The four fundamental changes in recent times that have impacted the media, in his view are: 1. Media houses turning into big business. 2. Big business buying huge stakes in the media. 3. Politicians buying into media houses. 4. Media owners entering into politics in a big way. “To put it gently, we are in deep, deep crap”, he said. Sainath said, “Managing Director of Bennett, Coleman and Co. once told New Yorker magazine ‘We are not in the newspaper business. We are in the advertising business.’ A General Manager of the same company said, ‘You can call us an equity fund with significant holdings in the media.’ These guys are on record telling you they aren’t here to serve your journalistic ideals, they are here in the advertising business!” “The media are no longer a bunch of pro-corporate newspapers. They are the corporates. They are the big business.” The coverage of the AamAadmi Party in Delhi is a case in point. According to Sainath, the media’s treatment of AAP changed diametrically once the political party started hitting at corporate corruption, through their stance on electricity tariffs.
Posted on: Wed, 24 Dec 2014 17:59:53 +0000
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