2005-2014

Republican Rep. Mike Pence of Indiana, who is usually a reliable conservative, is promoting a "federal shield law" for reporters. It has gotten some publicity in the wake of attempts by a Special Counsel to force reporters Matt Cooper of Time magazine and Judith Miller of the New York Times to reveal their "confidential" and anonymous sources in the case of CIA operative Valerie Plame, whose...

The Cabinet on Tuesday decided to set up a Group of Ministers (GoM) to study the uplinking policy for television channels proposed by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry in view of reservations over the provision to allow Doordarshan automatic access to terrestrial rights for sports events of national importance. Though Minister S. Jaipal Reddy, while briefing mediapersons on the Cabinet...

It has happened before, and it will happen again. I was reading a story on the San Jose Mercury News' Web site about federal agents arresting people for running a sex-trafficking ring out of massage parlors. And when I saw the text ads below the story served through Google AdSense, they were for day spas and massage services in the San Francisco Bay Area. The ads are deemed relevant by the...

MUMBAI, July 5: Dainik Jagran has joined hands with Radio City for cross-promotional activities. A senior executive at the Jagran Group says, "This is a mutually beneficial relationship. Radio City, unlike its competitors (read Radio Mirchi and Red FM), doesn’t have a print back up. On the other hand, this deal provides an opportunity for the Jagran Group to reach out to Radio City audiences." As...

ROME, Jul 5 (IPS) - Inter Press Service International Association has elected a new Board of Directors and Director General to serve for the next three years. The new slate of executives will head the IPS association of 110 journalists and other communications professionals from around the globe, a majority of whom are from the developing South. Following an election process which lasted more than...

Readership is critical for any publication. Especially when media planners chart out ad revenues based on readership figures. In the case of niche publications, which survey serves their interest best? Is it National Readership Survey (NRS), Indian Readership Survey (IRS) or is it the Decision Makers’ Survey (DMS). Let’s take a closer look. The readership figures of four leading business...

Independent, aggressive and critical media are essential to an informed democracy. But mainstream media are increasingly cozy with the economic and political powers they should be watchdogging. Mergers in the news industry have accelerated, further limiting the spectrum of viewpoints that have access to mass media. With U.S. media outlets overwhelmingly owned by for-profit conglomerates and...

Newspapers are cockroaches. No matter what is introduced into the media ecosystem, the oldest of the Big Media survives. Despite decades of doomsayers, newspapers prospered through radio, through TV and cable, through video games, through the Internet.... Not so fast. Suddenly, even sober Wall Street analysts think something new is afoot. What looms now "is different from all other threats," says...

How many of us, when reading the morning newspaper, have to think about the accuracy of the news printed in it? Not in passing but really think about it. Now India's largest publishing group, Bennett, Coleman & Co. has its readers doing just that by launching a new category called "edvotorial." Or simply put – paid news. Last year the group launched a business division called Medianet. It...

Internet service providers have urged the government to de-license spectrum in order to popularise WiMax services. WiMax (Worldwide Inter-operability of Microwave Access) is a standards-based wireless technology that provides high-throughput broadband connections over long distances, with typical cell sizes of two to ten kilo meters. "Since most of the WiMax developments are being done in the 2.3...