Media a bane

Media a Boon

How media intervention helped solve impending criminal cases- Jessica Lal and Priyadarshini Matto

Citizen journalism

Citizen journalism (also known as "public", "participatory", "democratic",^[1] "guerrilla"^[2] or "street journalism"^[3]) is the concept of members of the public "playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analyzing and disseminating news and information," according to the seminal 2003 report We Media: How Audiences are Shaping the Future of News and Information.^[4] Authors Bowman and Willis say: "The intent of this participation is to provide independent, reliable, accurate, wide-ranging and relevant information that a democracy requires."

Citizen journalism should not be confused with community journalism or civic journalism, which are practiced by professional journalists, or collaborative journalism, which is practiced by professional and non-professional journalists working together. Citizen journalism is a specific form of citizen media as well as user generated content.

Mark Glaser, a freelance journalist who frequently writes on new media issues, said in 2006:^[5]

The idea behind citizen journalism is that people without professional journalism training can use the tools of modern technology and the global distribution of the Internet to create, augment or fact-check media on their own or in collaboration with others. For example, you might write about a city council meeting on your blog or in an online forum. Or you could fact-check a newspaper article from the mainstream media and point out factual errors or bias on your blog. Or you might snap a digital photo of a newsworthy event happening in your town and post it online. Or you might videotape a similar event and post it on a site such as YouTube.

In What is Participatory Journalism?,^[6] J. D. Lasica classifies media for citizen journalism into the following types:

1. Audience participation (such as user comments attached to news stories, personal blogs, photos or video footage captured from personal mobile cameras, or local news written by residents of a community)
2. Independent news and information Websites (Consumer Reports, the Drudge Report)
3. Full-fledged participatory news sites (NowPublic, OhmyNews, DigitalJournal.com, GroundReport)
4. Collaborative and contributory media sites (Slashdot, Kuro5hin, Newsvine)
5. Other kinds of "thin media." (mailing lists, email newsletters)
6. Personal broadcasting sites (video broadcast sites such as KenRadio).

New media theorist Terry Flew states that there are three elements "critical to the rise of citizen journalism and citizen media": open publishing, collaborative editing and distributed content.^[7]

Mohammed Rafi-my favorite singer

Mohammed Rafi (Hindi: मोहम्मद रफ़ी, Urdu: محمد رفیع; December 24, 1924 – July 31, 1980), was an Indian playback singer whose career spanned four decades.^[1] He won a National Award and 6 Filmfare Awards. In 1967, he was honoured with the Padma Shri by the Government of India.^[2]

In a career spanning about 40 years, Rafi sang over 26,000 film songs.^[3] His songs ranged from classical numbers to patriotic songs, sad lamentations to highly romantic numbers, qawwalis to ghazals and bhajans, and from slow melancholic tunes to fast and melodious fun filled songs. He had a strong command of Hindi and Urdu and a powerful range that could accommodate this variety.^[4] He sang in many Indian languages including Hindi, Konkani, Urdu, Bhojpuri,Oriya, Punjabi, Bengali, Marathi, Sindhi, Kannada, Gujarati, Telugu, Maghi, Maithili and Assamese. He also recorded a few English, Persian, Spanish andDutch songs.

An article in Times of India, published on July 24, 2010 sums up his voice as, "If there are 101 ways of saying "I love you" in a song, Mohammed Rafi knew them all. The awkwardness of puppy love, the friskiness of teen romance, the philosophy of unrequited love and the anguish of heartbreak - he could explore every crevice of ardour. It wasn't just love, his voice could capture the navras of life - a failed poet's melancholy, a fiery unionist's vim, a debt-ridden farmer's despair, really anybody at all. Rafi, whose career spanned nearly four decades, was a singer for every season and every reason."^[5]

YOUR INGREDIENTS OUR METHOD

HOW TO MAKE A LITTI CHOWKA
Ingredients

For Covering2 cups wheat (gehun) flour
1/2 tsp carom seeds (ajwain)
2 tbsp refined oil
3/4tsp salt
2 tbsp of ghee

For Stuffing1 cup roasted bengal gram flour
2 to 4 green chillies , finely chopped
1/2 tsp roasted cumin seeds (jeera)
ginger (adrak) , finely chopped
1/2tsp finely chopped garlic (lehsun)
1/2 cup finely chopped coriander (dhania)
1 tsp dried mango powder (amchur)
1 tsp stuffed red chilly pickle masala
1 tsp lemon juice (optional)
1/2 tsp carom seeds (ajwain)
1 tbsp finely chopped onions (optional)
2 tsp mustard (rai / sarson) oil
water
salt to taste

For Chokha2 medium sized boiled potatoes
1 medium sized brinjal (baingan / eggplant)
3 medium sized tomatoes
2-4 finely chopped green chillies
1/2 cup finely chopped onions
1 tbsp finely chopped coriander (dhania)
1 tsp mustard (rai / sarson) oil
salt to taste

For Littirefined oil for frying

Method

For covering

1. Sieve the flour and add salt,ajwain,kalonji,refined oil
2. Knead the dough properly with water and make a stiff dough.
3. Cover with a wet cloth and keep aside.

