Media Management: Notes, Nature, Scope and Growth Profile of Indian Media

In this article we will discuss about the media management. Learn about: 1. Notes on Media Management 2. Nature of Media Management 3. Need 4. Scope 5. Government Policy and Media 6. Growth Profile of Indian Media 7. Structural Analysis of Indian Media.

Media Management: Notes, Nature, Scope, Government Policy and Growth Profile of Indian Media

Notes on Media Management:

Adequate and timely flow of information is necessary for updating the society about nation’s progress. There are mainly two types of media viz. print media and electronic media. Earlier, only radio, newspapers and journals etc. were the main sources of information for the society at large. Now electronic media is progressing well in the country.

So nature and scope of media are also changing. In present day scenario, Media has its own role in the social and economic development of the country. Development is a multi-facet programme. Media should try to focus on the important economic and social issues like- the level of economic growth, level of education, level of health services, degree of modernization, status of women, level of nutrition, distribution of goods and services and access to communication. Reporting of social and economic issues in time, opinion analysis, awareness programme, developing and advocating suggestive framework etc., should be done by the media in proper perspective.

“In India, media plays an important role in affecting the mindset of the people. People watch television and they tend to adapt many things which they see on television. If this is used for beneficial purpose, it could bring positive changes in the people and thereby on the social system. Media is responsible for the coverage of India’s growth in all aspects. It tells about the economic growth, local development, latest projects and government involvement all what is possible. The role of media cannot therefore be denied in the growth of the nation”.

Nature of Media Management:

Media management is a term used for several related tasks throughout post-production. “In general, any task that relates to processing of media is considered to be media management, such as capturing, compressing, copying, moving, or deleting media files. However, media management also refers to keeping track of media files via clip properties such as log notes, comments, scene number, shot/take number etc.”

Thus, media management deals with process, procedures, mechanism of reporting in an effective and viable way.

Need for Media Management:

We need media management on the following grounds:

1. To report the policy and programmes of the government in the interest of society.

2. To ensure and inculcate ethical values in media system.

3. To broad base the coverage of different types of media.

4. To professionalize the media system in proper perspective.

5. To serve the public interest by focusing on the issues affecting the society at large.

Scope of Media Management:

Media management covers the following:

(i) Regulatory framework of the media.

(ii) Compliance of ethical values in reporting.

(iii) Reporting of issues affecting society at large.

(iv) Developing base for professionalisation of print and electronic media

(v) Maintaining high standards of objectivity in criticism of government and other authori­ties.

(vi) Developing process and procedures for reporting.

(vii) Developing and implementing control mechanism for media operations.

Media Structure:

Media structure includes newspapers, news-agencies, magazines, journals, radio, television/channels etc. The Indian media sector is quite diverse, unlike that in most other developing or emerging economies. It has 398 daily newspapers, 98 more that appear at fixed intervals, 562 TV stations, 312 radio stations and 39.2 million cable TV subscribers.

Government Policy and Media:

Salient Features of Government Policy with regard to media are as follows:

(i) Publication of Indian editions of foreign scientific, technical and specialty magazines/periodicals/journals; and foreign investment upto 100% in Indian entities publishing scientific/technical and specialty/magazines/periodicals/journals.

(ii) Foreign Direct Investment (which includes foreign direct investments by NRIs, PIOs) and portfolio investments by recognized FIIs, together up to a ceiling of 26% of paid up equity capital, in Indian entities publishing newspapers and periodicals dealing with news and current affairs.

Such investment would be permissible by foreign entities having sound credentials and international standing, subject to certain conditions. In the most sensitive part of that sector, the news and current affairs on television the government now allows 26% foreign investment. There is no such ceiling for FDI in companies engaged in the business of running non-news TV channels.

(iii) FDI up to 26% should be permitted in FM broadcasting (news as well as entertainment. While calculating the 26% limit on FDI, the foreign holding component, if any, in the equity of the Indian shareholder companies of the licensee should be duly factored in on a pro rata basis to determine the total foreign holding in the licensee. The equity held by the largest Indian shareholder group should be at least 51% of the equity excluding equity held by public sector banks and public financial institutions.

