News letter on “Gender and Media”.

Following from Nidhi Shendurnikar Tere, Vadodara:

The Women’s Studies Research Centre, M.S.University of Baroda publishes a biannual newsletter with a new name “WSRC Communiqué”. The theme of the next newsletter would be “Gender and Media”.

We are happy to invite contributions for the 2014 issue on the theme “Gender and Media”. Contributions can be made in the form of - research based articles, book reviews, short stories, and diverse range of critical ideas for on-going researches, contributions on gender and media from different disciplinary perspectives, critical commentaries, real-life stories and poetry with the word limit not exceeding beyond 1,000 words. We welcome contributions from journalists and other media professionals. 

Submissions can be sent/mailed/submitted in person to the Documentation Officer at the Women’s Studies Research Centre, OLD NCC girls building, Faculty of Family and Community Sciences, M.S University of Baroda. You can also email your contributions to: women.studies@yahoo.com. Preference will be given to articles written in English, though, Hindi and Gujarati are welcome.

Last date of receiving articles is 31^st December, 2013.

Please note that submission of contribution in any form does not guarantee that it will be published in “WSRC Communiqué”. Final selection of articles to be published remains with the Guest Editor of the newsletter. Please find the official invite attached with the email. Please spread the word among students/researchers for the same.

Regards, 

Nidhi Shendurnikar Tere

Senior Research Fellow (UGC-SRF)

Dept. of Political Science,

The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda

Vadodara, Gujarat.

Sachin's farewell test emerges as highest rated test in the last 8 years in India

Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar’s farewell test match has emerged as the highest rated test match on television in India in the past eight years. The match garnered 1739 average TVTs, which remain unmatched since 2005.  The two test India – West Indies series was showcased on Star Sports 1, Star Sports 2 and Star Sports HD1 in English, while Star Sports 3 showcased the match in Hindi. The series was also streamed live on www.starsports.com.

Star Sports network channels together had the maximum channel share across all genres during six playing days of the test series. (Overall TVTs generated during the day). www.starsports.com attracted 3.5 million unique visitors during the two matches of the India – West Indies test series.

Star Sports launched a 360-degree initiative involving interesting programming, innovative production, disruptive marketing to add buzz around Mastero’s farewell series. The broadcaster launched three high quality programmes to engage deeper with cricket fans, who were immersed in Sachin mania.

Star Sports launched a distinctive ‘Cheer for Sachin’ campaign featuring stars from Bollywood, Cricket and Television invoking Sahin’s fans to cheer ‘Sachin Sachin’. Even on-ground, Star Sports initiated multitude of interesting activities to make the test series memorable for fans who flocked to watch the maestro in action in his farewell series. STAR India’s CEO Uday Shankar presented Sachin Tendulkar with the first Star Sports ‘Believe’ Trophy during the post presentation ceremony in Mumbai. BCCI title sponsorship rights for the series was also with Star Sports.

Speaking on the occasion, Nitin Kukreja, Head of Sports Business, Star India said, “We are delighted with the ratings. We are humbled that maestro’s farewell series was played on our network and wanted to give him a befitting farewell. I am happy to note that cricket fans have appreciated our efforts.”

“Our strategic investment in the Hindi language feed over the past year or so is now paying us huge dividends. We will continue in our endeavour to promote sports culture in the country,” he added.

Source – TAM: Average TVTs; TG: C&S 15+, M, SEC ABC

Source: http://www.exchange4media.com/53554_sachins-farewell-test-emerges-as-highest-rated-test-in-the-last-8-years-in-india.html accessed on November 26, 2013

Social media is the new watchdog

The case against Tarun Tejpal is the case for crowd-sourced technologies, and the first casualty in the process is the traditional structure of authority. The collective is the new conscience

