Figure 1- The above image is included to provide overview of the historical developments at different periods.

Introduction

The beginning of the last decade of the twentieth century entered an era of liberalization in India as the new economic policies were formulated in 1991. This ushered in noteworthy reforms in the world of industry and trade by opening up of the sky of the capital market to private enterprises and providing functional freedom to private sector to increase foreign and domestic competition. There was a long demand to end the state control on electronic media and its de-monopolization. This persistent demand now turned into a reality with the structural changes in economy. There was a massive and radical change in the direction from the ‘strategy of self-reliance’ to widespread policy reforms and deregulation. The globalization and liberalization policies of economy welcomed the flow of technology and flow of foreign capital in terms of investment with relaxed norms and regulations which was missing before 1991. A new shape was gained by the media industry in the country as the reforms in the media policies coupled with the expansion of electronic media and technological advancements.  A remarkable impact of the new policies was the beginning of ‘Transnational Communication’ which led to the tremendous growth of television industry in India from one television channel, the Doordarshan, in 1991 to over 800 channels in 2012.The two notable periods in the history of media sector in India are the pre-liberalization era comprising the years before 1991 and the liberalization era comprising the years of liberalization, globalization and privatization and transnational communication initiating from 1991. The liberalization era means the period of deregulated, free market-oriented economy where the government policies allow for the liberalized norms and codes for private media industries and foreign communication content.Till 1991, the ownership scenario was different where there was absolute government control over the broadcast media of radio and television. Akashvani or All India radio (AIR) was the sole radio and Doordarshan, the sole television channel. This monopoly of the government in the broadcast media collapsed and the satellite television became transnational in nature with the introduction of international satellite television in India telecast by Cable News Network (CNN) through its coverage of the Gulf War in 1991 via the cable operators and Star TV broadcasting five channels from Hong Kong using the satellite, ASIASAT-1. The parliament finally passed an act to give autonomy to the broadcast media in 1990 namely ‘The Prasar Bharti (Broadcasting Corporation of India) Act, 1990’. The Act was not notified then but in 1997, the United Front (UF) government notified this act; The Prasar Bharti (I5 September 1997, vide S. O. 509 (E), dated 22 July1997). The All India Radio and Doordarshan which had been under the control of government earlier, was now functioned as a department under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting of Union government. The private media enterprises, both domestic and foreign proliferated in the media market. By 2010, every major foreign transnational media investor was in India. The nature of mass communication in India changed after the establishment and implementation of liberalization policies.

Pre-Liberalization Era:

Before 1990, no private enterprises were allowed to enter the media sector- either to set up television stations or to transmit television signals. The factors which determined the functions and the kind of programmes televised in these years were need to keep social agenda, demand for the content and the interest to generate revenue through advertisements. Effective medium for circulation of messages in the society was the role played by television. Advertising became an inseparable component of television function as it was a part of the revenue generation approach. Moreover, government, authorities and political party in power could make use of it for publicity and public relations purposes. The religious serials telecasted helped in uniting people. The function of ‘mobilization’ was played by television communication on the basis of political and ideological grounds. 

Liberalization Era: Evolution to Revolution

New Legal Framework

Since from when television has been with the world, it has definitely and distinctly proved itself as the most powerful means of communication for providing information, exchange of ideas, values and skills by leaving behind the traditional media like press and radio. India entered the era of transnational communication through cable and satellite television that began with the flow of global content to Indian viewers in 1991. India shifted its position from as a State of highly regulated media policies and that with a monopoly of government in the sector, to a deregulated open broadcasting market ending the single channel era and entering the multichannel era. . Doordarshan underwent major changes in the period from 1993 to 1998. State-controlled telecaster Doordarshan and radio caster All India Radio were brought under an act named the Prasar Bharati Act, 1990 which served to give autonomy to the broadcaster. The historic judgment of the Indian Supreme Court on airwaves in 1995 stated: “air waves or frequencies are public property. Their use had to be controlled and regulated by a public authority in the interest of the public and to prevent invasion of their rights”. Here, the Supreme Court declared the airwaves to be public property and not a government monopoly. A new legal framework aimed to give out autonomy on both AIR and Doordarshan. Eventually, the Prasar Bharati framework was notified in July 1999. The shift of the two initially state-owned radio and television organizations into public broadcasting services (PBS) constituted a landmark, a transfer of power, switching from government to governance, from state to civic society. Today, AIR and Doordarshan are parts of an autonomous body, the Prasar Bharati (Broadcasting Corporation of India).