(iv) Facsimile editions, in whole or in part(s), of foreign newspapers, by Indian entities, with or without foreign investment, and also by foreign companies owning the original newspa­per, provided they get incorporated and registered in India under the Companies Act, 1956.

(v) The Multi System Operators (MSO’s) are the new and bigger cable operators. They collect a bouquet of TV channels from satellites and act as middleman providing high quality signals to the LCO’s for onward transmission to the households.

(vi) Digital compression technology paves the way for more efficient use of transporter space in communication satellites. The technology also enables introduction of high quality services like High Definition Television (HDTV).

(vii) Privatisation of FM broadcasting provided the incentive to broadcasters to introduce state of the art radio broadcast technologies, media automation and softwares.

(viii) Digital radio broadcasting is available to listeners from World Space Radio and also All India Radio (AIR) stations.

Growth Profile of Indian Media:

Growth profile of Indian Media is given in following sub-headings:

A. Television/Channels:

The Indian television market continues to grow at a healthy pace. New channels are launched year on year and advertising growth is back to double digits after the slowdown in 2009. Niche channels are making its presence felt with major portion of the new channel launches in 2010 being niche channels.

With government focusing its attention on digitalization, TV distribution is taking a new shape. There are six DTH players, apart from the state-run DD Direct by Doordarshan, up from a single player in 2003. There are currently around 35 million DTH users in India and with present prediction; it is likely to overtake the US in terms of the largest DTH market in the world, by 2012.

While growth of DTH has been a major positive for the Television distribution industry, digitization has been a major challenge too with digital cable not gaining momentum. The percentage of digital cable subscribers continue to remain quite low despite government setting guidelines for digitization across the country. According to new deadline, pan-India digitization is expected to happen by 31st December, 2014.

Digitization will provide transparency across the system and will help multi-fold growth of distribution revenues. Another challenge for the Television industry is Average Revenue per User (ARPU). India is amongst the countries with lowest ARPU. As compared to developed countries like US and UK where ARPU is around USD 45 to USD 60, India has an ARPU of Rs. 160 (USD 3.5). It will remain to be seen how the ARPU levels are increase going forward.

B. Print Media:

Print Unlike the global print industry, which is moving towards digitization and showing a negative growth year on year, the Indian print media industry is going strong and is expected to continue similarly. The print industry in India, with over 90 million copies in circulation daily, is one of the largest in the world, second only to China (130 million copies). Most newspapers have an online presence and a growing view count on their portals, but hard copy still remains the preferred mode to access news.

The print industry saw good growth, on the back of a recovering advertising market and reduction in the gap between a ‘can read’ and ‘currently reading’ population. Increase in print penetration in tier-II and tier-m cities, supported by growth in literacy and purchasing power, aided growth in revenues.

Media segments are now focusing on growth in regional areas and smaller towns. 2009, a year when there was a degrowth in print segment due to economic slowdown, the regional print showed growth in local-to-local advertisement. In 2010, regional print further increased its share in overall print advertisement revenue pie.

Additionally, with advertisers focus shifting to tier-II and tier-in towns, regional print will play a major role in reaching out to this audience. Regional papers give advertisers access to localised populations and their niche target audience, difficult to do via national broadcast media. Newspapers are now realising value in going a step further and launching area-specific editions of newspapers.

Magazines have not been at their best performance in the past few years. However, niche magazines are doing well and will continue to show positive growth. Among the major challenges faced by this segment is newsprint cost. High newsprint prices continue to threaten profitability, particularly for English language and larger vernacular language newspapers, which consume larger quantities of imported newsprint. Newsprint forms a major component of the cost of publishing a newspaper (40 to 45% of total cost).

C. Radio:

Radio industry in India was privatized in late 1990s. However, the true growth came in during phase II licensing. Phase II brought in newer players into the market. Most current radio players are part of larger media conglomerates.