Monobina Gupta @dna

New Delhi: Deafening silence would have reigned; the rot would have deepened; the accused and the guilty would have hidden behind their celebrity status. But for the power of the social media. Today, we in the media should be especially thankful for the opening up of public spaces through information networks. We should be grateful for the ‘invasion’ of digital media. Boundaries are collapsing in the blink of an eye. Hierarchies are breaking down by the chattering, demanding aam admi. Most importantly, maintaining a position of silence has become impossible. The latest testimony to the unshackled potency of social media comes from the newsroom — the hub of the Fourth Estate, the watchdog of all institutions. Tarun Tejpal, the editor of Tehelka magazine — who created ripples in the media world with his radical agenda of promoting journalism ‘with a difference’ — stands accused of one the gravest offences: sexual assault. A young reporter in the magazine has alleged that Tejpal sexually assaulted her in a lift when she was on an assignment during the much-hyped up Tehelka-sponsored Think Fest. By now it has become clear that what transpired during the high-power event not only happened more than once, but was, in effect, “rape”. Apologies are not going to cut it; nor can Tejpal’s removal from the helm of affairs at the magazine be considered an adequate response. The larger issue relates to how safe women employees are in their workplaces. Incidents like this expose how indifferent organisations, including the media, are to the Vishaka judgment which mandates the setting up of committees in every organisation to look into complaints of sexual harassment. Like in most sectors, in media organisations too, these committees, if instituted at all, are defunct, mostly to shield the powerful — in this case a male editor. No wonder then that Tejpal trotted out a so-called ‘apology’ letter, recusing himself from editorship for six months. The accused has donned the black robe of a judge and delivered an absurd sentence to himself. Tejpal says he made ‘an error of judgment’; Tehelka managing editor Shoma Chaudhury describes the sexual assault as an “untoward incident”. “I have already unconditionally apologised for my misconduct to the concerned journalist, but I feel impelled to atone further,” writes Tejpal. Moreover, Chaudhury has also been quoted as saying that this is purely an “internal matter” for Tehelka. Both Tejpal and Chaudhury seem to be oblivious of their responsibility to live up to the standards they have so long preached to others. In their religiously inspired desire to atone they overlook the idea of justice itself. The Supreme Court’s directions are very clear on sexual harassment. The matter cannot be confined to a weepy elegy of repentance. It’s a legal matter. Tehelka is legally, if not morally bound, to set up a free and fair investigation committee. Tarun Tejpal has to submit himself to the scrutiny that he wants every other accused to submit himself to in such sordid cases of the abuse of power. One could well ask if, in cases of the abuse of power by the police, Tehelka would let the offenders get away by saying it is a matter “internal” to them. To refer to rape as an internal matter is tantamount to covering up for the crime. The constant conversation in social media has acted as a catalyst in pitching uncomfortable questions at the centre of debates. All those who have spent considerable time in the newsroom have been silent witnesses to abuse of power by famous editors. Young reporters in established newspapers have shared their discomfort with colleagues and friends but there were no avenues for going public with these issues; no personal or public space to vent anger. For years women journalists have put up with sleazy conversations in newsrooms — heard sexist jokes swirling around them — and, if protesting, have been told not to be ‘bores’ and ‘prudes’. Newsroom culture is often disturbingly and aggressively masculine. Male camaraderie however extends beyond the newsroom. Men in positions of power, across the spectrum, talk and act disgustingly about women while others look on with approval. What could be more disconcerting than the poet and lyricist Javed Akhtar tweeting, “It is a shame that someone (Tejpal) with such impeccable values has committed such an act but unlike some he has the guts to accept and repent.” The proliferation of social media is disturbing the status-quo and creating new spaces of resistance; unspeakable truths are becoming spoken. In this transforming culture, male editors — there are no women counterparts at the helm — must learn to behave themselves. If not they must face the appropriate legal consequences. Apologies won’t work. http://epaper.dnaindia.com/story.aspx?id=55521&boxid=30743&ed_date=2013-11-22&ed_code=820009&ed_page=3

Daya Kishan Thussu's New Book: Communicating India’s Soft Power: Buddha to Bollywood