For stuffing

1. Take sattu or roasted gram flour in a bowl.
2. Add all the ingredients and mix well. In case the stuffing is bit dry, you can add little water.
3. Make sure the stuffing is not too dry and not to soft.

For litti

1. Take the dough.
2. Make 6-7 medium equal sized balls.
3. Take each ball and flatten the ball a bit with your palm and make depression.
4. Fill a portion of the stuffing and close the balls by lifting the sides by hand and flatten the litti a bit by pressing your palm.
5. Keep it aside.
6. Heat oil in a non-stick kadhai.
7. Fry the litti till golden brown*

For chokha

1. Boil the tomatoes and keep aside.
2. Half-cut the brinjal and roast on the fire from both the sides untill it becomes soft.
3. Take a bowl of cold water and put the roasted brinjal in it.
4. Peel of the burnt skin of the brinjal.
5. Mash boiled potatoes,brinjal and tomatoes together.
6. Add finely chopped onion,coriander leaves,salt,green chillies and oil.
7. Add all the ingredients.
8. Chokha is ready

For serving

1. Cut the litti in equal halves and put 1 tsp hot ghee in between
2. Serve hot with chokha.

Qoutes about Newspapers

“Newspapers always excite curiosity. No one ever lays one down without a feeling of disappointment.”
Charles Lamb, 1833

“Never forget if you don’t hit a newspaper reader between the eyes with your first sentence, there is no need of writing a second one.”
Arthur Brisbane, c1900

“They used to say man’s life was a closed book. So it is but it’s an open newspaper.”
Finlay Peter Dunne, 1902

“When a dog bites a man that is not news, but when a man bites a dog that is news.”
John B. Bogart, Editor NY Sun, 1882

“Newspapers cannot be defined by the second word -- paper. They’ve got to be defined by the first word -- news.”
New York Times publisher Arthur Sulzberg, Jr.

"People don’t actually read newspapers. They step into them every morning like a hot bath."
Communications theorist Marhsall McLuhan

“’The newspapers! Sir, they are the most villainous, licentious, abominable, infernal- Not that I ever read them! No, I make it a rule never to look into a newspaper.’”
Richard Brinsley Sheridan, The Critic. Act I Scene II

"Were it left to me to decide whether we should have government without newspapers, or newspapers without government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter."
Thomas Jefferson, 1787

“The newspapers are the ruling power. Any other government is reduced to a few marines at Fort Independence. If a man neglects to read the Daily Times, government will go down on its knees to him, for this is the only treason these days.”
Henry David Thoreau, US essayist and naturalist, 1906

“We live under a government of men and morning newspapers.”
Wendell Phillips, U.S. abolitionist and orator, 1852

“Most of us probably feel we couldn’t be free without newspapers, and that is the real reason we want the newspapers to be free.”
Edward R Murrow, US broadcast journalist, 1958

“To read a newspaper for the first time is like coming into a film that has been on for an hour. Newspapers are like serials. To understand them you have to take knowledge to them; the knowledge that serves best is the knowledge provided by the newspaper itself.”
V.S. Naipaul, novelist, 1987

“Frankly, despite my horror of the press, I’d love to rise from the grave every ten years or so and go buy a few newspapers.”
Luis Buñuel, Spanish filmmaker

“I often wonder what future historians will say about us. One sentence will suffice to describe modern man: he fornicated and he read newspapers.”
Albert Camus, French novelist, dramatist, philosopher, 1956

“My doctors told me this morning my blood pressure is down so low that I can start reading the newspapers.”
Ronald Reagan, US President, 1987

“In my view, far from deserving condemnation for their courageous reporting, the New York Times, the Washington Post and other newspapers should be commended for serving the purpose that the Founding Fathers saw so clearly.”
Hugo L Black, Associate Justice, US Supreme Court, on the press’s right to publist the Pentagon Papers, 1971

“Here is the living disproof of the old adage that nothing is as dead as yesterday’s newspaper...This is what really happened, reported by a free press to a free people. It is the raw material of history; it is the story of our own times.”
Henry Steel Commager, historian, 1951

