Indian Media
The opening up of the media sector has profoundly affected Indian journalism. This is most visible in television where we have reached an era of multi-channel viewing with many dedicated news networks, in English, Hindi and India's many other major languages as well.
The press in India can also be compared with the best in the world. The professionalism of Indian journalists is out there for all to see. We produce some of the most professional news magazines like India Today, Sunday and Newsweek, etc.
Print Media - News Paper of India
Around 4,236 daily newspapers are circulated in India, out of which about 300 newspapers are in English and 1877 are in Hindi, and the rest are in various other Indian languages. The renowned daily newspapers in English are The Indian Express, The Times of India, The Hindu, The Hindustan Times and The Statesman, Asian Age and Telegraph. The Times of India which is published from 16 cities, enjoys the highest circulation among various English dailies followed by the Indian Express which is published from 7 cities. The Sunday Times, The Times of India and Sunday publication also publish about 1,80,813 copies every week. The 130-year-old Lucknow based newspaper "Pioneer", is now published in Delhi also but carries more foreign news. Sir Winston Churchill was also associated with the Pioneer as a reporter. Economic Times and Financial Express are the two well-known financial dailies being published from major cities. The popular news magazines are, the weekly India Today which is published from Delhi, and the Frontline, which is published from Madras.
Among the news magazines published in English, "India Today" holds the credit for the highest circulation ,and it is published in various other languages as well. "Sunday" and "Newsweek" are another popular weekly news magazine in English. Popular business magazines include Business India, Business Today and Business Standard. Indian editions of popular magazines like Time, Newsweek and Readers’ Digest are readily available and Readers’ Digest is doing quite well and is published in Hindi also. To cater to women, several English magazines are available, from which Femina and Savvy are more popular and sought after. Gentleman and Debonair, both monthly magazines, cater to the tastes of men! Magazines dealing with the film world like Stardust, Filmfare , Star and Style, Movie are available in plenty. Sports magazines are also readily available keeping in mind the indian passion for sports. Politics appears to be the Indian passion as well as a hobby since many detailed stories are published on politics and politicians. There is quite a huge difference in the prices of the foreign magazines like Times and Newsweek and the Indian magazines, and perhaps due to their high prices, foreign magazines do not have large circulations in India.
Television in India
Although television started as a lead project in India in 1959, it acquired the role of a major mass medium only in the early 1980s. Colour television was introduced much later and now apart from meeting its own requirements of colour, and black and white sets, India also exports its surplus production. About 75 million sets are available with Indian families. India also uses its own space satellites to provide the television programmes to viewers in Asia. The Doordarshan is run by the Government, which enables it to telecast various educational and informative programmes. Some of these programmes are related to family planning, thrift, environmental protection, cleanliness and national integration.
Besides this, various entertainment programmes are also shown on the TV like various films, songs and serials. News in English and Hindi are also broadcasted at regular intervals. It also accepts advertising with the films and serials, etc. Doordarshan has now reached to 90 per cent of the population of India and is also an autonomous body like BBC. Besides, Doordarshan, there are various private international channels like Star TV, BBC, CNN, SONY and Zee TV which are available on Cable TV. There are several other channels in different languages to cater to every individual's needs.
All India Radio
Radio broadcasting was started in India in 1927. It was initially known as the "All India Radio", and was later changed to Akashvani. It is a government controlled autonomous body. It covers almost 100 per cent of the Indian population, more than the Indian television. A national radio channel has also been broadcasted since 1988. Now, Akashvani is also available on Internet. Various informative and entertainment programmes are presented on Akashvani. These programmes are related to the family, family planning and good housekeeping that fulfills the needs of the people. A special All-India Channel and Vividh Bharati also broadcasts film music daily.
The transmission which originates from Delhi is transferred all over the country through a 1000 kw transmitter which is located at Nagpur. The News Services Division of Akashvani broadcasts 273 news bulletins for duration of 37 hours in its home, regional and external services. The external services broadcast programmes daily for nine hours in 23 languages and they reach various countries of Europe, USA and Canada. In its home service from Delhi, 78 bulletins are put out in various Indian languages for over 11 hours every day.
