India is a country with the world’s largest newspaper market,
second largest telecommunications market, third-largest television market, and
second-largest Facebook community but even today it is virtually absent from most mainstream global
communication studies within academia. In revenue terms, India’s share of the
global media sector still remains small but within the top 15 media and
entertainment economies, only India has had consistent growth rates for years.
An article in the Journal of Emerging
Economy Studies
concentrates on Indian media and its future directions and how it acts as a significant
lever of society offering an unparalleled view into the daily theater of India.
Combined with the rise of the other device that has grown
faster than toilets in India—the mobile phone—television has fundamentally
reshaped Indian democracy and emerged as a critical social lever. Within the
top 15 media and entertainment economies, however, only India has had
consistent over 15 percent growth rates for years. This is why there is such a
global interest in Indian media at the moment with companies like Disney and
Viacom flocking to Indian shores. In subsectors like the newspaper industry,
the contrast is even more strident. India, along with China, is the country in
the world where newspaper subscriptions continue to grow. At a time when newspapers
around the world are dying, over a 100 million newspaper copies hit Indian
streets every morning; this number clearly illustrates the size and scope of
Indian media.
Media touches virtually everyone in Indian society, but in
the din of daily headlines, it is important to delineate some fundamental
questions—Who really owns Indian
television? What are the patterns of control nationally and across regional
languages? Are there any commonalities across languages and regions? Can we
discern underlying trends that drive the business and what are the politics?
These questions that are at the heart of the debate about modern media, the article
seeks to answer them.
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