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Listen to the Skylarks



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                         Listen to the Skylarks

Making sense of the satellite invasion in South Asia

January 8, 2001, India Today magazine (New Delhi)
January 1, 2001

by Bhaskar GHOSE

UNTIL THE EARLY 1990S, the electronic media in South Asian countries was
placidly going along, safely state-controlled, doling out state-approved
news and information which no one believed, particularly in India where
there was a vigorously independent press. And then, as if a bomb had
gone off under their bureaucratic seats, the satellites appeared, with
new, bright programmes of fine professional quality, and with news
bulletins. What panic, what confusion, what a series of ludicrous
decisions to try to counter them.

David Page and William Crawley have looked at the resulting, often
chaotic, conditions in the South Asian countries with the introduction
of satellite transmission, and have put together a coherent account of
what happened in each country, and the issues that face viewers, channel
managers and the state.

Of particular interest to Indian readers are the very careful accounts
of what went on, and is still going on, in our neighbouring countries.
There are, as we can expect, surprising similarities in the obsession
policymakers?political or military?have with control. In Pakistan, there
is another obsession?the programmes coming from satellite channels like
Zee, Sony and Star, which were very Indian in their ethos and context.
What must, however, be an unpleasant surprise for policymakers here is
that the country with the most enlightened media policy, a policy which
is also the most practical, is Sri Lanka. In India, it is usual for the
Home Ministry to speak in low tones of security and the integrity of the
nation; and here we have a country with the gravest security
considerations adopting a media policy that is far more liberal than
anything India has.

But this is only an aspect of the very comprehensive range of issues
that Page and Crawley have covered. There are some factual errors?as
there are bound to be in such a detailed analysis of such a huge
region?like their account of the closing down of Do-ordarshan's third
channel, DD 3. That was done by the then prime minister, P.V. Narasimha
Rao, urged on by his court jester, P.V.R.K. Prasad, because "it was
going to carry live current affairs and news programmes". It was allowed
to return, without live news programmes, a shadow of what it might have
been, and the DG who replaced Ratikant Basu lost no time in giving it
the coup de grace.

One wishes the authors had given more of their analyses of the issues
facing the media in South Asia. It is their own comments in the
penultimate chapters that give the book a more focused viewpoint.

Nonetheless, it is a formidable achievement; to have gathered the
material that they have, and put it together as lucidly as they have is
truly admirable. This is clearly going to be a source book for many
media watchers and others for a long time.




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<center><b><font size=+3>Listen to the Skylarks</font></b></center>

<p><b><font size=+2>Making sense of the satellite invasion in South Asia</font></b>
<p>January 8, 2001, India Today magazine (New Delhi)
<br>January 1, 2001
<p>by <b>Bhaskar GHOSE</b>
<p>UNTIL THE EARLY 1990S, the electronic media in South Asian countries
was placidly going along, safely state-controlled, doling out state-approved
news and information which no one believed, particularly in India where
there was a vigorously independent press. And then, as if a bomb had gone
off under their bureaucratic seats, the satellites appeared, with new,
bright programmes of fine professional quality, and with news bulletins.
What panic, what confusion, what a series of ludicrous decisions to try
to counter them.
<p>David Page and William Crawley have looked at the resulting, often chaotic,
conditions in the South Asian countries with the introduction of satellite
transmission, and have put together a coherent account of what happened
in each country, and the issues that face viewers, channel managers and
the state.
<p>Of particular interest to Indian readers are the very careful accounts
of what went on, and is still going on, in our neighbouring countries.
There are, as we can expect, surprising similarities in the obsession policymakers?political
or military?have with control. In Pakistan, there is another obsession?the
programmes coming from satellite channels like Zee, Sony and Star, which
were very Indian in their ethos and context. What must, however, be an
unpleasant surprise for policymakers here is that the country with the
most enlightened media policy, a policy which is also the most practical,
is Sri Lanka. In India, it is usual for the Home Ministry to speak in low
tones of security and the integrity of the nation; and here we have a country
with the gravest security considerations adopting a media policy that is
far more liberal than anything India has.
<p>But this is only an aspect of the very comprehensive range of issues
that Page and Crawley have covered. There are some factual errors?as there
are bound to be in such a detailed analysis of such a huge region?like
their account of the closing down of Do-ordarshan's third channel, DD 3.
That was done by the then prime minister, P.V. Narasimha Rao, urged on
by his court jester, P.V.R.K. Prasad, because "it was going to carry live
current affairs and news programmes". It was allowed to return, without
live news programmes, a shadow of what it might have been, and the DG who
replaced Ratikant Basu lost no time in giving it the coup de grace.
<p>One wishes the authors had given more of their analyses of the issues
facing the media in South Asia. It is their own comments in the penultimate
chapters that give the book a more focused viewpoint.
<p>Nonetheless, it is a formidable achievement; to have gathered the material
that they have, and put it together as lucidly as they have is truly admirable.
This is clearly going to be a source book for many media watchers and others
for a long time.
<br>&nbsp;
<p>&nbsp;</html>

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