CHARACTERISTICS

AUDIO VISUAL MEDIUM

While radio has sound, television content includes both sound and visuals. This
audiovisual character of television makes it a magic medium that allows us to watch the
world from our drawing rooms. This powerful visual nature helps television to create
vivid impressions in our minds, which in turn leads to emotional involvement. The
audiovisual quality also makes television images more memorable.

DOMESTIC MEDIUM

To watch television, we need not leave your drawing room. No need of going to the
movie theatre or buying tickets. We can watch television in the comfort of our home with
our family. This is why television is generally regarded as a domestic medium. It
provides entertainment and information right inside our homes and has become an
integral part of our everyday lives. It can actually pattern our daily activities. Even our
family makes it a point to watch their favorite serial at a particular time and adjust dinner
timings accordingly. This domestic nature of television influences the content also. We
have noticed that a newspaper report has an impersonal tone, whereas the television
anchor addresses us directly. The domestic nature of television makes it an intimate
medium. This makes the viewers experience a sense of closeness to the Television.

LIVE MEDIUM.

The important characteristic of television is that it is capable of being a live medium. This
is because the live nature of television allows it to transmit visuals and information
almost instantly. The visuals of an earthquake in Indonesia can reach our television set in
almost no time. This capacity of the medium makes it ideal for transmitting live visuals
of news and sports events. If we are watching a cricket match in a television channel, we
can almost instantly see the wicket hit by our favourite player. On the Television allows
you to witness events, which happen thousands of miles away.

MASS MEDIUM
All of us know that there are a large number of people who cannot read or write.Such
people may not be able to read a newspaper, but they can watch television.Anyone with a
television receiver can access the information shown on television.This makes it an ideal
medium to transmit messages to a large audience. In a country like ours, with a huge
illiterate population, this characteristic of television Makes it an ideal instrument for
transmitting social messages. Television also has a very wide output, range and reach. It
is truly a mass medium.

TRANSITORY MEDIUM.

Television programmes are not easy to be recorded by viewers. It may be practically

impossible to record every programme, which appears on your television. Therefore,
television is generally identified as a transitory medium.

EXPENSIVE MEDIUM
There is need to large amount of machinery and expertise needed to run a television
station. We can write articles and stories and draw our own pictures. All we need will be
paper, pen, drawing instruments and time. However, a television programme can never be
made this. However, a television programme can never be made this easily. It requires
lots of money, machinery and experienced people. Broadcast media in general and
television in particular involves complex technology and organization. We will need
crores of rupees to start a television station.

TV as a Mass Medium
Amongst all the mass media today, television attracts the largest number of viewers. Its
audience is greater in size than any of the other media audiences. This is because
television is able to attract the audiences of all age groups, literate and illiterate and of all
the strata of the society.
In India, from the beginning i.e. 1989, television has been used more for education and
information purposes than for entertainment. It has performed different functions as
compared to the television in west.
Even today, though commercials have entered Indian television in a big way, it’s basic
purpose has not changed. It continues to perform it’s function of national integration and
development.
Dr. Rajendra Prasad, while inaugurating India’s Television Service on September 15,
1959, hoped that television would go a long way in broadening the popular outlook in
line with scientific thinking.
There is no doubt about the fact that the technology has given us a major tool in
television. It is a very powerful persuasive mass communication medium. How and why
we make use of this tool will determine the effectiveness of this tool to enhance the
development process.
In India uptil now, television is government owned medium. Therefore, it has to further
the cause of development and spread the message of people’s participation in
development programmes launched by the government.
The Indian model of television programmes is unique as it is expected to pass on the
culture from one generation to other and persuasion.
Doordarshan, India’s national network has 41 major Kendras (stations) with studios,
production facilities and regular programmes originating from the stations and 921
transmitters.
Today, Doordarshan is competing with all cable TV networks in meeting the
entertainment needs of the people.
Television in India, through its programmes presents a composite national picture and
perspective of India’s rich cultural heritage and diverse thinking. They represent various
religions and cultural expressions and activities of people, belonging to different parts of
India, thus it reflects the Indian society.
Television has been able to influence the people living in remote areas of our country as
its outreach has covered the remotest villages and tribal pockets. It is ushering
information explosion.
The growth in television both in technology and reach in the last three decades has been
phenomenal. It was basically conceived as a mass medium and a mass educator for its
large population scattered in remote and culturally diverse areas.
It is supposed to disseminate the message of development and modernization to create
awareness for generating public participation. It is expected to support government plans
and programmes for bringing about social and economic change and to protect national
security as well as advance the cause of national integration.
Television, being an audio-visual medium, brings us into contact with events in an
exciting and clarifying way. For example, a live telecast of a national event such as
celebration of golden jubilee year of independence, or launching of a satellite, offers
meaning to the events that no amount of reading or still pictures or even films could
match.
However, this incomparable quality of reality and immediacy is not found in all
television programmes, especially those programmes
Television is considered as a mirror of a nation’s personality. It can recall the past, dwell
upon the present and peep into the future of a society. This role of television is all the
more relevant to a country like India, having continental dimensions and innumerable
diversities.
It has the capability to reach simultaneously millions and millions of our people. Since it
can transmit not only words but pictures as well, the significance of television as a
medium of mass communication has universally been realised and recognised.
In a country like India where population and illiteracy are the burning problems,
electronic media provides tremendous reach for disseminating audio-visual information
even in remote areas.
India has diverse cultures, religions and traditions. Therefore, medium like television can
play a very important role in developing common understanding among the people and
bringing them closer.
It opens up the prospects of educating villagers in the remotest areas, in the affairs of the
nation and associating them in the task of development, along with creating wider vision
of the world.
Television provides masses a common experience at the same time, in a verifying degree.
A telecast can use combination of various audio-visual materials and methods, such as,
objects, models discussion, demonstrations, plays, exhibits, chalkboard and so on.
This helps in clarifying the messages to audience varying in their comprehension level.
Thus, it makes mass communication more effective and appeals to the groups of varied
nature.
Television, like radio, is also primarily a one way channel of communication.
There have been developments in television medium so as to make two way
communications possible, but in India this technique is used occasionally only.
For example, at the time of elections we are able to watch communicator and receiver
communicating on TV from a distance.
Normally the communicator on a television screen cannot enjoy the rapport with his
audience which makes difference between a one-sided performance and a true interaction
of communicator and receiver.
Like film, television also stimulates and reinforces ideas, beliefs and tendencies already
possessed by the viewer. For example, television repeats and thereby reinforces the
messages on family planning, importance of girl’s education, marriage age, environment
protection, energy conservation etc. Thus, it serves persuasive function.
Television has more flexibility and mobility in its coverage due to audio-visual
presentation. This is the reason why it has become a family medium. Family members
receive messages in their own environment.
It can show what happened and how it happened. It can show landing of a man on mars,
functioning of heart or division of cell through animation. Above all, it can provide
entertainment also. Thus, television as a mass medium informs, educates, inspires and
motivates.
As far as educational messages to the masses are concerned, television can be the most
powerful educational medium because it combines speaking, writing and showing. You
not only talk to the masses at one time but you show them what you mean. Thus, TV
presents mass demonstration to thousands of viewers at the same time.
Discussing the importance of television as mass media. Saxena says, “Television in India
has acquired today newer dimensions, greater popularity and a much wider reach. The
moving images of television fascinate people, demand attention and eventually influence
their thoughts and behaviour.
The small screen has indeed turned out to be large enough to compress, within itself,
India’s tremendous cultural diversity over a rather broad social spectrum. Television has
become part of our popular culture-part of our life itself.