“News is what somebody somewhere wants to suppress; all the rest is advertising.”
Lord Northcliffe

"If you want to see television stations panic, go to a town where the newspapers are on strike."
Unattributed

Media of India

Media of India consist of several different types of communications media: television, radio, cinema, newspapers, magazines, and Internet-based Web sites. The Indian media was initiated since the late 18th century with print media started in 1780, radio broadcasting initiated in 1927, and the screening of Auguste and Louis Lumière moving pictures in Bombay initiated during the July of 1895 —is among the oldest and largest media of the world.^[1] Indian media—private media in particular—has been "Free and Independent" throughout most of its history.^[2] The period of emergency (1975–1977), declared by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, was the brief period when India's media was faced with potential government retribution.^[2][3]

The country consumed 99 million newspaper copies as of 2007—making it the second largest market in the world for newspapers.^[4] By 2009, India had a total of 81,000,000 Internet users—comprising 7.0% of the country's population,^[5] and 7,570,000 people in India also had access to broadband Internet as of 2010— making it the 11th largest country in the world in terms of broadband Internet users.^[6] As of 2009, India is among the 4th largest television broadcast stations in the world with nearly 1,400 stations.^[7]

The organization Reporters Without Borders compiles and publishes an annual ranking of countries based upon the organization's assessment of their press freedom records. In 2010 India was ranked 122^nd of 178^th countries, which was a setback from the preceding year.^[8]

Print media

The first major newspaper in India—The Bengal Gazette—was started in 1780 under the British Raj.^[2] Other newspapers such as The India Gazette, The Calcutta Gazette, The Madras Courier (1785), The Bombay Herald (1789) etc. soon followed.^[2] These newspapers carried news of the areas under the British rule.^[2] The Times of India was founded in 1838 as The Bombay Times and Journal of Commerce by Bennett, Coleman and Company, a colonial enterprise now owned by an Indian conglomerate.^[9] The Times Group publishes The Economic Times (launched in 1961), Navbharat Times (Hindi language), and the Maharashtra Times (Marathi language).^[9]

In the 1950s 214 daily newspapers were published in the country.^[2] Out of these, 44 were English language dailies while the rest were published in various regional languages.^[2] This number rose to 2,856 dailies in 1990 with 209 English dailies.^[2] The total number of newspapers published in the country reached 35,595 newspapers by 1993 (3,805 dailies).^[2]

The main regional newspapers of India include the Malayalam language Malayala Manorama (published from: Kerala, daily circulation: 673,000)and "Madhyamam Daily", (published from: Kerala,with international editions from Dubai, Doha, Bahrain, Dammam and Kuwait, the Hindi-language Dainik Jagran (published from: Uttar Pradesh, daily circulation in 2006: 580,000), and the Anandabazar Patrika (published from: Kolkata, daily circulation in 2006: 435,000).^[10] The Times of India Group, the Indian Express Group, the Hindustan Times Group, and the Anandabazar Patrika Group are the main print media houses of the country.^[10]

Newspaper sale in the country increased by 11.22% in 2007.^[4] By 2007, 62 of the world's best selling newspaper dailies were published in China, Japan, and India.^[4] India consumed 99 million newspaper copies as of 2007—making it the second largest market in the world for newspapers.^[4]

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Audio-Visual media

Radio broadcasting was initiated in 1927 but became state responsibility only in 1930.^[11] In 1937 it was given the name All India Radio and since 1957 it has been called Akashvani.^[11] Limited duration of television programming began in 1959, and complete broadcasting followed in 1965.^[11] The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting owned and maintained the audio-visual apparatus—including the television channel Doordarshan—in the country prior to the economic reforms of 1991.^[10] The Government of India played a significant role in using the audio-visual media for increasing mass education in India's rural swathes.^[2] Projected television screens provided engaging education in India's villages by the 1990s.^[2]

Following the economic reforms satellite television channels from around the world—including BBC, CNN, CNBC, PTV, and other foreign television channels gained a foothold in the country.^[12] 47 million household with television sets emerged in 1993, which was also the year when Rupert Murdoch entered the Indian market.^[13] Satellite and cable television soon gained a foothold.^[13] Doordarshan, in turn, initiated reforms and modernization.^[13] With 1,400 television stations as of 2009, the country ranks 4th in the list of countries by number of television broadcast stations.^[7]