Radio penetration, which was initially limited to only Radio sets, saw a boom with increasing penetration of FM-enabled mobile phones. By the end of 2010, there were 245 active radio stations in India. With Phase III being recently cleared by Union Cabinet, Phase III privatization of radio FM is expected to add 839 new radio stations in 294 cities.

Measurement remains a key challenge for the radio industry. The industry has two major measurement tools in the form of Indian Readership Survey (IRS) and Radio Audience Measurement (RAM). IRS is not considered detailed and systematic enough.

The low frequency of IRS data collection means that only ‘snapshot’ data is available and trends are lost. The IRS collects listenership data from houses and hence does not account for listeners who are not in the house and listen to radio while travelling to work, which is emerging as a sizeable segment.

In case of RAM, the tool has limited coverage currently in the four major metros of Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Kolkata. Other challenges include availability of talent and lack of differentiated content. The later is expected to be addressed in Phase III as existing players get multiple stations in same city.

Structural Analysis of Indian Media:

Salient features of structural analysis of Indian media are given below:

1. Newspapers in India:

Leading newspapers are as follows:

(i) Anandabazar (West Bengal) [In Bengali]

(ii) Ajir Asom (Assam) [In Assamese]

(iii) Amar Ujala (Jammu, Kashmir)

(iv) Anandabazar Patrika

(v) Andhra Bhoomi

(vi) The Assam News (Assam) [In English]

(vii) The Assam Tribune (Assam, Guwahati) [In English]

(viii) Aurangabad times Urdu daily (Maharashtra) [In Urdu]

(ix) Awaz-e-Dost (Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh) [In Urdu]

(x) BBC Bengali

(xi) BBC Hindi

(xii) BBC Tamil

(xiii) Business Standard

(xiv) Daily Kashmir Images (Jammu, Kashmir) [In English]

(xv) Dainik Bhaskar (Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Chandigarh, Haryana)

(xvi) Dainik Jagran

(xvii) Dainik Navajyoti (Rajasthan) [In Hindi]

(xviii) Deccan Chronicle (Andhra Pradesh)

(xix) Deccan Herald (Karnataka)

(xx) The Economic Times [In English]

(xxi) Epilogue (Jammu, Kashmir) [In English]

(xxii) The Financial Express [In English]

(xxiii) The Hindu (National)

(xxiv) The Hindustan Times

(xxv) Indian Express

(xxvi) Jansatta Express (New Delhi) [In Hindi]

(xxvii) Lokmat

(xxviii) Loksatta

(xxix) Mahorama News [In English & Malayalam]

(xxx) Nagaland Post (Nagaland) [In English]

(xxxi) Nav Bharat Times [Li Hindi]

(xxxii) Pioneer

(xxxiii) Sikkim Express (Sikkim) [In English]

(xxxiv) The Statesman (Delhi) [In English]

(xxxv) The Times of India [In English]

(xxxvi) Vaartha (Andhra Pradesh)

(xxxvii) Yugantar (Punjab)

2. News Agencies in India:

A news agency is an organization of journalists established to supply news reports to news organizations: newspapers, magazines, and radio and television broadcasters. Such an agency may also be referred to as a wire service, newswire or news service. News agencies can be corporations that sell news (e.g. Press Association, Thomson Reuters, and AHN).

Other agencies work co-operatively with large media companies, generating their news centrally and sharing local news stories the major news agencies may choose to pick up and redistribute [i.e., AP, Agence France-Presse (AFP)].

Commercial newswire services charge businesses to distribute their news (e.g. Business Wire, the Hugin Group, Marketwire, PR Newswire, CisionWire, and ABN Newswire). Governments may also control news agencies- China (Xinhua), Canada, Russia (ITAR-TASS) and other countries also have government-funded news agencies which also use information from other agencies as well.

Major News Agencies:

Major news agencies are as follows:

A. International News Agencies:

Leading international news agencies are as follows:

(i) Associated Press

(ii) Australian Associated Press

(iii) BBC News

(iv) Bloomberg L.P.