TV as a Mass Medium

TV is one of the most sophisticated means of mass communication media. It serves the
people by disseminating the information in areas of agriculture, national integration,
health and hygiene, entertainment programmes, advertisement etc. TV is an ideal medium
to convey information to illiterate and literate in urban and rural areas on whom it would
have profound impact. As an instrumental device it is being used in variety of ways such
as for direct teaching for supplementing formal education, for developing psychomotor
skills, for adult education and for diffusion of agricultural know-how from etc. It is
expected that the rural oriented TV programmes can solve the problems of
inaccessibility, illiteracy and shortage of skilled persons in India. In rural development
nothing is more important than the transfer of useful ideas from one person to another.
The researches in agricultural sciences are of no use, unless they are communicated to the
farmers in an effective manner in the shortest possible time. TV has emerged as a
powerful medium of communication. Television is providing information and
entertainment even to the people of far flung areas. While it provides sound, vision and
movement, it can reach the largest number of people in the shortest possible time.

Television has the capacity to reach the largest number of people in the shortest possible
time. People learn through the eyes and ears both thus, gain greater knowledge and
understanding of the subject.

The boom in television industries has not only affected urban masses but the rural masses
are also fascinated with this media. Now this has become one of the most important
media of mass communication for rural masses. It has played a major role in transferring
the latest technological know-how to the rural people. In India where the rural masses are
isolated in villages, the communication is difficult and challenging, in this situation
television is one of the important sources of mass media which plays a pivotal role in
reaching large number of people in a very short time. Television can bring the world to
our door steps within seconds.

This mass medium has made dissemination of news, information and entertainment
possible on a scale unprecedented in human society. It is undoubtedly one of the most
versatile audio-visual aids ever developed. Admittedly, this is still a new field. There is a
much to be done before television achieves its full usefulness in teaching.
Television as an audio-visual medium of communication offers immense potential for
disseminating the technological information to remote corners of the country through the
nationwide TV network. is considered as a credible source of information and is taken as
authentic, trustworthy and prestigious medium of communication.

Like movies, television also stimulates ideas, beliefs, and tendencies already possessed
by the viewer. For example, television repeats and thereby reinforces the messages on
family planning, the importance of educating girls, environment protection, energy
conservation etc. Television can be the most powerful educational medium as it combines
speaking, writing and showing.

Television has more flexibility and mobility in its coverage due to the audio-visual
presentation. Due to this reason, it has become a family medium. It can show what
happened and how. It can show landing of a man on Mars, the functioning of the heart or
division of cell through animation. Above all, it provides entertainment too. In short,
television as a mass medium informs, educates, inspires and motivates.
The small screen has indeed turned out to be large enough to compress India's
tremendous cultural diversity within itself.