On November 16, 2006, the Government of India released the community radio policy which allowed agricultural centers, educational institutions and civil society organizations to apply for community based FM broadcasting license. Community Radio is allowed 100 Watt Effective Radiated Power (ERP) with a maximum tower height of 30 meters. The license is valid for five years and one organization can only get one license, which is non-transferable and to be used for community development purposes. The Universities of the country has initiated Courses in Journalism and Mass Communication. In Delhi,the national capital, Indira Gandhi National Open University(IGNOU) is running various courses in distance as well as in regular mode. It is the vison of the university to Strengthen the development of the National Resource Center. IGNOU is running primarily two main courses viz M.A.in Electronic Media Production and Management(MA-EMPM) and M.A. Journalism and Mass Communication (MA-JMC) . In Tamilnadu, Madras University and Madurai Kamaraj Universities (MKU) are offering Master degree programmes in Journalism and Mass Communication. National Council of Science and Technology Communication (NCSTC), of Dept of Science and Technology, Govt. of India, sponsored B.S. Degree course in Science Communication at Science Communication Dept. in Madurai Kamaraj University. Tirunelveli Manonmaniam Sundaranar University also offering degree courses in Journalism. Delhi University provides Journalism Honours course .In West Bengal Calcutta University, Vidyasagar University etc. are running such courses. The students of Vidyasagar University are running a lab journal : Samokaal .

Communications

The Indian Government acquired the EVS EM computers from the Soviet Union, which were used in large companies and research laboratories.^[14] Tata Consultancy Services — established in 1968 by theTata Group — were the country's largest software producers during the 1960s.^[14] The 'microchip revolution' of the 1980s had convinced both Indira Gandhi and her successor Rajiv Gandhi that electronics and telecommunications were vital to India's growth and development.^[15] MTNL underwent technological improvements.^[15] Between 1986-1987, the Indian government embarked upon the creation of three wide-area computer networking schemes: INDONET (intended to serve the IBM mainframes in India), NICNET (network for the National Informatics Centre), and the academic research oriented Education and Research Network (ERNET).^[16]

The Indian economy underwent economic reforms in 1991, leading to a new era of globalization and international economic integration.^[17] Economic growth of over 6% annually was seen between 1993-2002.^[17] The economic reforms were driven in part by significant the internet usage in India.^[18] The new administration under Atal Bihari Vajpayee—which placed the development of Information Technology among its top five priorities— formed the Indian National Task Force on Information Technology and Software Development.^[19] Internet gained a foothold in India by 1996.^[14] India had a total of 81,000,000 Internet users—comprising 7.0% of the country's population—by 2009.^[5] By 2009, 7,570,000 million people in India also had access to broadband Internet— making it the 12th largest country in the world in terms of broadband Internet users.^[6]

India had a total of 37,160,000 telephone lines in use by 2009.^[20] In the fixed line arena, BSNL and MTNL are the incumbents in their respective areas of operation and continue to enjoy the dominant service provider status in the domain of fixed line services.^[21] BSNL controls 79% of fixed line share in the country.^[21]

In the mobile telephony sector, Bharti Airtel controls 24.3% subscriber base followed by Reliance Communications with 18.9%, Vodafone with 18.8%, BSNL with 12.7% subscriber base as of June-2009.^[21]India had a total of 525,657,000 mobile phone connections by 2009.^[22] Total fixed-line and wireless subscribers reached 688 million as of August 2010.^[23]

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Cinema

The history of film in India begins with the screening of Auguste and Louis Lumière moving pictures in Bombay during the July of 1895.^[24] Raja Harishchandra—a full length feature film—was initiated in 1912 and completed later.^[24] Alam Ara (released 14 March 1931) —directed by Ardeshir Irani—was the first Indian movie with dialogs.^[25]

Indian films were soon being followed throughout Southeast Asia and the Middle East—where modest dressing and subdued sexuality of these films was found to be acceptable to the sensibilities of the audience belonging to the various Islamic countries of the region.^[26] As cinema as a medium gained popularity in the country as many as 1, 000 films in various languages of India were produced annually.^[26] Hollywood also gained a foothold in India with special effects films such as Jurassic Park (1993) and Speed (1994) being specially appreciated by the local audiences.^[26] Expatriates throughout the United Kingdom and in the United States continued to give rise to an international audiences to Indian movies, which—according to The Encyclopædia Britannica (2008) entry onBollywood—'continued to be formulaic story lines, expertly choreographed fight scenes, spectacular song-and-dance routines, emotion-charged melodrama, and larger-than-life heroes.'^[27]

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Suppression

In 2010, the Jammu and Kashmir government banned Press TV for airing video on the 2010 Qu'an burning controversy saying "We have decided to impose a ban on the airing of Press TV broadcasts by local cable operators. We appeal to the people not to heed unverified reports about the alleged desecration of the Holy Koran which have only been aired by Press TV and no other television news channel in the world."^[28]