THE PRINT PERPLEXITY: Issues of Concentration in Newspaper Industry in India

Abstract

Concentration in media is not a new emerging problem but an existing one which is deeprooted. By concentration, it reflects upon the creation of conglomerates, merging of industries where the control is confined to few hands. In newspaper industry, concentration means few owners being able to grasp control over more than one newspaper firm which creates a shift in power to few hands rather than being dispersed in a democratic fashion. However, the central question that lies is as to why concentration is bad and why should it be a concern from development point of view? Newspaper industry, being a non democratic organized force having the ability to influence politics, public discourse and culture, can pose severe issues to democracy if it possesses immense market power. Concentration in newspaper can not only restrict the multiplicity of viewpoints in a democratic society but can also create issues of dominant language, plurality, in informing the citizenry and most importantly a source for generating profits through newspapers by covering those facts which have a higher sale value. The paper analyses the patterns of concentration from the Report of the Fact Finding Committee on Newspaper Economics (1975) and the kind of impact it posed on the Indian society.