TV and Culture

Television has been reflecting changing cultural values since it first gained popularity
after World War II. During the 1950s, most programmes ignored current events and
political issues in favour of family-friendly domestic comedies, which featured White
suburban middle-class families. Extreme stress during the 1960s, caused by political
events such as the Vietnam War and the Cuban Missile Crisis, led people to turn to
escapist television offered by fantasy sitcoms. These provided a sharp dichotomy with the
hard-news shows of the era. Social consciousness during the 1970s prompted television
producers to reflect changing social attitudes regarding single parenthood, women’s roles,
and divorce, and sitcom families began to reflect the increasing number of non-nuclear
families in society. The increasing popularity of cable TV in the 1980s led to an
explosion of news and entertainment channels, some of which raised concerns about the
levels of violence on television. During the 1990s and 2000s, TV networks became more
specialized, catering to niche markets in order to meet the needs of an increasingly
fragmented audience.

Television reflects cultural values, and it also influences culture. One example of this is
the polarization of cable TV news, which is no longer centrist but caters to individual
political tastes. Critics argue that this influences cable news viewers’ opinions and makes
them less open to opposing political viewpoints. Entertainment programmes also play an
influential role within society. By portraying controversial relationships such as single
parents or gay couples as acceptable, TV shows have the power to shape viewers’
attitudes. In recent years, broadcasters have created the concept of the instant celebrity
through the genre of reality television. Contestants on reality TV shows now permeate
every aspect of culture and the media, from the music charts to popular magazines and
newspapers.

Influence of Western Television Programmes on Indian Youth

Though its popularity and need is decreasing with the coming of smart mobile phones
and latest technologies which provide entertainment on just some clicks and much more
but on a smaller portable screen. In today's world, Television is not as important as
mobile phones in one's life, but, it surely has some control over the minds of people. A
large mass of Indian population still depends on Television as their main source of
entertainment. Indian housewives, working population, college students, children,
shopkeepers are all attracted towards the different programmes of their choices.

There are number of television programmes for children like Doraemon, Shinchan,
BEN10 etc and for the college going students we have channels like MTV, CHANNEL
V, 9XM etc which contains reality shows, music and entertainment. A study revealed that
a college student watches television on an average of 4 hours a day and most of the times
it is 8:00 pm to 1:00 am, housewives watches television mostly in between 1:00 pm to
4:00 pm or after 9:00 pm post their household activities.

Public Service Broadcasting always plays an important role in creating an impact on

audience and modernizing the minds of youth. Various Public Broadcasting Services
includes, PBS in USA, ABC in Australia, BBC in UK. There was a time when
Doordarshan was ruling the viewer's minds, shows like, Byomkesh Bakshi, Jaspal
Bhatti's flop show, Ramayana, Shaktimaan, Vikram-Betal etc were grabbing everybody's
attention and were able to hook audience to their shows for years. Those were the days
when people free themselves from their daily activities for a specific time period to watch
their favourite Television program. Ramayana's episodes used to come on Sundays at
10:00 am in the morning and to watch that, whole family used to sit together to watch the
show.

In the present scenario, the Indian youth is exposed to a wide variety of television
programmes and channels which consists of numerous Indian as well as foreign shows.
This gives them a wide variety to choose from. The interests of Indian youth started
shifting towards the foreign shows because of the improvement in the quality of
television programmes of United States of America and United Kingdom and the
degradation of Indian Television programmes' quality. Present generation is not as patient
as their predecessors, they can't wait for a whole month just to get the same already
known story. They are careful in choosing what they want to watch, they want something
different, something which is more exciting and entertaining than the Indian television
programmes, hence their choice was clear, they preferred western television programmes
over Indian television programmes. Indian television programmes contain mostly daily
soaps and melodramatically approached serials which are not able to give the current
generation any kind of motivation, inspiration or any real - life experience and hence they
are getting bored and have started shifting towards the foreign Television channels which
surprised them. Foreign Television channels like HBO, AXN, STAR WORLD is giving
the youth what the Indian channels always missed. Foreign shows are directly targeting
the social happening at present and helping the youth to relate the shows with their
respective lives, showing them how to tackle with those situations and finding solutions
for their problems from it. These channels are entertaining their audiences in every way
possible and are always ready to give their audience something new, something different
from the previous content.

Also, the main reason of shifting towards the western Television programmes was the
adult content provided in those programmes, the language, the activities, the suspense,
they are enough to grab every teenager's attention. Indian Television is still not able to
provide audiences the best of them, the most realistic things are blurred in movies, bold
words and scenes are covered with beeps and cuts, although we know what's happening
in a scene but what's better than watching the real content.

Culture is a way an individual socializes with the society, it is something through which
societies reflect their common experiences. Television is a mass medium, therefore it has
cultural impacts on its audience also. The influence of Western Television programmes
can be discovered from the change in the behaviours and attitudes of youngsters. Their
music taste is changed and as we know, music is the expression of inner life, the person's
taste of music at an extent defines what a person is, what is going on in his mind and his
feelings and emotions. The change in Indian youth's music taste is the major influence
caused by western music, their food habits are varied, their clothing style is affected and
also their social orientations.

Foreign television programmes help an individual to open up his mind and develop a
good
personality through its contents. It gives them a great choice over the Saas Bahu drama
offered by Indian television. Instead of watching marriages, deaths and characters coming
out of their graves, they are watching FRIENDS, BREAKING BAD, HOUSE OF CARD,
13 REASONS WHY, and many more, which are at least not destroying their IQ levels.

