Intro to Comm Documentary Report

7/29/2019 Intro to Comm Documentary Report

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ELECTRONIC MEDIA:

Broadcasting an information or content to a mass audience that uses electronic waves or

signals for transmission is electronic media. The two main components in electronic media

are

Television Radio

TELEVISION:

Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving

images that can be monochrome (black-and-white) or colored, with or without accompanying

sound.

RADIO:

Radio is the wireless transmission of signals through free space by electromagnetic

radiation of a frequency significantly below that of visible light, in the radio frequency range,

from about 30 kHz to 300 GHz

ELECTRONIC MEDIA HISTORY:

RADIO:

The date of historys first broadcast occurred in 1909 in San Jose, California. There,

Dr.Charles David Herrold built a tiny experimental radio transmitter and hooked it on to an

aerial which was strung over downtown streets between numerous buildings. By using this

the Doctor used to broadcast news and other programs to friends in the area to whom he had

provided free crystal sets.

Despite Herrolds fledgling attempts to broadcast news, there was practically no attempt

made in the early days to do any type of radio reporting on a regular basis. It wasnt until

November 15th, 1926 , the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) began serving 25

members of its network.

World WarII provided the raw material for broadcast news to sharpen its news gatheringabilities and techniques. Spot reports, live interviews, commentary and other current

practices came into being under the heat of battle and were tempered by demands of the war

coverage

TELEVISION:

Television in its early days merely borrowed many of the proven radio programing and

production techniques. Experiments in television broadcasting were initiated during the

1920s in the United States and Europe. These experiments used the mechanical scanning

disc that did not scan a picture rapidly enough. In 1923, however came the invention of theiconoscope, the electric television tube. The inventions of the kinescope or picture tube, the


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electronic camera and TV home receivers arrived in rapid succession during the next few

years and by the 1930s the National Broadcasting Corporation set up a TV station in New

York and BBC a TV station in London.

The age of satellite communication dawned in 1962 with the launching of Early

Bird, the first communication satellite. The two big international satellite

systems, Intelset and Intersputnik began operating in 1965 and 1971 respectively

and from then on the progress has been phenomenal.

In the 1970s more sophisticated transmission techniques were invented employing

optical fiber cable and computer technology. Japan succeeded in designing a

computer-controlled network to carry two-way video information to and from

households. The audio -visual cassette and the video tape recorder, closed circuit

TV, and more recently cable television, pay television and DTH (Direct-to-Home)

television have changed the course of the development of TV in new and

unexpected ways.

HISTORY OF RADIO IN INDIA:

Broadcasting began in India with the formation of a private radio service in

Madras in 1924. In the same year, the British colonial government granted a

license to a private company, the Indian Broadcasting Company, to open Radio

stations in Bombay and Calcutta. The company went bankrupt in 1930 but the

colonial government took over the two transmitters and the Department of Labour

and Industries started operating them as the Indian State Broadcasting Corporation.

In 1936, the Corporation was renamed All India Radio (AIR) and placed under theDepartment of Communications. When India became independent in 1947, AIR

was made a separate Department under the Ministry of Information and

Broadcasting.

Radio broadcasting is a Government of India monopoly under the Directorate

General of All India Radio--established in 1936 and since 1957 also known as

Akashvani--a government-owned, semi commercial operation of the Ministry of

Information and Broadcasting. From only six stations at the time of independence,

All India Radio's network had expanded by the mid-1990s to 146 AM stations.

The government -owned network provides both national and local programs in

Hindi, English, and sixteen regional languages. The Committee on Broadcasting

and Information Media, popularly known as Chanda Committee, made specific

recommendations in April, 1966 for commercial advertising for funds. Realising that

it is imperative to generate resources All India Radio introduced the Commercial

Broadcasting Service with effect from Ist November, 1967. Vividh Bharati, which is a

light entertainment service. Vividh Bharati Service, headquartered inBombay, provides commercial Radio services in India, which

were inaugurated in 1967. Vividh Bharati, which accepts advertisements,

broadcasts from thirty-one AM and FM stations in the mid-1990s.FM Broadcasts were introduced in Madras in 1977 and later at Jalandhar in


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1992, but it was only in 1993 when time slots came to be leased to private

companies that FM became synonymous with pop music and youth culture.