Change in Broadcasting style and content

The sudden changes emerged in the media industry got reflected in the broadcasting style and the content televised. The transnational channels utilized the consumer (audience) market with varied and niche contents for profiting from the media industry. The programmes of American shows and regional language channels started catering to the language diversity of India and niche programmes of audience of different demography. Doordarshan was the public broadcasting television in India with specified social objectives regarding its content and working whereas the private satellite channels didn’t have any such bindings of social development on programme content but were subject to only follow the general codes of self-regulation issued by the government from time to time. Doordarshan is bound to follow the objectives of Prasar Bharati Act 1990 that goes along the same line with those before liberalization era (Prasar Bharati, 2011): 

Upholding the unity and integrity of the country and the value enshrined in the Constitution 

Promoting national integration, safeguarding citizen’s rights and to be informed on all matters and presenting fair and balanced flow of information 

Paying attention to the fields of education and spread of literacy, rural development, health and family welfare and science and technology 

Creating awareness about women’s issues and taking special steps to protect the interests of children, the aged, and other vulnerable sectors of society 

Providing adequate coverage of the diverse cultures, sports and games and the youth affairs 

Promoting social justice, safeguarding the rights of working classes, minorities and tribal communities 

Expanding the broadcasting facilities and promoting research and development in broadcast technology

The satellite channels have to regulate their contents in accordance to the reasonable restrictions imposed to all media through statutes, codes and guidelines by the government and the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995. Accordingly, the ‘Code of Ethics and Broadcasting Standards’ of the News Broadcasters Association that represents the private news television broadcasters (NBA) and the ‘Self-Regulatory Content Guidelines for NonNews and Current Affairs Television Channels’ of Indian Broadcasting Foundation describe their principles and guidelines of self-regulation. 

The private channels now made the news channel an essential commodity like food, cloth and shelter. The transmissions from the sky threatened the Doordarshan by taking away its audience providing more attractive content and formats as the strong point of all today’s news bulletins is their topicality, objectivity, glossy editing and high-quality visuals. In 1994, it became mandatory for Doordarshan to raise revenues through advertisements which resulted the advertisers’ interest in determining the programme content. However, this led to reduction in importance to educational programmes. 

Mass Mobilization

The liberalization era led to a very important dimension of ‘mobilization’ function of media through the new various types of entertainment programmes broadcasted across cultures and regions. Mass media related businesses started flourishing due to the demand of entertainment content. The globalized and liberalized media had immense impact on people of India in the economic, cultural, moral and identity of the middle class, the empowering or disempowering of the rise of popular culture on women, influences of exposure to Foreign Television Programmes and effect of advertisements on Indian youth and children. In many studies concerning the impact on culture, the main criticism observed is the possible immersion of local culture and expansion of foreign or western culture. Additionally the exposure to television programmes is culturally important as there is acceptance of the cultural changes by the liberal-minded urban and rural middle class. This is followed by a new cultural identity leading to “loss of one’s language, customs and traditions”. Another impact is that the middleclass sections, women, the sections of society who have been treated as ‘low’ castes are increasingly reconsidering their lifestyles and practices in the contemporary India. The platform for reform has been set with opportunities and advancements in education. Thus it can be summarized that the liberalization era witnessed revolutionary changes in the field of media in India with an emphasis to market-driven objectives and functions. The platform for providing information took a variation by intertwining it with the entertainment phenomena in order to get the continuous attraction of the audience.

