Better late than never!

The Valedictory Function of the Symposium featuring Mr. Dan Saint Rossy, Public Affairs officer from the American consulate as the Chief Guest kicked off a little late. The director started off the welcome address congratulating our department for hosting an extraordinary symposium. He also had words of praise for students commending them for their tireless work.

The registrar in his introductory address had tongue-in-cheek humour to make on journalists. Apart from congratulating the students on their efforts, he also had words of advice for budding young journalists reminding them of their duties and the necessity to live by the code of ethics despite the possibility of misusing the freedom provided.

 Mr. Rossy had a different approach to his speech starting off by posing a collective question to the audience just to wake them up! He continued by saying that India has for long been leading the world in globalisation adding that social media has changed the way of the world.

Reiterating on a point made by Dr. Marsha Woodbury earlier, he commented that multi-ownership has made it difficult for professionalism to sustain in the American media. He also added that the power of social media has grown so large by pointing out to the hardships faced by the middle-eastern governments due to revolutions stemming from internet streams.

 In the end, the head of school of media studies, Dr. Sridhar Krishnaswamy thanked one and all for their participation and expressed his gratitude to everyone for having made the event a success.

Kiruba Shankar - Our Own Social Media King !

 "I am a strong believer in the wisdom of the crowd," said Kiruba Shankar which sent a roaring reception among the crowd.

Media nowadays are changing rapidly he told days are gone when companies print  and you read what they are printing  but now the scenario has changed they are now acting according to the public demand as people just shift swiftly when their necessary content is not there.

News is quickly done with all tidbits of information in articles in the web this is how companies are covering the public which is acting in the public’s demand, he said

The current minds are coming up with brilliant ideas he told this by citing an example of the website justmyneighbor,com which makes you  know about your next door neighbor

You connect information and are then connected with commerce that’s how business works in media he told this as the concept of media

The clubbing of social media tools in websites and some innovative concepts being introduced has brought a revolution which still has some untapped areas  to cover  has a long way to go he concluded.

Day - 2 , Panel Discussion - Dr Sundeep Muppidi

The second speaker of the panel discussion on Media Crises in a Globalised World, was Dr Sundeep Muppidi of Nanyang Technological University. He started off by explaining the traditional roles of the media, and how it has diverted from its original vision of being factual and objective to something that is glitzy, lacking in depth and sensational.

He then started dividing the changing media into three different categories. They are ; the social watch dog, government lap dog and corporate guard dog. Quoting Outlook Magazine editor Vinod Mehta on how the quality of editors have gone down, they’re egos are somewhat similar to dogs. Therefore what is the media really?

Muppidi explained each category starting with the social watch dog media as the fourth estate, creating debate and watching out for abuse of power and went on to explain that a large part of the media now plays the role of the corporate guard dog by promoting and protecting business interests and attracting audience as a means of selling advertising.

He talked about the ‘New Avatar of the Media’ and how it has become more accessible, global, interactive and providing convergence when compared to the media of old. Concluding he maintained that this new avatar must create a balancing act between proximity/global reach of content with marketing needs and technical limitations. The ideal situation would be when a policy that advocates a balance between public interest and marketization. “You can always make more money if you provide good content,” Muppidi summed up.

Panel on Business and the Media

American newspaper has high dependence on the internet and mobile phone is perceived as the future. Blogging, facebook and tweeter are being extensively used. We write for print first and publish online. Global journalism is coping with these challenges and it need to be simplified. American readership face similar challenges brought about by globalisation. There are 38 tribes of American Indians in the US and the usage of online media are very much the same despite of where they are coming from. Technology has changed life and transformed media along with the world into a global village. Media has become highly commercialized and its changing at every moment to keep a track on global issues every moment. Mobile phone is the future wherein media will be even more accessible and dynamic.
Dr Terry Clark
Professor, Dept of Communication
Director, Journalism Hall of Fame
University of Central Oklahoma

Dr Marsha Woodbury on Crises and Response

Dr Marsha Woodbury, University of Illinois, kicked off the panel discussion on day 2 with her talk 'Crises and Response, taking the Bull by the Horns' . The panel focussed on how the media has responded to some of the crises that has taken place on the economic front. According to her, there is a growth of newspapers in India, which is a good news to journalism students since they needn't worry about finding jobs. On the contrary, the trend of newspapers in the US has been declining. She rightly pointed out that the Wall Street Journal is an exception and is the only newspaper to turn profit in 2009, according to statistics. WSJ has continued to do well because of the introduction of paid online subscription.

Speaking about the trends in the media in the US, she stressed on the increasing deregulation, concentration and conglomeration. She cited the music band Dixie Chicks's experience with the media as an example of deregulation, when they voiced their opinion against President Bush's invasion in Iraq and a certain radio station refused to play their songs since then. "Allowing so much ownership by a multinational corporation is questionable and the question is, how are we dealing with economic crisis with all this selling out of media," she said.

As an example of self-censorship, she spoke about the time when many people protested the invasion of Iraq in Washington DC and the media which was so pro government provided hardly any coverage.

She touched upon why  Facebook  and the iPad are doing so well, speaking about how they are tightly controlled platforms, with all their application being controlled by Facebook and Apple,respectively. "The machine-to- machine future is less about browsing and more about getting", she said.

She concluded on a positive note, by encouraging investigative journalism, because according to her, there is still scope in that area of specialization. This is because of the fact that investigative journalism is funded by NGOs and foundations, as opposed to newspapers.

We thank Dr Marsha for supporting the social media team and are looking forward to hearing more from her!

Panel Discussion - Day 1

“Much has changed in India such as language, clothing, culture, marriage, infrastructure and many more” said Dr Vandana. She talked about the role of media in the era of globalization. She defined globalization as a historical and continuous process, which is an exchange between cultural and national borders.

The shift and the change in cities and countries are evident, she said. In the 1990s, the world received much of its programs from the west but the landscape of media has drastically changed, she added. The convergence of media has enabled people to read and write, which has improved the literacy rate, especially in developing countries like India.

 She concluded by saying that technology has brought the change but it is not a cause for globalization and it connects locals to the global public sphere.  

Next, Mr. M.R Venkatesh, charted accountant, talked about the economic role leading to globalization. He said that the world is not globalised but there are certain factors like the internet boom, fall of communism, world trade organization etc. that led to it. He defined globalization in 1990s as an idea and a will to dominate through the army, religion and commerce playing an active secondary role.

He explained that media is and will be the engine and not the catalyst for this change.  

Daya thussu - Journalism in a digitized and a globalised media world.

Digitization is equal to Americanization he explained this concept by telling all the media channels and Hollywood which is fully of imported and inspired programming  and the  pioneer in various sections are headed by Americans which gives us a clear example of globalization.

All local transnational channels are now emerging at a rapid pace through globalization for example al jazeera English which is been in the top in recent years.

Globalization needs research; he told this by citing examples of Nicola maichevelli (1469-1527) prince of Macedonia who was a great politician and   chanakya  a  political expert  from india during monarchy period

He praised gandhi by telling him as greatest journalist in the worlds as his writing in the paper harijan is widely appreciated. 

He compared india and china in the sector of media  he said emerging ecmonomies like nidia and china are growing rapidly  even in the media as both produce abundant number of movies and also the leader in newspapers he said india stands next to china in selling newspapers

He concluded by saying that there are still some untapped markets which are yet to emerge in the future .