The youth is confused in deciding what is wrong and what is right for them, for someone
else, or for the society. Most importantly there is a great influence on relationships
nowadays, a male or a female, they are mostly confused and are not sure for their
feelings. The extra marital affairs, relation with best friend, cheating on husband/wife,
friends with benefits, shown in these programmes have resulted in growth of extra marital
affairs cases. People are now more confused between love and lust, for them, love is all
about finding someone rich, making out, giving expensive gifts and not about feelings.
These western programmes are playing with the minds of teenagers who are not that
much exposed to the world, they want their friend circle to be as that of the TV show
FRIENDS, they are copying western lifestyle which is responsible for disturbing the
culture they inherited.

Getting influenced by western culture should not result in neglecting the Indian culture
completely, but it is happening, our culture is disturbed.

BRIEF HISTORY OF TELEVISION IN INDIA

Television started in India on an experimental basis on September 15, 1959 with a limited
transmission of three days a week. The scope of programmes was restricted to
educational broadcasts for a limited area around New Delhi. One hundred and eighty
teleclubs were set up within the range of 40 km of the transmitter. Every club was
provided with a television set by UNESCO. All India Radio provided the engineering and
the programme software.
Government of India took initiative to start TV on an experimental basis mainly because
two purposes.

1. To train personals in this new technology

2. To discover what television media can do to achieve community development.

Television, at this initial stage, was not considered to be a medium of entertainment but
primarily an education tool. The Government of India supported the television project
financially. In 1961 television programmed for teachers were started. Regular
broadcasting of television programmes began in 1965. A daily one hour service started
during this year.
1972-1982
The period between 1972 and 1982 saw the rapid expansion of the medium. In 1972
television services were extended to Bombay. By 1975-76 the Satellite Instructional
Television Experiment (SITE) brought television to 2,400 villages in backward areas of
Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa and Rajasthan. This project
has been described as one of the largest communication experiments in the world. In
1976 television broadcasting was delinked from All India Radio and was put under an
independent organisation called Doordarshan.
AFTER 1982
Doordarshan switched over to colour transmission on August 15, 1982. Besides, this year
witnessed the introduction of a regular satellite link between Delhi and different
transmitters. The major impetus for these developments was the Asian Games held in
New Delhi in 1982.
After 1982, television facilities have been rapidly expanding and during certain periods,
the  country got a new transmitter each day. The number of transmitters and programme
production centres has increased significantly over the years. On November 19, 1984, a
second channel was launched in New Delhi. Later, on April 1, 1993 the Metro
entertainment channel was started. At present, Doordarshan telecasts programmes on 19
channels. DD-1 is the primary channel, the flagship of Doordarshan.

SATELLITE INSTRUCTIONAL TELEVISION EXPERIMENT (SITE)

Indian Television programming has been consistent with social, agricultural, economic
and political aims of the government right from its inception in 1959. Taking their cues
from Indian politicians, programming executives put aside the entertainment value of
television in favour of its instructive and educational usefulness.
This bias for wholesome, practical and educational television became far more evident in
1975 when Doordarshan, still a part of AIR, launched the Satellite Instructional
Television Experiment (SITE), one of the most ambitious experiments in television
history. SITE was the brain child of Vikram Sarabhai, the brilliant physicist and chairman
of the Indian Atomic Energy Commission. Sarbhai persuaded the Department of Atomic
Energy  (DAE)  and the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to
work together to bring satellite-based television to India. He also signed an agreement
that provided India access to NASA’s Application Technology Satellite (ATS-6) to
conduct the one year experiment.
From August 1, 1975 to July 31, 1976, Doordarshan used ATS-6 satellite to beam farm,
health and hygiene, and family planning programmes 4 hours each day to 2400 villages
in rural India. SITE was also used to telecast entertainment programmes, consisting
chiefly of rural art, music, and dance. For the most part, since very few people had their
own sets, they watched SITE programmes in communal areas where TV sets were
specifically set up for viewing purposes.
SITE’s primary agenda was not only to educate people about solutions to the country’s
problems, but also to unify the diverse and multilingual audiences country by exposing
them to one another’s cultures.
SITE programmes were produced at production centres in New Delhi, Hyderabad, and
Cuttack with the help of university teachers, social workers, and other experts. Some of
the programmes were also produced by the Indian Space and Research Organization
(ISRO), a wing of the DAE. ISRO was also responsible for installing and servicing the
television sets used for the experiment. These sets, for the most part, consisted of
ordinary television sets that were each provided with a front-end converter and a chicken-
mesh antenna for receiving satellite signals.
SITE’s results were more modest than its designs. According to a 1980 report by Krishan
Sondhi, the farm programmes did not have the expected impact. Farmers in SITE
viewing areas were not more innovative than farmers who were not exposed to SITE
programmes, possibly because they had already learned about the innovations from
AIR’s farm bulletins and programmes. Another weakness was that the farm programmes
were not adapted to the widely differing farming practices in the SITE viewing areas and
consequently were not of much use to the farmers. The health and family planning
programmes did not result in significant improvements either.
PRASAR BHARATHI
Doordarshan was Government-controlled organ right from its inception. In 1959, when
India witnessed the first experiments in television broadcasting, Doordarshan was only an
appendix to All India Radio. Although Doordarshan was delinked in 1976 from All India
Radio, it came under the direct control of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting,
Government of India. The various Governments at the Centre not only controlled the
electronic media but made use of them to promote the ruling party’s hidden agenda.
According to I.B. Singh, “Political leaderships have abused All India Radio and
Doordarshan (television) for blatant partisan and personal ends mainly in order to crush
dissent and promote personality cults”. This has been true with regard to every
Government that assumed office in New Delhi.
The demand for autonomy for the broadcast media was gaining increasing support. The
National Front Government led by Mr. V.P. Singh introduced the Bill in the first
Parliamentary session in January 1990 to grant autonomy to the broadcast media in the
country. But the Prasar Bharathi Act was kept dormant for seven years. Finally the Act
came into force on September 22, 1997. The Prasar Bharathi Board was formed paving
the way for granting autonomy to Doordarshan and All India Radio.
TV TODAY