(v) Central News Agency

(vi) CNN

(vii) Press Trust of India

(viii) Reuters

(ix) United News of India

(x) United Press International (UP)

(xi) Xinhua News Agency

B. National News Agencies:

Leading news agencies in India are as follows:

(i) Press Trust of India

(ii) Press Clearing India

(iii) Press Trust of India-PTI

(iv) Reuters India Ltd.

(v) United News of India

(vi) Press Information Bureau

(vii) Press Trust of India

(viii) Press Club

3. All India Radio:

All India Radio (abbreviated AIR), officially known as Akashvani (Devanagari- Established in 1936). It is the sister service of Prasar Bharati’s Doordarshan, the national television broad­caster, today. “All India Radio is one of the largest radio networks in the world. Their headquarter is at the Akashvani Bhavan, New Delhi. Akashvani Bhavan houses the drama section, the FM section and the National service. The Doordarshan Kendra (Delhi) is also located on the 6th floor of Akashvani Bhavan.”

Birth of All India Radio:

The idea of a regular Broadcasting Service in India took shape for the first time in 1926, in the form of an agreement entered into between the Government of India and private company called the Indian Broadcasting Company Ltd., under that agreement, a license for the constructions of two stations, one at Bombay and the other at Calcutta, was granted. The Bombay Station was accordingly inaugurated on 23rd July, 1927.

Unexpectedly, after about three years, the Company went into liquidation on 1st March, 1930. It looked as though introduction of broadcasting had failed in India while the other countries were making good progress.

In response, however, to popular demand, the Government decided to acquire the assets of the Indian Broadcasting Company and run the two Stations, at Bombay and Calcutta, on an experimental basis for a period of two years from 1st April, 1930. Finally, the Government decided in May, 1932 to continue the Indian State Broadcasting Service under their own management and placed it under the administrative control of the Department of Industries and Labour.

In March, 1935, a separate Department under a Controller of Broadcasting was constituted to work under the Department of Industries and Labour. In June, 1936, ‘All India Radio’ replaced the earlier nomenclature of the Indian State Broadcasting Service’.

Broadcasting was trans­ferred to the Department of Communications in November, 1937 and was later transferred to the Department of Information & Broadcasting in October, 1941. This Department was reconstituted as the Department of Information and Arts from 23rd February, 1946. The name of the Department was again changed to the Department of Information & Broadcasting from 10th September, 1946.

The real break for broadcasting in India came with World War II. The War also made it necessary for the Government expand the broadcasting organisation so as to meet the requirements of its war effort Most of the News Services and the External Services originated during the war years.

When India became free, the AIR network had only six stations Delhi, Bombay, Calcutta, Madras, Lucknow and Tiruchi with a total complement of 18 transmitters, six of them on medium wave and the others on shortwave. Listening on medium wave was confined to the urban areas in these cities. With the integration of princely states, AIR took over five broadcasting centres functioning in these areas. The total number of radio sets at the time of independence in 1947 was a mere 2,75,000, but now-a-days Radio & T. V. is available almost in every house.

Purpose for the Constitution of All India Radio:

For the efficient supervision of programmes and for the maintenance of high standards in the several types of broadcast, it was considered essential to have a self-contained department consisting of- Programme Professionals with a background and taste for music, culture, current affairs, literature and specialisation in science, agriculture, family welfare, public relations, etc., to discover suitable talents and material for good programmes and present the various programmes in an effective and attractive manner for entertainment and educating the masses. All India Radio was created to meet these requirements and is being continuously developed and strengthened. Director General, All India Radio is the head of the Department under the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting.

Growth of All India Radio:

Broadcasting in India is a national service developed and operated by the Government of India. All India Radio or ‘Akashvani’ is the biggest of the 14 Media Units of the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting. It has achieved phenomenal progress since Independence. In 1947, it covered only 2.5% area and 11% population of the country, with the help of 6 Broadcasting Centres. The number of Broadcasting Centres now in operation has risen to 91.