FM broadcasts ensure reception free from atmospheric noise and electric

interference. The AIR stations of Delhi, Bombay, Panaji, Bangalore, Madras,

Calcutta, now sell FM slots to private producers such as Times FM, Radio Middayand Radiostar.

CONGRESS RADIO:

Congress Radio was a clandestine and underground radio station, which operated for about

three months during the Quit India Movement of 1942, a movement launched

by Gandhi against the British Raj forindependence ofIndia. Congress Radio was the

broadcasting mouthpiece of the Indian National Congress, and functioned from different

locations from Bombay, currently known as Mumbai. It was organized by Usha

Mehta (19202000), a veteran freedom fighterof India with the help ofham radio operators.

Her other associates for organizing the Congress Radio included Vithalbhai Jhaveri,Chandrakant Jhaveri, and Babubhai Thakkar. The technicians and the equipment were

supplied by Nanak Motawani ofChicago Radio, Mumbai. Eminent personalities like Ram

Manohar Lohia, Achyutrao Patwardhan, and Purushottam Trikamdas were also associated

with the Congress Radio.

On 14 August 1942, within a week of launching of the Quit India Movement, the Secret

Congress Radio, went on air, with Dr. Usha Mehata herself broadcasting this announcement:

"This is the Congress Radio calling on (a wavelength of) 42.34 meters from somewhere in

India."

HISTORY OF TELEVISION IN INDIA:

Television broadcasts started from Delhi in September 1959 as part of All India

Radio's services. Programs were broadcast twice a week for an hour a day on such

topics as community health, citizens duties and rights, and traffic and road sense.

The first major expansion of television in India began in 1972, when a second Television

station was opened Bombay. In 1975, the government carried out the first test of the

possibilities of satellite based television through the SITE program. SITE

(Satellite Instructional Television Experiment) was designed to test whether

satellite based television services could play a role in socio-economic

development

In 1982 television began to attain national coverage and develop as the

government's pre-eminent media organization. Two events triggered the rapid

growth of television that year. INSAT-1A, the first of the country's domestic

communications satellites became operational and made possible the networking of

all of Doordarshan's regional stations. 1976 witnessed a significant event in

the history of Indiantelevision, the advent of advertising on Doordarshan.

International satellite television was introduced in India by CNN through its

coverage of the Gulf War in 1991. Three months later Hong Kong based Star TV(now owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.) started broadcasting five channels
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_stationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quit_India_Movementhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gandhihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rajhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Independence_Movementhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indiahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_National_Congresshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombayhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mumbaihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usha_Mehtahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usha_Mehtahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_fighters_of_Indiahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ham_radio_in_Indiahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ram_Manohar_Lohiahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ram_Manohar_Lohiahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ram_Manohar_Lohiahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ram_Manohar_Lohiahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ham_radio_in_Indiahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_fighters_of_Indiahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usha_Mehtahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usha_Mehtahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mumbaihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombayhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_National_Congresshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indiahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Independence_Movementhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rajhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gandhihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quit_India_Movementhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_station


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into India using the ASIASAT-1 satellite. By early 1992, nearly half a million

Indian households were receiving Star TV telecasts. Taking advantage of the

growth of the satellite television audience, a number of Indian satellite based

television services were launched between 1991 and 1994, prominent among them

Zee TV, the first Hindi satellite channel. By the end of 1994 there were 12satellite-based channels available in India, all of them using a handful of different

satellites. This number was expected to double by the end of 1996.

SITE-SATELLITE INSTRUCTIONAL TELEVISION EXPERIMENT

The one year long Satellite instructional television experiment (SITE) which commenced on

1st August 1975 and concluded on 31st July 1976, marked the beginning of a series of

innovative and constructive educational television programmes for national development and

for educating the Indian masses living in remote rural areas.

The SITE educational programmes were also aimed at making the children sensitive to, and

learn, community living and improve their basic concepts and skills in the areas of numeracy,

language and Science.

The programmes were directed at creating a positive attitude to formal education and making

education interesting, creative, purposive and stimulating. The educational programmes were

so designed as to familiarise children with facts and matters normally beyond their

observation and experience.