Ownership

Another significant change was that of the media ownership. The liberalization policies led to the shift of monopoly of the government in the broadcasting to market of competition with many private and transnational players. The media is an important player in the society. However, judging its working without understanding its structure and nature of ownership and its defined and inherent goals is improper. The one who controls ownership, controls media, and media as an institution serves the interests of the owners. If state controls and monopolies media, media becomes an instrument in the hands of rulers for sustaining its political powers and interests of the ruled becomes secondary. On the contrary, if media is owned by private individuals, it becomes a business or enterprise to serve the economic interests of the owners. The mass media many a times do not really act as a voice of the people. Curran says even new communication technologies, he says, which may seem to give people more of a voice, have been reigned in by deregulation-inspire mergers. It becomes crucial to know who owns media. Media ownership has serious implications for democratic governance in the country. As one observer of Indian media observes “if we permit the foreign media to operate as owners in our country, we will end up our democracy controlled by outsiders”. The ownership and objectives have significant  roles in determining the functions performed by media in society.

Foreign Direct Investment

The most significant result of globalization and liberalization is perhaps the entry of the private companies from worldwide and the foreign direct investment in the media industry. Foreign direct investment simply means the economic support and durability of the organization. The permission is granted by the government so that it can invest their money to the business organizations and provide them with economic stability.  The notable change is the revenues generated through the media industry – an increase from 96 billion rupees in 2002 to 400 billion rupees in 2012.The Indian Media and Entertainment (M&E) industry is a sunrise sector for the economy and is making significant progress. Foreign investments are permitted in an Indian company either after obtaining approval from the Indian Foreign Investment Promotion Board or freely (automatic route). As a thumb rule, unless sectoral restrictions have been implied under the Indian foreign exchange regulations, 100% foreign investment may be made in an Indian entity under the automatic route. However, even under the automatic route the foreign investor is required to fulfill certain procedural compliances, such as the valuation at which the shares of the Indian company can be transferred/issued need to be met.The advertising industry of India is projected to be the second fastest growing advertising market in Asia. Presently, advertising revenue accounts for around 0.38 per cent of India’s gross domestic product. By 2021, Indian media and entertainment industry will reach Rs 2.35 trillion.The Government of India has supported this sector’s growth by taking various initiatives such as digitizing the cable distribution sector to attract greater institutional funding, increasing Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) limit from 74 per cent to 100 per cent in cable and direct-to-home (DTH) satellite platforms and granting industry status to the film industry for easy access to institutional finance. FDI inflow in the information and broadcasting sector stood at US$ 9.20 billion during April 2000 to March 2020 as per the data released by Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT).These opportunities with the initiatives of the foreign direct investment is hoped to go a long way on the road to success and can support in a bigger way in a governmental and social efforts in national building.

CONCLUSION

The new economic policies of Liberalization, Privatization and Globalization have a direct relation with the structure, nature and freedom of media in India. In the 21st century, media plays an important role in parliamentary democracy and shaping peoples’ mind. The changing public perception with the liberalization has led the media practices to shift from public service to business enterprise. The increasing economic interests of the owners of the private media are affecting the media’s credibility. However, despite all the allegations against the media, it gains respect in the society and are seen as one of the few institutions in independent India whose contribution in public life as well in democratizing the political process is acceptable. The changes in the economic structure of the media sector lead to the benefits of the Indian media as well as the society as a whole and has boomed the economic growth of the country. Thus the FDI policy of the government should be changed for good and should be taken as a managerial initiative. Foreign direct investment and the facilities provided by the investment will help in providing accurate and credible information on all matters important for the betterment of the society. Amidst all the changes and growth, media performs certain important functions in society through their existence as systems comprising of different components and also through the programmes propagated to the audience.