With a network of 91 Broadcasting Centres, supported by 167 transmitters, AIR now serves more than 90% of the population and about 80% of the total area of the country, including difficult places like Leh and Tawang and distant areas as the Andaman Nicobar and Lakshadweep Islands.

In its Home Services, AIR broadcasts programmes in 21 major languages and 246 tribal and other dialects. The objectives are to instantly reach the people, meeting their diverse requirements, in different States. All India Radio has a medium wave network consisting of about 130 transmitters with powers carrying from 1 KW to 100 KW. The estimated primary grade day-time service from these MW transmitters is about 90% of population at present.

In addition to the first grade service provided on medium wave, there is a network of shortwave transmitters which provide a second grade back up coverage for the Home Service. AIR has also started FM Service from Madras, Calcutta and Bombay broadcasting on a 3 KW FM transmitter at each centre which feeds an antenna system mounted at the height of 175 metres on Doordarshan tower giving an effective radiated power of 15 K W.

This provides a high quality interference-free service within the line of sight. A similar service has been introduced in Delhi also. In its external Services, AIR now reaches 54 countries all over the globe. The programmes are broadcast in 16 foreign and 7 Indian Languages, besides full-fledged service in the Urdu and English language spoken and understood in the Indian sub-Continent.

Objectives of All India Radio:

Broadcasting in India being a national service, constitutes the most powerful medium of mass communication. It plays a significant role, as a medium of information and education, in a developing country like India, where the reach of other communicating media is not extensive.

All India Radio keeps the people all over the country informed quickly about Government policies, plans, programmes and achievements, through the medium of sound broadcasting by a variety of programmes. It also keeps the people informed of the important news and current events of topical interest and provides an appreciable amount of entertaining programmes.

Through its broadcasting, AIR seeks to promote education, national integration and also develop various aspects of Indian culture. It also gives timely assistance to public and Government Departments by quick dissemination of information during natural calamities.

It runs a Commercial Service which helps in promoting sale of goods and services through advertisements. In short, it informs, educates and entertains people in different languages, through a variety of programmes on cultural, educational, scientific, agricultural, health, hygiene, fine arts, socio-cultural themes, etc. and earns substantial revenue for the Govern­ment, through Commercial Broadcasting.

TIER Broadcasting System for A.I.R.:

All India Radio is embarking on a three tier system of broadcasting of national, regional and local services in an effort to remove several deficiencies in the existing arrangements. The national service attempts to reflect fully the broad spectrum of national life and act complemen­tary to the regional and local services.

The coverage of the 1000 KW transmitter at Nagpur, the foundation stone for which was laid by the Late Prime Minister Mrs. Indira Gandhi, in April, 1982, will provide coverage to about 86% of the country’s population. The national channel will include centrally originated news bulletins in Hindi and English, music, news reels, spoken-word and other topical programmes.

With the commission of the national channel, the existing regional centres would form the middle tier. The emphasis would be on regional programmes in the regional languages. Local radio stations, which form the third tier is a new concept in broadcasting. To be located at District headquarters, each station would serve a small area. The programme pattern of the stations would be flexible and spontaneous to enable the station to function as a mouthpiece of the local community.

4. Doordarshan:

Doordarshan is the public television broadcaster of India and a division of Prasar Bharati, a public service broadcaster nominated by the Government of India. It is one of the largest broadcasting organizations in the world in terms of the infrastructure of studios and transmit­ters. Recently, it has also started Digital Terrestrial Transmitters.

On September 15, 2009, Doordarshan celebrated its 50th anniversary. Doordarshan had a modest beginning with the experimental telecast starting in Delhi on 15 September 1959 with a small transmitter and a makeshift studio. The regular daily transmission started in 1965 as a part of All India Radio.

The television service was extended to Bombay (now Mumbai) and Amritsar in 1972. Up until 1975, only seven Indian cities had a television service and Doordarshan remained the sole provider of television in India. Television services were separated from radio in 1976. Each office of All India Radio and Doordarshan were placed under the management of two separate Director Generals in New Delhi Finally, in 1982, Doordarshan as a National Broadcaster came into existence.