The Satellite for this experiment, ATS-6 was provided by the National Aeronautics and SpaceAdministration (NASA) of USA and the ground segment was prepared by the Indian Space

Research Organization (ISRO) working in collaboration with All India Radio/ Doordarshan.

The educational and developmental programmes were beamed up to the satellite from earth

stations set up in Ahmedabad and Delhi and were broadcast towards India using the high

power transmitter and the large antenna aboard ATS-6. These programmes were received in

about 2400 villages in six different states of India.

One of the purposes of the experiment was to provide a system test of direct broadcast

technology in relation to a large developing country.

It also aimed at demonstrating that a developing country like India could fabricate,

manufacture and maintain the required earth stations, rebroadcast transmitters and

community receiving sets in far off villages with adequate efficiency and reliability.

The experiment was also considered as a learning experience to design, produce and telecast

relevant educational and developmental programmes to widely spread areas with different

problems and languages using, on a time sharing mode, a single broadcast channel.

One and a half hours of broadcast in the morning was denoted to school children while 2.5

hours in the evening were meant for general audiences in the villages. The evening


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programmes included half an hour of common programmes in Hindi which originated in

Delhi.

The evaluation of the experiment provided a great deal of information and insight into how

things worked and what can be done in the areas of technology, management, programme

making and programme support to turn this new broadcasting innovation into a powerful aidto education and development for hitherto neglected rural areas.

SITE covered 2330 villages spanning in 20 districts of six states (clusters) namely Andhra

Pradesh, Bihar, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa and Rajasthan.

Instructional TV programmes for adult viewers were telecast in the evening for about two and

a half an hour's which included half-hour national Hindi programmes in Hindi, Kannada,

Oriya and Telugu.

CONDITIONAL ACCESS SYSTEM:

CAS or conditional access system, is a digital mode of transmitting TV channels through a

set-top box (STB). The transmission signals are encrypted and viewers need to buy a set-top

box to receive and decrypt the signal. The STB is required to watch only pay channels.

The idea of CAS was mooted in 2001, due to a furore over charge hikes by channels and

subsequently by cable operators. Poor reception of certain channels; arbitrary pricing and

increase in prices; bundling of channels; poor service delivery by Cable Television Operators

(CTOs); monopolies in each area; lack of regulatory framework and redress avenues were

some of the issues that were to be addressed by implementation of CAS

It was decided by the government that CAS would be first introduced in the four metros. Ithas been in place in Chennai since September 2003, where until very recently it had managed

to attract very few subscribers. It has been rolled out recently in the other three metros of

Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata.

As of April 2008 only 25 per cent of the people have subscribed the new technology. The rest

watch only free-to-air channels. As mentioned above, the inhibiting factor from the viewer's

perspective is the cost of the STB.

HISTORY OF PRASAR BHARTI:

For over three decades beginning with Chanda committee report in 1966 and continuing

through the reports of the Verghese Committee in 1978 and the Joshi Committee in 1985-

expert committees set up by the government made a case for organizational restructuring of

broadcasting, so as to give it greater autonomy. The Committee on Broadcasting and

Information Media also known as Chanda committee passed their recommendations in

December 1964 .It recommended separation of the corporations set up for Aakashvani and

DD and also for conversion into an autonomous operation.This recommendation was

informed to the lok sabha in 1969 and they felt that this is not the right time for conversion

into an autonomous operation , However they accepted the recommendation of separation ofDoordashan and Aakashvani which took effect from April 1,1976. The Janta Government had


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appointed a Working Group on the autonomy of the Akashwani and Doordarshan in August

1977. The chairman of this committee was B.G. Verghese. The committee submitted its

report on February 24, 1978. This committee's main recommendation was "formation of

Akash Bharti or the "National Broadcasting Trust", both for the AIR and Doordarshan. The

committee noted that the people want an independent corporation because, the executive,abetted by a captive parliament, shamelessly misused the Broadcasting during emergency and

this must be prevented for all times. Such was the bold recommendation of this committee,

which wanted substantial "Constitutional Safeguards" for the recommended body. But these

recommendations could not find favour of even Janta rulers. This followed a bill in May 1979

introduced by LK Advani, who was information and Broadcasting minister in the

Government. The bill proposed the "Autonomous Corporation" known as Prasar Bharti for

both AIR and Doordarshan. But the bill was introduced in the compromised state, rejecting

the provisions of the constitutional safeguards. Meanwhile the Lok Sabha dissolved

guaranteeing the death of this bill. After that Congress was back in power, but it did not

considered necessary to reintroduce such bill. Though it appointed PC Joshi Committee in