Communicating India’s Soft Power: Buddha to Bollywood

By Daya Kishan Thussu

Global Public Diplomacy Series, Palgrave/Macmillan, New York, 230 Pages, October 2013 

ISBN: 9781137027887, Order online at www.palgrave.com

Book Description

In recent years, India has emerged as a major economic and political power: on the basis of purchasing-power parity, it was the world’s third largest economy in 2012. Yet the country’s cultural influence outside India has not been adequately analysed in academic discourses. As the world’s largest democracy with a vibrant and pluralist media system, India offers an excellent case study of the power of culture and communication in the age of mediated international relations. This book, a pioneering attempt, from an international communication/media perspective, is aimed to fill the existing gap in scholarship in this area. The discussion of India’s rising soft power is located within a historical context, thus problematizing the notion of Soft Power itself. The book is aimed at university courses on global media/international relations/area studies - among others.

About the Author

Daya Kishan Thussu is Professor of International Communication and the Co-Director of the India Media Centre at the University of Westminster in London. With a PhD in International Relations from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, he is the founder and Managing Editor of the Sage journal Global Media and Communication. Among his key publications are: Media and Terrorism: Global Perspectives (Sage, 2012); Internationalizing Media Studies (Routledge, 2009); News as Entertainment: The Rise of Global Infotainment (Sage, 2007); Media on the Move: Global Flow and Contra-Flow (Routledge, 2007); International Communication - Continuity and Change, third edition (Bloomsbury Academic, forthcoming); and Electronic Empires - Global Media and Local Resistance (Arnold, 1998).

Contents

Introduction

1   De-Americanizing Soft Power

2   Historical Context of India’s Soft Power

3   India Abroad: the Diasporic Dividend

4   Software for Soft Power

5   Culture as Soft Power – Bollywood and Beyond

6   Branding India – a Public-Private Partnership

Conclusion

References

Endorsements

‘Those acquainted with Daya Thussu as the editor of the respected journal Global Media and Communication and his earlier publications will not be surprised by this excellent, comprehensive yet brief survey of the scope and limits of India’s Soft Power and the country’s changing status in global public culture and media. This book will remain a powerful aid to scholars and researchers seeking clues to the many undercurrents in India’s definition of its global presence and the projection of that self-definition through its public diplomacy.’ Professor Ashis Nandy, Senior Honorary Fellow, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, New Delhi

‘Daya Thussu elegantly places India’s Soft Power in its historical and cultural framework, deftly managing the geopolitical and technological context. His analysis is innovative and persuasive,  as is fitting in telling a grand tale of a grand Indian narrative’.  Professor Monroe Price, Director, Center for Global Communication Studies, Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, USA

‘Daya Thussu’s Communicating India's Soft Power: Buddha to Bollywood rescues the concept of soft power from American hands and applies it insightfully to India, and the concept is made richer and more useful as a result.  With its dynamic and prosperous diaspora, the growing global popularity of its spiritual beliefs and practice, its reach as a global economic and technological powerhouse, and even its cherished cuisine, India’s growing soft power potential is evident.  Yet Thussu also takes a hard look at the impediments that stand in the way of India taking full advantage of its soft power appeal. This book is a must-read for anyone interested in broadening their understanding of the role of soft power in foreign affairs.’  Professor Steven Livingston, Professor of Media and Public Affairs and International Affairs, George Washington University, USA

‘A balanced, learned and historically informed analysis of India’s global presence and the soft power that accompanies it. The book contains many important insights and should be of value to decision makers and general public alike.’  Lord Bhikhu Parekh, Emeritus Professor, University of Westminster, UK