A. Nationwide Transmission:

National telecasts were introduced in 1982. In the same year, colour TV was introduced in the Indian market with the live telecast of the Independence Day speech by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on 15 August 1982, followed by the 1982 Asian Games which were held in Delhi. Now more than 90 per cent of the Indian population can receive Doordarshan (DD National) programmes through a network of nearly 1,400 terrestrial transmitters. There are about 46 Doordarshan studios producing TV programs today.

B. International Broadcasting:

DD India is broadcast internationally via satellite. It is available in 146 countries worldwide; however information on receiving this channel in other countries is not easily available. In the UK, DD-India was available through the Eurobird Satellite on the Sky system on Channel 833 (the logo is shown as Rayat TV). The timing and programming of DD-India international is different from that of India. Transmissions via Sky Digital (UK & Ireland) ceased in June 2008 and those via DirecTV in the United States in July 2008.

5. Prasar Bharati:

Prasar Bharati (Hindi literally Broadcasting Corporation of India) is India’s largest public broadcaster. It is an autonomous body set up by an Act of Parliament and comprises Doordarshan television network and All India Radio which were earlier media units of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India. Prasar Bharati was estab­lished on November 23, 1997 following a demand that the government owned broadcasters in India should be given autonomy like those in many other countries. The Parliament of India passed an Act to grant this autonomy in 1990, but it was not enacted until September 15, 1997.

The Prasar Bharati (Broadcasting Corporation of India) Act, 1990:

The composition of Corporation is as follows:

1. The Act was enacted in 1990 and came into force w.e.f. 15 September, 1997.

(i) The Central Government has established a Corporation, the Prasar Bharati (Broadcasting Corporation of India) for the purposes of this Act.

(ii) The Corporation is a body corporate by the name having perpetual succession and a common seal with power to acquire, hold and dispose of property, both movable and immovable, and to contract, by its name sue and be sued.

(iii) The headquarters of the Corporation is at New Delhi and the Corporation may establish offices, kendras or stations at other places in India and, with the previous approval of the Central Government, outside India.

(iv) The general superintendence, direction and management of the affairs of the Corporation are vested in the Prasar Bharati Board which exercises all such powers and do all such acts and things as may be exercised or done by the Corporation under this Act.

(v) The Board shall consist of —

a. A Chairman;

b. One Executive Member;

c. One Member (Finance);

d. One Member (Personnel);

e. Six Part-time Members;

f. Director-General (Akashvani), ex-officio;

g. Director-General (Doordarshan), ex-officio;

h. One representative of the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, to be nominated by that Ministry; and

i. Two representatives of the employees of the Corporation, of whom one shall be elected by the engineering staff from amongst themselves and one, shall be elected by the other employee from amongst themselves.

(vi) The Corporation may appoint such committees as may be necessary for the efficient performance, exercise and discharge of its functions, powers and duties.

(vii) The Corporation may associate with itself, in such manner and for such purposes as may be provided by regulations, any person whose assistance or advice it may need in complying with any of the provisions of this Act and a person so associated shall have the right to take part in the discussions of the Board relevant to the purposes for which he has been associated, but shall not have the right to vote.

2. Appointment of Chairman and Other Members:

(i) The Chairman and the other Members, except the ex officio Members, the Nominated Member and the elected Members shall be appointed by the President of India on the recommendation of a committee consisting of—

(a) The Chairman of the Council of States, who shall be the Chairman of the Committee;

(b) The Chairman of the Press Council of India;

(c) One nominee of the President of India.

(ii) The Chairman and the Part-time Members shall be persons of eminence in public life; the Executive Member shall be a person having special knowledge or practical experience in respect of such matters as administration, management, broadcasting, education, litera­ture, culture, arts, music, dramatics or journalism; the Member (Finance) shall be person having special knowledge or practical experience in respect of financial matters and the Member (Personnel) shall be a person having special knowledge or practical experience in respect of personnel management and administration.

(iii) The recommendations made by the committee constituted under sub-section (1) shall be binding for the purposes of appointments under this section.