1982, whose main term of reference was to prepare a software plan for Doordarshan. But this

group also emphasized on the absence of "Functional Freedom" in Prasar Bharti. This

committee said that the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting should be reorganized and

a separate board on the lines of Railway Board should be created, in which only people with

professional experience should get entry. So, slowly a consensus developed for a Television

Authority of India -as a public trust and under the control of the parliament and officed with

only experienced professionals. In 1989, the National Front government came into power. It

introduced Prasar Bharti Bill in December 1989. The bill was introduced by P Upendra, the

minister, who borrowed some of the articles from the previous bill introduced by Advani andalso added some new ethos as per the changed scenario. The Prasar Bharti Bill, moved by the

VP Singh Government got the confidence of BJP, Leftists and Congress as well and was

passed in Lok Sabha in August 1990. This was included in the election manifesto of the NF

(National Front) Government, so we can imagine how difficult it must have been for the

coalition government to get the support of the Congress, BJP and the lefts. However, all of

them thoroughly indulged in amelioration and 400 amendments were moved :) Out of these

65 were accepted. So, to provide for the establishment of Broadcasting Corporation for India,

to be known as Prasar Bharati, to define its composition, functions and powers and to proved

for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto, the Prasar Bharti Act was passed. Now

from April 1, 1991, it was to be given the president's assent and the Prasar Bharti Corporation

was to begin functioning from that date. But the Government changed meanwhile and the

Chandrasekhar Government maintained status quo. In 1992, the Information and

Broadcasting ministry of PV Narsihma Rao government noted down that "the time has

changed now" and this mooted the idea of the autonomy of electric media. This had actually

followed the coverage of Gulf war in 1991 by CNN. People wanted to see more channels. In

September 1991, the Narsimharao Government set up a Vardan committee, under K A

Vardan, the additional secretary in I& B Ministry. This committee recommended that a

second channel of Doorsharshan should be leased out in 4 metro and some FM stations

should also be leased out. So, now the Government was in dilemma. On the one side it was to

liberalize the media, on the other side it did not want to lose the clutches over Doordarshan


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and Akashwani, which were actually a source of propaganda plus revenue for the

Government. But the credibility of Doordarshan had already fallen and now it was to face the

invasion of the global media. The Government could implement the Prasar Bharti Act, and

infuse professionalism to bring back its credibility, but it was not done. Under the new

policies the Narsimharao government allowed private and foreign broadcasters to engage inlimited operations in India. Foreign channels like CNN, Star TV and domestic channels such

as Zee TV and Sun TV started satellite broadcasts. Meanwhile, some more experiments were

done. The National Programming staff of Doordarshan took over the programming for DD

Metro. The Metro channel was moved from 4 to 18 cities and now DD3, DD4, DD5 and DD6

were rolled out. In march 1995, an satellite based channel started broadcasting abroad. But

still, the condition of Doordarshan was not improved. Later KP Singh Deo, I & B Minister

said that the invasion of the foreign media would be responded with an indigenous

programming strategy. During this time also, the government never tried to get the act

notified. The result was that "Prasar Bharti was "slaughtered in the market" as this author

says, and Indian viewers were hijacked by the satellite channels , both foreign and domestics.

Among the new experiments it was an "Air Time Committee of India" that was proposed to

lay down the procedure for allotment of slots in DD and AIR in 1993. But it was shelved

later. The summary is that "State control" was anyhow continued and this ensured that DD

remains just a Government propaganda channel. K. P. Singh Deo ,though made repeated

statements that Government was serious about implementing the Prasar Bharati Act, but

practically was not serious about granting autonomy to Akashwani and Doordarshan. Finally

Prasar Bharti came into being in 1997.

