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Vanita
Kohli fulfils a long felt need - finally, a tome that can be used
as a textbook by students of Indian media.
 A
volume that brings together the latest available statistics (neatly
laid out in charts and graphs) on the various segments that make
up mass media in the country, culls opinions from the best of the
players and threads it all together with neat, accurate conclusions
and some cautious crystal ball gazing. A laudable effort, as not
many have bothered to gather the scattered information available
and attempt to put it all in perspective.
For students who trawl scattered sources on the Internet, wade through
assorted newspaper articles and scan available books on the subject,
Vanita's attempt is a godsend. For the rest, however, it may not
be as compelling a read, as apart from a few insightful nuggets,
the rest is just neat compilation. But that's no matter. Vanita
has specified in the preface that her target is not people within
the industry, but the people outside who want to get a sense of
it, the student who needs a glimpse of what has been happening in
the dynamic, often haphazardly regulated and erratically monitored
media industry.
As
Star India CEO Peter Mukerjea too rightly points out in the foreword,
if ever media studies find place in Board studies in India, Vanita's
book could be rated as a good text.
As
a veteran reporter with over a decade of journalistic experience
behind her, Vanita has put her skills to good use. She has culled
from the memories of veterans like Ameen Sayani, Bhaskar Ghose,
G P Sippy and Harish Bhimani, traced archives that give an insight
into how various media developed in the country(it was in August
1921 that the TOI in collaboration with the Posts and Telegraph
department broadcast from its Bombay office a special programme
of music which the governor listened to in Pune), garnered expert
comments from analysts, media observers and put the whole in the
right perspective, as a good reporter should. Also noteworthy are
the kind of candid comment she has fished out (Mid-day Multimedia
MD Tariq Ansari opining that the entry of Samir Jain in the business
was the big milestone in the newspaper business in India).
Credit
is definitely due to Vanita for helping to demystify the workings
of the various factions that make up media in India, the various
interconnections and the idiosyncrasies of each, for the benefit
of those not in the know.
A
book like this, if it has to interest media professionals, could
have been peppered with more anecdotal information and the quirks
and twists that have shaped Indian media, making it a more interesting
read. Apart from a few, mostly in the chapters on radio, however,
Vain sticks to her agenda of presenting a treatise on her subject.
Even the process of policy making, which defined the growth of Indian
media, does not come through very clearly.
The
language, good reportorial style, does not experiment much, and
does not attempt at being great literature. The sub- headings, used
to separate the topics, are prosaic - 'First there was terrestrial'
begins the chapter on television, 'What is...' says another in the
same chapter, and one has to wait for the next section to say '....Broadcast'
to know what we are reading.
But
these are minor matters. Vain has effectively woven together all
necessary information on media buying and selling, overseas markets,
regulations and policies that govern various media.
The
chapter on the film industry is comprehensive, and painstakingly
takes readers through the way films are financed, produced, distributed
and now, sold for their satellite telecast rights. It traces the
changes that have mauled the industry, speaking to veterans, new
players and experts, getting figures in an industry where figures
are hard to come by but strangely, the underworld, which figured
big time in film financing a few years ago, and continues to figure
in a substantial way today, does not find mention. Nor does the
influence of politics on Indian media, a significant factor that
has shaped the way most media have evolved in this country and elsewhere
too, for that matter.
On
the whole, however,
The Indian Media Business is a good primer on the media for
the information starved student.
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