The New Yorker. India Today, outlook, etc. are some of India’s renowned magazines.
ELECTRONIC MEDIA
RADIO
It is a theatre of mind enhances ones visualization power. When we are listening radios, actually our mind is doing two acts simultaneously. On the one hand, we are listening to the news on the other hand what is listened is bring also created within our mind. Radio is a personal media.
Some people have buried it but FM has revived it in a new form. One can see number of people listening news in buses, metro trains and even when doing their household chores.
All India Radio is one of the largest radio networks in the world. Headquarters of AIR is at the akashvani Bhavan in New Delhi. AIR provides services in number of languages.
HISTORY OF RADIO: The first radio broadcasting started in India in Nov 1923 by Radio club of Bengal, Calcutta (Now Kolkatta). Next year Madras and Bombay radio club also started the radio broadcasting. In the beginning the radio clubs were confined to broadcast only music and talks. These initial attempts were very important but due to financial problems they could not survive and had to face closure in 1927. In the same year India Broadcasting company was set up on 23 rd July. IBC had to go to the same fate and went bankrupt and closed down. Public reacted strongly on its closure and government took it over and renamed it Indian Broadcasting Service under the department of labor and industries. In the year 1925, the Mysore station was named as ‘Akashvani’. Radio station at Delhi was set up and started functioning from 1936. It was a big event in the history of radio broadcasting. It was in this year that India broadcasting was renamed All India Radio. At the time of independence, India had six radio station, and 18 transmitters. Total number of radio sets was 2, 75,000.
Vivid Bharti services were started on 3rd October 1957 and Yuvavani services were stated in Delhi on 1969. Commercial services of AIR were started from 1973. The first FM broadcasting started on 23rd July 1977 in Madras. In 1997 AIR along with DD was brought under Prasar Bharti, an autonomous body of I & B Ministry.
All India Radio consists of 277 stations and 432 broadcast transmitters (148 are MW (Medium Wave), 236 FM (Frequency Modulation) and 48 SW (Short Wave) transmitters as on 31 March 2012), which provide coverage to about 99% of the population spread over the country.
THREE-TIER BROADCASTING SYSTEM : All India Radio has a three-tier system of broadcasting: National, Regional and Local each having distinct audiences. National programmes are broadcast from Delhi for relay by the Capital, Regional and Local Radio Stations. The National Channel of AIR located in Delhi broadcasts programmes which are heard on Medium Wave and also on Short Wave. The channel was started on 18th May 1988. Programmes are broadcast in Hindi, Urdu and English. The Regional Stations in different States are the middle tier of broadcasting. They present programmes in the regional languages and dialects. Regional Channels are located in the major linguistic-cultural region of every state.
Local Radio stations serve small communities, showcase local culture and broadcast area specific programmes for the benefit of the community. The transmission is in the FM mode.
FM RADIO : The first FM Channel was launched in Chennai in 1977. The local radio stations of AIR which had their beginning in 1984 were all based on FM technology. These stations introduced the concept of community radio using the FM transmitter which provided limited coverage focused on the needs of the local people and served the community effectively.
FM Rainbow channel was launched by AIR on 1st January, 1993. Wide ranges of programmer are launched by the FM Rainbow i.e. Pop music, Film songs, Classical & Devotional music, News Headlines, informal chat shows, phone-in programmer etc.
TRADITIONAL MEDIA
India is an ancient country having very rich cultural heritage. With the passage of time different kinds of folk dances and folklores developed. They have being informing, educating, entertaining the masses effectively and persuasively for centuries. These are deeply rooted to our culture. They make us aware about some religious or social issues.
India is a country of villages. Major sources of there entertainment are nukkad natak, puppet show and various other folklores. They are bled of information and entertainment. Now, we see various non governmental organisations and government itself have understood the effectiveness of these folk forms.
People are educated and entertained in a very light manner. These folk lores and dances have charm to attract the masses. They make good rapport with the masses.
Each state has its own folk theatre as Tamasha in Maharashtra and Yakshgayan in Karnataka is very popular. Nautanki is very popular in North Indian state. Jatra is a folk theatre of Bengal and Odisha and Bhavi is the folk theatre of Gujarat.
Puppetry: Puppetry is the least expensive form of all animated visual art form.
The early puppet shows were confined to the heroic deeds of great kings and princes.
Kind of puppetry
Puppetry attracts everyone irrespective of age and social background. Stories are taken from local myth and puranic literature.
String puppet: String puppetry is widely used and flourishes in Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan Odisha and Karantaka. It is called Kathputi in Rajasthan, Kundhei in Odisha. In Rajasthan puppets are carved from a single piece of wood and look like large dolls. They are dressed colorfully.
In Karnataka string puppets are called gombeyatta.
In Tamil Nadu, puppets are called as Bommallatam.
Shadow Puppet: shadow puppet can be seen flourishing in Kerla Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha and Tamil Nadu. In Karnataka it is called Togalu Gombeyatta. In Anddhra it is called Thalu Bommalata. It is called Ravanchage in Odisha.
Rod puppet: it is manipulated by rod. Rod puppet is mostly flourishing in Odisha and West Bengal. In Bihar, it is known as Yampuri while in Bengal it is called Putul Nautch.
Glove Puppet: In Kerala it is called Parvakoothu. . It arose from Karnataka.