PRASAR BHARTI ORGANISATION:

Prasar Bharati (Broadcasting Corporation of India) is the public service broadcaster in

the country, with Akashwani (All India Radio) and Doordarshan as its two constituents. It

came into existence on 23rd November 1997, with a

mandate to organize and conduct public broadcasting services to inform, educate and

entertain the public and to ensure a balanced development of broadcasting on radio

and TV. Prasar Bharati Board functions at the apex level ensuring formulation and

implementation of policies of the organization and fulfillment of the mandate in

terms of the Prasar Bharati Act, 1990. The Executive Member functions as the

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Corporation, subject to the control andsupervision of the Board. The CEO, the Member (Finance) and the Member

(Personnel) perform their functions from the Prasar Bharati headquarters . All important

policy matters relating to finance, administration and personnel are

submitted to the CEO and the Board through the Member (Finance) and the

Member (Personnel) as required, for the purpose of advice, implementation of

proposals and decisions thereon. Officers from different streams working in the

Prasar Bharati Secretariat assist the CEO, the Member (Finance) and the Member

(Personnel) in integrating actions, operations, plans and policy implementation as

well as look after the budget, accounts and general financial matters of the

Corporation.


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Prasar Bharati also has a unified vigilance set up at the headquarters, headed by a Chief

Vigilance Officer. To facilitate decision making, the Policy & Executive Committee (earlier

known as Management Committee) chaired by the CEO, has been constituted for both

Doordarshan and AIR.

ORGANISATION OF ALL INDIA RADIO:

All India Radio comes under the Ministry of Information and BroadcastingGovernment of

India. A secretary and four joint secretaries who are supposed to dothe following jobs

assist the minister of information and broadcasting:

Policy

Broadcasting

Financial Advisor and

Film

Radio stations come in all sizes and generally are classifies as being either small,medium or

large market outlets. The size of the community that a station servesusually reflects the size

of its staff. For example, the station in a town of fivethousand residents may have six to eight

fulltime employees in the station.

Medium markets are set up in more densely populated areas and in this type of station; there

are twelve to twenty employees. Mostly, overlapping of duties

occur in the larger stations, positions are usually limited to specific areas of responsibility.

Large stations may employ as many as sixty to hundred people andas few as twenty

depending on the nature of their format.

Occasionally, Indian Administration Service Officers are assigned an additionaltask ofDirector General of All India Radio and since independence; there have been around 15 IAS

officers who have performed the task of Director General of AIR.

There are Additional Director General and Deputy Director Generals also who help the

Director General is assisted by Director of Programmes.

A Director whose rank is equivalent to Deputy Director General heads news Division. The

Director is assisted by Chief News Editor, News Editor, Joint Director, etc. others employed

in the news department of the radio station are the News Readers, Announcers, Translators

and others.

The Engineering Division of AIR is looked after by Engineer- in-Chief and is assisted byChief Engineer and Regional Engineers. The Regional Stations of

AIR is under the control of Station Director who is assisted by Assistant Station Directors

and Programme Executives.

ORGANISATION OF DOORDASHAN:

Doordarshan is divided into four wings: Programme, News, Engineering,

Administration & Finance, Programme Wing deals with all aspects relating to

programme conception, production and procurement at the national, regional, and

local level. News Wing puts out news bulletins and other current affairsprogrammes at the national and regional level. Engineering Wing deals with all the


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hardware requirements of the entire network, including the space segment and the

studios, transmitters etc. Administration & Finance Wing deals with the

administrative and financial aspects including general administration, personnel

management, budget and plan coordination. In most of the ways, the

organizational structures of Doordarshan and All India

Radio are more or less the same. But Doordarshan these days are growing bigger interms of number of sections, subsections and staff of various kinds.

The overall head of all the departments in Doordarshan is the Director

General. The rank of the Director General of Doordarshan is equivalent to that of

the Director General of All India Radio, while earlier it was not the case. In

Doordarshan, the Director General heads the Department of Programme and

Administration. His main job is to supervise, guide, govern and control the entire

functioning of the department. He is assisted by:

Additional Director General and Deputy director general(Development)Deputy Director General(News and current affairs)

Deputy Director General(Communication&Film)

Deputy Director General(Production&Transmission)Director(Finance&Personnel control)

Intro to Comm Documentary Report

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