In 1982, under Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, colour television arrived in India.  But it
was not until 1991 that things changed dramatically for the Indian television viewer. With
CNN beaming the 1991 Gulf War live into Indian homes, the country got a taste of
international television - up, close and personal. Coincidentally, it was the same year
when the Indian government opened up the economy and allowed private satellite
television channels to beam into India. For the first time, Indian viewers got a chance to
watch non-Doordarshan shows, were spoilt for choice and for the first time many
television networks including Sun Network, Zee Network and STAR Network became
household names. STAR in particular, aired some of the famous English serials from
foreign countries and suddenly, India had unrestricted access to these global
entertainment properties. A look at the current media scenario overall will give a sense of
the magnitude of explosion the sector has seen in India. Today there are 1,18,239 media
publications, 38,933 weekly newspapers and magazines, 17,160 daily newspapers, more
than 880 satellite television channels, more than 380 news television channels, and 550+
non-news entertainment radio stations. According to the statistics portal Statista, the pay
TV penetration in India by cable and satellite was 82% in the year 2018 and is likely to
grow to 84% by the year 2023.

TV and Culture
Indeed like any other mass media Television has cultural repercussions on its viewers.
Culture is defined as a way of life, an individual leads in society. Culture is essential for
socialization and it is a tool for socialization. However there is no uniform definition of
culture as it varies from individual to individual and state to state. ―Culture is the sum of
the available descriptions through which societies make sense of and reflect their
common experience.
In olden times culture was taught by traditional institutions like family and peer groups,
now mass media has evolved as self christened cultural inducers with their far reach and
popularity. Amongst the mass media, television plays a complicit role in bringing about
socio-cultural change. Many studies conducted in behavioural sciences scientifically
proved that television has an impact on its viewers especially on young adults. If the
advancement in telecommunication technology paved way for ―television boom‖,
globalisation absolutely has redefined the parameters of culture across the globe.
Indians too embraced the winds of cultural change in tandem, with an inimitable ado.
―Young people across the socio-economic spectrum felt that their lives would be
different from their parents to some degree, involving technological development,
changes in occupation, increased mobility and also in terms of thinking.
The international working group on training personnel engaged in the production and
dissemination of cultural goods and services, co-sponsored by UNESCO (1986) states
that culture is not to be interpreted in the restricted sense of art alone. It encompasses the
whole gamut of phenomena ranging from sports to educational programmes, from the
motivation of creative artists to the habituation of the audiences, from the consumption of
cultural products to self-generated cultural activities. The weak regulation and state
control over the electronic media in India opened up uncontrolled flow of cultural
programmes this in turn created a new cultural identity among the youth.
As the penetration of cable and satellite television channels increased in India, there was
clamour from different corners to regulate the content of television as it posed a threat to
local culture. Television became a medium of communication with power impact on
students, particularly young adults. They are stimulated by the imaginary world of
television.
Neilson Report says that college student‘s watch an average 24.3 hours of television per
week. That is twice the amount of time the average full time student sits in class. Another
source finds an average 3.41 hours a day which is an hour less than the national average
for television consumption, but not very heartening.
College students favour night-time television from 8.pm. to 1. am. The influence of
western culture can be traced from the attitudes and behaviour of young adults. This
varies from food habits to sexual orientation. The emergence of music channels in the
line of MTV has created significant changes in youth‘s language and their music
preferences. Studies point out that the more exposed, more influenced. According to
social scientist Anajali Monteiro, (1998) ―TV has contributed to the culture of
packaging oneself. This comes in the form of beauty contests constituting national pride,
middle class girls coming in to the profession as VJ‘s modelling being considered
respectable….‖. Television commercials play role in consumer behaviour and also their
culture. This can be seen from the youth‘s especially college student‘s attraction towards
cell phones, apparels and food items, such as burgers and pizza.
Dr Abhilasha Kumari‘s (1998) research on the effects of television commercials reports
that audience‘s relationship with commercials was helping to create ‗a secular kind of
world where consumption patterns are shared‘. Soap operas, movies and now days- the
reality shows -made the youth increasingly aware of fashion and trends.
Anjali Monteiro, Jayasankar (2000), reports about increased contents of premarital extra-
marital affairs in Indian Television programmes. At present at least two among the five
soap operas in Hindi as well as regional channels deal with the issue of premarital and
extra-marital sex. Heavy viewing of foreign television programmes leads to the
acceptance of western sexual norms like dating. Thus umpteen studies pertaining to
various cultural parameters proved that TV has a role in shaping youth culture.

BROADCASTING POLICY

Broadcasting policy focuses on: supporting widely available quality public broadcasting;
encouraging innovation and technological change; and ensuring value for money through
enhanced transparency, accountability, and competition.
The policy framework for regional and community broadcasting,  enables a range of
broadcasting services, content and formats for regional, local and community and
minority audiences including ethnic minorities, communities of interest and students. The
Framework is a set of objectives for government in future policy development to:

 Promote local broadcasting services (local broadcasting);

 Promote innovation and a diverse range of content and formats for different
audience identities and interests (diversity);
 Facilitate wide technical, cultural and social access to broadcasting (accessibility);
and
 Provide for long term developments affecting broadcasting (future-proofing).