3. Powers and Functions of Executive Member:

The Executive Member shall be the Chief Executive of the Corporation and shall, subject to the control and supervision of the Board, exercise such power and discharge such functions of the Board as it may delegate to him.

4. Term of Office, Conditions of Service, etc., of Chairman and Other Members:

(i) The Chairman shall be part-time Member and shall hold office for a term of six years from the date on which he enters upon his office.

(ii) The Executive Member, the Member (Finance) and Member (Personnel) shall be Whole- time Members and every such Member shall hold office for a term of six years from the date on which he enters upon his office or until he attains the age of sixty-two years whichever is earlier.

(iii) The term of office of Part-time Members shall be six years, but one-third of such Members shall retire on the expiration of every second year.

(iv) The term of office of an elected Member shall be two years or till he ceases to be an employee of the Corporation, whichever is earlier.

(v) The Whole-time Members shall be the employees of the Corporation and as such shall be entitled to such salaries and allowances and shall be subject to such conditions of service in respect of leave, pension (if any), provident fund and other matters as may be prescribed.

(vi) The Chairman and Part-time Members shall be entitled to such allowances as may be prescribed.

5. Functions and Powers of Corporation:

(i) Subject to the provisions of this Act, it shall be the primary duty of the Corporation to organise and conduct public broadcasting services to inform, educate and entertain the public and to ensure a balanced development of broadcasting on radio and television.

(ii) The Corporation shall, in the discharge of its functions, be guided by the following objectives, namely-

a. Upholding the unity and integrity of the country and the values enshrined in the Constitution;

b. Safeguarding the citizen’s right to be informed freely, truthfully and objectively on all matters of public interest, national or international, and presenting a fair, and balanced flow of information including contrasting views without advocating any opinion or ideology of its own;

c. Paying special attention to the fields of education and spread of literacy, agriculture, rural development, environment, health and family welfare and science and technology;

d. Providing adequate coverage to the diverse cultures and languages of the various regions of the country by broadcasting appropriate programmes;

e. Providing adequate coverage to sports and games so as to encourage healthy competition and the spirit of sportsmanship;

f. Providing appropriate programmes keeping in view the special needs of the youth;

g. Informing and stimulating the national consciousness in regard to the status and problems of women and paying special attention to the upliftment of women;

h. Promoting social justice and combating exploitation, inequality and such evils as untouchability and advancing the welfare of the weaker sections of the society;

i. Safeguarding the rights of the working classes and advancing their welfare;

j. Serving the rural and weaker sections of the people and those residing in border regions, backward or remote areas;

k. Providing suitable programmes keeping in view the special needs of the minorities and tribal communities;

l. Taking special steps to protect the interests of children, the blind, the aged, the handicapped and other vulnerable sections of the people;

m. Promoting national integration by broadcasting in a manner that facilitates commu­nication in the languages in India; and facilitating the distribution of regional broadcasting services in every State in the languages of that State;

n. Providing comprehensive broadcast coverage through the choice of appropriate technology and the best utilisation of the broadcast frequencies available and ensuring high quality reception;

o. Promoting research and development activities in order to ensure that radio and television broadcast technology are constantly updated; and

p. Expanding broadcasting facilities by establishing additional channels of transmis­sion at various levels.

(iii) In particular, and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing provisions, the Corporation may take such steps as it thinks fit-

(a) To ensure that broadcasting is conducted as a public service to provide and produce programmes;

(b) To establish a system for the gathering of news for radio and television;

(c) To negotiate for purchase of, or otherwise acquire, programmes and rights or privileges in respect of sports and other events, films, serials, occasions, meetings, functions or incidents of public interest, for broadcasting and to establish proce­dures for the allocation of such programmes, rights or privileges to the services;

(d) To establish and maintain a library or libraries of radio, television and other materials;

(e) To conduct or commission, from time-to-time, programmes, audience research, market or technical service, which may be released to such persons and in such manner and subject to such terms and conditions as the Corporation may think fit;

(f) To provide such other services as may be specified by regulations.