[icernet] Indian TV Experiencing News Boom

[Arul Selvan]

Six years ago, the electronic media was thrown open to private broadcasters,
ending the monopoly of state-run Doordarshan. Then a handful of media began
beaming news via satellite and cable into Indian homes - now they are
mushrooming at a breathtaking pace. Bhaskar Rao heads the independent Center
for Media Studies. "Television until a year ago in this country was
primarily an entertainment media," he said. "Today it is remolding itself to
become a news media. That is a major structural change that is coming in the
television in India." In recent years, television has beamed live images of
several dramatic stories into people's living rooms. TV cameras caught the
aftermath of a militant attack on the Indian Parliament in December 2001,
and scenes from deadly communal riots in Gujarat last year. Some TV channels
sent their own media teams to cover the Iraq war. 

Source:
http://www.voanews.com/article.cfm?objectID=236BD12A-B7EE-423D-A34D8BBA114D64F1