Eligibility criteria for local licences have been developed from the policy framework and
it provides scope for new local commercial broadcasters, as well as non-commercial
broadcasters.

Prasar Bharati
Prasar Bharati is a statutory autonomous body established under the Prasar Bharati Act
and came into existence on November 23, 1997. It is the Public Service Broadcaster of
the country. The objectives of public service broadcasting are achieved in terms of Prasar
Bharati Act through All India Radio and Doordarshan, which earlier were working as
media units under the Ministry of I&B and since the above said date became constituents
of Prasar Bharati.
Prasar Bharati is India's largest public broadcaster. It was established following a demand
that the government owned broadcasters in India should be given autonomy like those in
many other countries. The Parliament of India passed an Act to grant this autonomy in
1990, but it was not enacted until September 15, 1997.
Dr. A. Surya Prakash was the previous chairperson of Prasar Bharati and Shri Shashi S.
Vempati is the current CEO.
The major objectives of the Prasar Bharati Corporation as laid out in the Prasar Bharati
Act, 1990 are as follows:
 To uphold the unity and integrity of the country and the values enshrined in the
Constitution;
 To promote national integration;
 To safeguard citizens’ rights to be informed on all matters of public interest by
presenting a fair and balanced flow of information;
 To pay special attention to the fields of education and spread of literacy,
agriculture, rural development, environment, health & family welfare and
science & technology;
 To create awareness about women’s issues and take special steps to protect the
interests of children, aged and other vulnerable sections of the society;
 To provide adequate coverage to diverse cultures, sports and games and youth
affairs;
 To promote social justice, safeguarding the rights of working classes,
minorities and tribal communities.
 To promote research and expand broadcasting faculties & development in
broadcast technology.

THE BROADCASTING BILL, 1997

The bill is to provide for an independent authority to be known as the Broadcasting

Authority of India for the purpose of facilitating and regulating broadcasting services in
India. The authority will have a perpetual succession and a common seal with powers to
enter into a contract and can sue and can be sued in its name.
It consists of a chairperson who will be appointed by the President of India on
recommendation from the chairman of the states who will be the chairman of the
committee, the information and broadcasting minister and the Press Council of India. It
will also consist of a maximum of 11 part-time members to be appointed by the central
government, a secretary to the government in charge of the department of
telecommunications and a secretary general.
The chairperson will be appointed from amongst the persons of eminence with more than
15 years of experience in administration, law, broadcasting and public relations.
The functions of authority will be:

1. To carry out frequency planning of such frequencies or band of frequencies

assigned to it by the wireless adviser to the government for the purpose of ING
services.
2. To grant licences for broadcasting services.
3. To ensure that a wide range of broadcasting services are available throughout
India.
4. To ensure services of high quality and offer a wide range of programmes to
appeal to a variety of tastes and interests.
5. To determine the programme code and standard.
6. To take necessary action for violation of code, violation of condition of licence.
7. To set technical and other quality standards to ensure a reasonable quality of
reception.

The authority can appoint a committee of experts to advise on:

1. Practices to be followed in connection with unjust and unfair treatment to any person
in programmes, unwarranted infringement of privacy included in programmes.
2. Practices to be followed in connection to portrayal of violence, sexual conduct in the
programmes i.e., to set standards of decency for programmes, with regard to the attitude
of the public at large.

Licences
No person is entitled to provide broadcasting services without obtaining a licence, after
commencement of this act. The authority can grant licences for the following
broadcasting services, namely:
1. Terrestrial radio broadcasting
2. Terrestrial television broadcasting
3. Satellite radio broadcasting
4. Satellite television broadcasting
5. Direct-to-home broadcasting
6. Local delivery services
7. Such other services as may be prescribed.
The terrestrial broadcasting services can be further categorised into analogue and digital
and also into national, regional, local, restricted local services or any other similar service
for the purposes of the licences and prevention of their accumulation.

BROADCASTING ETHICS:
The Constitution of India guarantees to all its citizens, the right to free speech, which
right has been construed as encompassing not just the freedom of press, but also the right
of the citizen to be informed of matters of public moment and concern. It is the duty of
media to keep the citizenry informed of the state of governance, which mostly puts it at
odds with the establishment. A media that is meant to expose the lapses in government
and in public life cannot obviously be regulated by government – it would lack
credibility. It therefore falls upon the broadcast professional to evolve institutional checks
and safeguard that would conform to the highest standards of integrity and broadcast
ethics.

The draft Content Code by the I&B ministry together with broadcasters and advertisers,
recommends that all programs be slotted into three categories:
1. Universal (U),
2. Under parental guidance (U/A)
3. And adult (A).
Where a program has one scene that could be considered adult content, then the entire
program has to be slotted as such. Adult content will be permitted only from 11 PM to 4
AM, While U/A program maybe on air only after 8 PM.
For content regulation each broadcast service provider (BSP ) will have to categorise
content on basis of theme, subject matter, treatment, language and audio-visual
presentation. It is up to be BSP to ensure that all programmes are broadcast according to
scheduling rules.
The content “provides a list of eight themes/subjects:
 crime in violence
 Sex, obscenity and nudity
 Horror and  occult
  Drugs, smoking, tobacco, solvents and alcohol
 Libel, slander and defamation
 Religion and community
 Harm and offence
 Advertisements and generally restriction

Where broadcast news is concerned, the ethics of broadcasting is very similar to those for
the print media. Detailed below are some of the areas where the broadcasters seek to self-
regulate.