The Hindu’ reinstates family members at helm of affairs

‘The Hindu’ reinstates family members at helm of affairs

Professional Editor, CEO Eased Out

TIMES NEWS NETWORK 

Chennai: A little less than two years after it brought in professionals from outside the family to head the editorial and business wings of the company, Kasturi & Sons Limited (KSL), the publishers of ‘The Hindu’ daily, carried out drastic changes on Monday in the leadership structure by bringing in family members at the helm of affairs and easing out the editor and the company’s CEO. 
    The KSL board of directors appointed N Ravi as the editor-in-chief of ‘The Hindu’, replacing Siddharth Varadarajan, who took over from N Ram in January last year. N Ram will now be the chairman of the board, and Malini Parthasarathy, who left the paper as its executive editor in 2011 and now heads The Hindu Centre for Politics and Public Policy, is back as ‘The Hindu’ editor. 
    Monday’s board meeting also decided to abolish the post of CEO, which was held by Arun Anant since it was created around the last revamp. Anant’s new role is yet to be defined. He declined to comment when contacted. 
    In what appears to be a sharp indictment of Varadarajan and Anant, a statement signed by N Ram (who had brought in these two), said: “The decision to make deep-going changes was made chiefly on the ground that there were recurrent violations and defiance of the framework of the institution’s longstanding values on the business side, and recurrent violations and defiance of ‘Living Our Values’, the mandatory Code of Editorial Values applicable to ‘The Hindu’.” He added that the “whole effort was to restore employee morale, good industrial relations” and the trust of the newspaper’s readers. 
    Varadarajan, who was redesignated as the “contributing editor and senior columnist”, has submitted his resignation. Asked about alleged violations of policy under his stewardship, he told TOI, “If indeed policies or editorial values were flouted, the solution would have been to get another professional editor. The fact that the owners have come back into editorial itself provides the answer to your question.” 
    He added, “Of course, there were occasional instances of editorialising that slipped in, just as they did when Mr Ram or Mr Ravi edited ‘The Hindu’ earlier. But I fear this is merely an excuse to reverse the earlier decision to professionalise the newspaper.” 
    By late evening, a revolt was brewing from within as six directors¸ all members of the Hindu family, issued a notice saying, “With reference to the announcement posted by the chairman of the board, the following directors wish to communicate to the staff that they opposed the board resolution that seeks to change the editorial and business structure assigning new responsibilities and designations to the directors, CEO and editor...The vote on said resolution was tied 6-6 and was passed only with a casting vote of the chairman, Mr N Ram. The undersigned wish to declare this casting vote invalid and will contest the decision through an appropriate mechanism.” 
    Ravi, the current editor-inchief, had resigned as the paper’s editor in July 2011, along with other family members Malini Parthasarathy and Nirmala Lakshman, who was the joint editor, after Ram insisted on “separation of ownership from management on the editorial as well as the business side.” Varadarajan took over as editor on January 10, 2012 after Ram, who held the post for eight years. That marked the conclusion of a series of debates within the family since 2009, starting with the appointment of N Balaji as the managing director of Kasturi & Sons. 
    On April 20, 2011, about three months before his exit, Ravi, in a bitter letter to ‘The Hindu’ employees, said Ram and some of the directors at the meeting of the board two days earlier had sought to remove him and appoint Siddharth Varadarajan. He called it a “shocking display of bad faith that has left me deeply anguished” and that they were entering “the second, and what might turn out to be a prolonged, phase of conflict and turbulence in the institution.”

Also read:
http://www.thehoot.org/web/The-Hindu-returns-to-the-family-fold/7102-1-1-4-true.html 

Seminar On Media Issues and Social Transformation in Delhi in January

Prof Ambrish Saxena and Dr Sunil Kr Mishra have sent in the following notification: 

National Seminar

On

Media Issues and Social Transformation – MIST 2014

Organised by

Vivekananda School of Journalism and Mass Communication

On

January 10, 11 and 12, 2014

At

Vivekananda Institute of Professional Studies (VIPS)

[Affiliated to Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, Delhi]

AU Block, Outer Ring Road, Pitampura, New Delhi

Email: vipsedu@vips.edu

Web: www.vips.edu

…………………………………………………………………………

Sub Themes of the Seminar:

1.      Media and Rural Development

2.      Cinema and Society

3.      Women Empowerment and Media

4.      RTI and Media

5.      Media and Democracy

6.      Environmental Issues in Media

7.      Impact of Contemporary Media on Cultural Discourse

8.      Social Media as Catalyst for Social Change

9.      Media, Ethics and Social Justice

10.  Folk Media in Rural India

Special Attraction:

·         Incentive for papers in HINDI

·         Certificates to be given the same day

·         Visit of historical monuments in Delhi

·         Publication of papers in books with ISBN

(To be released during the seminar)

Registration Fee:

1	Academicians/Professionals [Paper presenter]	Paper in English	Rs 2,000/-
2	Academicians/Professionals [Paper presenter]	Paper in Hindi	Rs 1,500/-
3	Academicians/Professionals [Participation only]	Paper in English	Rs 1,500/-
4	Academicians/Professionals [Participation only]	Paper in Hindi	Rs 1,000/-
5	Research Scholars [Paper presenter]	Paper in English	Rs 1,250/-
6	Research Scholars [Paper presenter]	Paper in Hindi	Rs 1,000/-
7	Research Scholars [Participation only]	Paper in English	Rs 1,000/-
8	Research Scholars [Participation only]	Paper in Hindi	Rs 0,750/-
9	Students [Presentation/Participation]	Any language	Rs 0,500/-

Deadlines for Submission:

1	Deadline for submission of Abstracts	November 05, 2013
2	Notification of Abstract	November 15, 2013
3	Deadline for Registration	November 30, 2013
4	Deadline for Submission of Full Paper	December 15, 2013
5	Deadline for publication of Abstract	December 30, 2013
6	Deadline for publication of Seminar Papers	January 05, 2014

                    

Payment Mode:

Registration fee should be submitted through Demand Draft, in favour of Vivekananda Institute of Professional Studies, payable at Delhi

Registration Fee Includes:

1. Meals and Refreshment

2. Seminar kit and other related material

Accommodation:

1.      VIPS will provide the necessary help to delegates for getting accommodation in the vicinity of the venue at reasonable rates.

2.      Requests (to be made till December 15, 2013) for the same will be entertained only from outstation delegates.

Length of Abstract: 200 - 300 words 
Along with brief Introduction of Author / co-author: Max 100 words
Format of the Full Paper:
Title of paper: Times New Roman 14 Bold caps and Kurtidev (for hindi: font size 14 for title and 12 for running matter)
After one space: author, affiliation, e-mail in font 11 italics.
Leave one space. Then Abstract title in 12 bold; Abstract in Times New Roman font 11 justified.
Main text of paper: Titles in Times New Roman 12 bold caps; Text in Times New Roman 11 justified.
Subheadings: Times New Roman 11 bold italics.
Figures: Title should be at the bottom of figure.
Tables: Title to be at top of table.
References: Author (year), Paper title, Conf./book/journal title, Vol., No., pp.
References should be cited in text in brackets (author, year). 

Submission of Abstract and Paper:

·         Submit the Abstract and the Full Paper by email

·         Do not send hard copies of the abstract/paper

Seminar Convenor:

Prof. Ambrish Saxena

09810059895

Seminar Co-Convenor:

Dr Sunil Kr Mishra

09910852889

Contact:

Seminar Email: seminarmist.vips@gmail.com

This is from Shashi : Thank you Shashi. From AJR,   October/November 2007

So Why Not 29?    Why did reporters for years end their stories by writing “-30-”? By Hadass Kogan Each October for the past eight years, students in Louise Reynolds' Introduction to Journalism class at Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda, Maryland, have been offered extra credit if they can solve one of journalism's lingering mysteries: Why did reporters for years end their stories by writing "-30-"?"Journalism is so full of funny phrases and traditions," Reynolds says. "I wanted the kids to know there was a long tradition behind each of these terms and style rules and know that it didn't come out of nowhere." The use of the symbol was once so prevalent that it made its way into Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, which says 30 is "a sign of completion." But the tradition of using it to cap off a piece of sprightly copy dropped off considerably when the computer replaced the typewriter — the what? — in America's newsrooms. So it's a term whose meaning is lost on many younger journalists. The venerable "-30-" caused some mischief in late July at the New York Times when a reporter typed it at the end of his article about the shooting of two police officers in Brooklyn. The published version of the story said that a trial was scheduled for February 30, which doesn't occur even in the leapest of leap years. Said a subsequent Times correction: "The error occurred when an editor saw the symbol '-30-' typed at the bottom of the reporter's article and combined it with the last word, 'February.'" So where did the term originate? Some say the mark began during a time when stories were submitted via telegraph, with "-30-" denoting "the end" in Morse code. Another theory suggests that the first telegraphed news story had 30 words. Others claim the "-30-" comes from a time when stories were written in longhand — X marked the end of a sentence, XX the end of a paragraph and XXX meant the end of a story. The Roman numerals XXX translate to 30. But these are hardly the only explanations, theories and guesses for the rise of "-30-". It is rumored that a letter to an East India company ended with "80," a figure meaning "farewell" in Bengali. The symbol supposedly was misread, changed to 30 and took root. Some say the mark comes from the fact that press offices closed at 3 o'clock. And there's the theory that 30 was the code for a telegraph operator who stayed at his post during a breaking news story until his death 30 hours later — versions of that story even include that the unfortunate operator hit two keys on his machine when he collapsed. Which ones? That's right, 3 and 0. Julie Williams, a professor of journalism and mass communication at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama, says the guessing game over "-30-" has taken on a life of its own, in part because the ambiguity leaves it open to a wide array of interpretations. "Because it's so obviously not intuitive, you can't tell what it means," she says. "I think people were anxious to come up with explanations for it." Or maybe "-30-" is just another way for journalists to suggest that theirs is cooler than other professions. "I'm not sure that it's any more of a mystery than a lot of other things," says Linda Steiner, who teaches at the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland. "I think journalists have always liked to create odd or weird names for things that they do or conventions that they have." For most, the origin of "-30-" is less important than what it represents, a remnant of a bygone era when shouts of "copy" echoed through the newsroom and computers seemed the stuff of science fiction. "It was just what one did. I don't know the origin or what I was told," says Peter Binzen, 84, a longtime reporter, editor and columnist at the Philadelphia Bulletin and Philadelphia Inquirer. "I don't suppose any reporter under 50 has used it." Don Harrison, 79, editor of Milestones, a monthly newspaper published by the Philadelphia Corporation for Aging, and a former Philadelphia newsman, says that "-30-", as well as "#" and "end it," were essential for writing stories on deadline. "You had to use something when you were typing because you would write two or three paragraphs on deadline," Harrison says. "Then the copyboy would pick it up and send it to the composing room. It was necessary [to have] some way to say, 'This is it, it's over... Put a head on it and put it in the next day's paper.'" Stephen Dixon, a former professor at Johns Hopkins University, even titled his 1999 book "30" to acknowledge the thematic endings the main character (who happens to be a former newsman) experiences throughout the novel. His publisher added the subtitle "Pieces of a Novel" because he worried that nobody in the Internet era would understand the book's title. Perhaps the publisher was on to something — Dixon ended up writing a letter to the editor complaining about a book review that seemed to totally miss the meaning of the novel's title and its relationship to the theme of endings in the book. Chicago newsman Charles Madigan not so cheerily named his new book, a selection of essays about the decline of the newspaper business, "-30-: The Collapse of the Great American Newspaper." So even though it's an anachronism, "-30-" continues to make its presence felt. After not using the symbol for years, Binzen even chose to end his 56-year newspaper career in 2005 with a farewell column that concluded with, what else, "-30-". Kogan (hkogan@umd.edu) is a former AJR editorial assistant. She thought 30 was just another number before embarking on this assignment. (Source: http://www.ajr.org/Article.asp?id=4408)