1)   Impartiality and objectivity in reporting:

Audience expect speed, but it is the responsibility of a broadcaster to keep accuracy, and
balance, as precedence over speed. If despite this there are errors, channels should be
transparent about them. Errors must be corrected promptly and clearly. Channels should
also strive not to broadcast anything which is obviously defamatory or libellous. Truth
will be a defence in all cases where a larger public interest is involved, and in even these
cases, equal opportunities will be provided for individuals involved to present their point
of view.

2)   Ensuring neutrality:
Broadcasters must provide for neutrality by offering equality for all affected parties in
any dispute or conflict  to present their point of view. News channels must strive to
ensure that allegations are not portrayed as fact and charges are not conveyed as an act of
guilt.

3)   Privacy:
As a rule channels must not intrude on private lives, or personal affairs of individuals,
unless there is a clearly established larger and identifiable public interest for such a
broadcast. The underlying principle that news channels abide by is that the intrusion of
the private spaces, records, transcripts, telephone conversations and any other material
will not be for salacious interest, but only when warranted in the public interest.

4)   Refraining from advocating or encouraging superstition and occultism :

While respecting the religious beliefs and practices of different communities, news
channels will not broadcast any material that glorifies superstition and occultism in any
manner. In broadcasting any news about such genre, news channels will also issue public
disclaimers to ensure that viewers are not misled into believing or emulating such beliefs
and activity.

5)   The need for caution in reporting violence:

Channels should exercise restraint to ensure that any report or visuals broadcast do not
induce, glorify, incite, or positively depict violence and its perpetrators. Equally, the act
of violence must not be glamorized, because it may have a misleading or desensitizing
impact on viewers. News channels will ensure that no woman or juvenile, who is a victim
of sexual violence, aggression, trauma, or has been a witness to the same is shown on
television without due effort taken to conceal the identity.

6)   Endangering national security:

News channels will refrain from allowing broadcasts that encourage secessionist groups
and interests, or reveal information that endangers lives and national security.

7)   The need to eschew obscenity and vulgarity:

News channels will ensure that they do not show, without morphing, nudity of the male
or female form. Channels will also not show explicit images of  sexual activity or
perversions or the use of sexually suggestive language.

8) Viewer feedback:
All broadcast Channels will create provision to receive consumer feedback. Further any
specific viewer complaints will be responded to.  In the event any news channel gets a
specific complaint if found to be true it will admit to the  same on air and will respond in
fullness and fairness to the viewer.

HISTORY OF CINEMA
Cinema first appeared in the form of art- such as tattooing, wall painting, dancing and
singing. Later came the concept of capturing motion/emotion. The history of world
cinema can be classified into seven stages:

PIONEERING STAGE (1896-1912):

This is the period from slide shows to film as an art form. The increased speed of
photographic emulsions and improved camera shutters made it possible to photograph
rapid motions. Edweard Muybridge, to study the gait of a running horse set up on a
racetrack, a row of 12 cameras that had electric shutter controls and thus it enabled to
capture continuous motion.
American inventors Thomas A Edison and his assistant William K L Dickson developed
Kinetograph and Kinetoscope. Later in 1875, Auguste and Louis Lumiere invented
cinematograph – a picture camera and projector. They created the film “Workers leaving
the Lumiere Factory”-it is considered as the first motion picture. Everything was shot
from a single point of view. They screened their first film in 1895; most of their films had
one shot and recorded some incident happening in the society. Their other works include
“A train Arriving at the Station”, A game of cards” etc.
SILENT AGE (1913-1927):
This was the period of emergence of Hollywood cinema. There was fiction as well as
non-fictional representation of films. Editing techniques began during this age. The films
of this period had narrative structure. The Great Train Robbery is considered as the first
Western film that came out during this period. Films started getting exhibited and
experiments were done in the field of sound. It was during this period that Hollywood
developed into a massive source of entertainment. Hollywood adopted literature into
films, this was also the period of continuity editing. The system of editing developed in
the 20th century to provide a continuous and clear movement of events / images in a film.
Continuity editing refers to the editing structure of a completed film- the events or scenes
were arranged as if they had occurred continuously, when in fact they were out of
sequence.

TRANSITION AGE (1928-1932):

In 1926, Warner Brothers introduced Vitaphone- they tested vitaphone in a series of short
films. It was a cost-cutting substitute for live entertainment. Talkies started coming up
during this period. The Jazz Singer (1927) had synchronised dialogues and was the first
movie to premier at the talkies.

HOLLYWOOD STUDIO AGE (1933-1946):

This was the period when the “Big Five” had controlling stake in their own theatre chains
– Paramount, Warner Brothers, MGM, RKO and Fox. Movie stars and directors were
signed on by the production houses on a contract basis. The company decided for the
actors which film to take up. A key part of the studio system was a practice known as
block booking in which they would sell a year’s worth of films to theatres as a unit. This
was the glitzy era stretching from the 1930s to the late 1950s. Essentially the present day
Hollywood is cranked up Hollywood costuming. This was a period of actors like Judy
Garland, James Stewart, Cary Grant etc. The prominent filmmakers during the time were
John Ford, Alfred Hitchcock and Nicholas Ray. This period was simply the greatest
collection of talent gathered in one place at one time in film history. Under the studio-
system, actors were effectively the employees of the studio that they worked for and were
bound by contract. Gone with the Wind, Wizard of OZ and Casablanca were some of the
popular movies that came out during this period.

INTERNATIONL AGE (1947-1959):

This was the time when cinema faced its biggest villain – TV. The production houses and
filmmakers decided to transform the film viewing experience so that people come to the
cinemas. 3D, surround sound and 35 mm screen were all part of the transformation
process. Anamorphic lens were used during this period. It had the ability to cut the cost of
filmmaking. Different genres and language films started coming up.

NEW WAVE AGE (1960-1980):

Many rules set by Hollywood were questioned during this time. Italian Neo realism and
French New Wave came up during this time. These theories became a vibrant influence
on international cinema, which is still being felt today. They originate from the artistic
‘auteur theory’, a concept that acknowledges film as a product of the director’s absolute
imagination and vision.
Neorealist movement was a response to the political turmoil and desperate economic
conditions afflicting Italy. Directors such as Roberto Rossellini, Vittorio De Sica and
Luchino Visconti took up cameras to focus on lower class people and their concerns,
using non professional actors, outdoor shooting, very small budget and realist aesthetics.
De Sica’s Bicycle Thieves was very popular that open world’s eyes to this movement.
New wave filmmakers inspired the cult of the director as an artistic icon on par with
writers and painters. Renowned people during the time were:
Andre Bazin – A theorist of cinema and a renowned film critic, founder of the French
movie magazine- “Cahiers Du Cinemas”. According to him, a film is highly intellectual
art it is far more than just mere entertainment.
Louis Malle, Jean Luc Godard and Francois Truffaut were the major directors during the
French new wave. Godard’s Breathless (1960), which used rapid change o scene using
jump cuts to create a jerky disconnected effect, was very well appreciated.

MASS MEDIA AGE (1980- Present):

Before the rise of the internet age, distribution of a movie depended on things like
television commercials, previews before a feature film on VHS, DVD, etc. or in theatres,
movie posters, and advertisements in newspapers, magazines, etc.
Using internet resources such as advertisements on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, etc.
it is possible to take a cheap movie, spend a large amount of money on advertising and
marketing and make a large profit from that. This is extremely important for all films, but
especially for low budget films, independent films, etc. These films are not necessarily
made with amazing cinematography and may not be as well known by a large amount of
people, but through internet advertising these films are able to reach more people than
they would be able to without the internet.
CGI and Technological Advances in Film
As technology became more advanced with cellphones, televisions and computers, it was
incorporated into films as well. In the early years of film, props and models were often
used and with certain scenes involving a specific desired background, the timing of the
film shoot had to be perfectly executed. This caused many problems and delays when
creating a film. However, with the creation of Computer Generated Imagery (CGI), an
advanced form of computer technology that creates shapes and characters in a film, this
not only eliminated many problems and allowed films to be created in a more time
efficient manner, but it also created a new era in film making. An element of this new era
has been 3-D Films, which are movies that contain advanced features that are designed to
make the audience feel like they are inside of the film. Although 3-D films have been
around for decades, with the rise of new technology and cutting edge special effects, just
in the last few years alone 3-D is viewed as far more realistic and engaging than ever
before. An example of 3-D films at its finest is James Cameron’s 2009 film Avatar. Aside
from becoming the highest grossing film of all time, including surpassing Cameron’s
1997 film Titanic, the film Avatar is well known for groundbreaking special effects.
Thompson (2010) found that, “Unknown to many fans, the film was actually conceived
by Cameron back during the mid-1990’s, however he didn’t believe that the technology
at the time was advanced enough to complete his vision so he waited for more than ten
more years until he felt that the time was right to move the project into production” .
Back in 1995 Toy Story, one of the most successful animated film franchises ever created,
became the first movie to be produced entirely on computers. Although this was not the
first film to have animation features in it, it has gone down in history as one of the
milestone movies that paved the way for CGI movies of today. With the creative and
digital evolution that films, especially ones that are animated, are going through and with
the way films are produced and viewed in contemporary time, Scott (2011) stated that
“the machinery of production and distribution is in the midst of an epochal change, part
of the rapid and convulsive digitization of everything under the sun” .

Home Entertainment: VCR, DVD and Netflix

Films move into the field of home entertainment systems once the cycle run at the movie
theater is complete. Two of the most popular systems in home entertainment have been
the VCR & DVD, which stand for Video Cassette Recorder & Digital Versatile Disc,
respectively. Although the VCR was a popular device dating back to the 1970’s, in
contemporary time, the VCR is obsolete and for the most part no longer in production,
with the exception of the joint VCR/DVD systems. Over the last ten plus years, DVD’s
have taken the role of the standard movie-watching device in many homes, similar to the
way VCR’s were for the last few decades. However, DVD’s are slowly becoming
replaced by the new and popular advanced movie player Blu-Ray, which delivers an even
sharper image as well as more enhanced audio features. With the eminent rise of
YouTube, online video game rental sites and Netflix, digital technology has greatly
diminished movie and video game renting industries such as Blockbuster. Long gone are
the days of individuals going to Blockbuster and finding out that the movie or the game
that was sought had been rented out and there were no more copies available. With
YouTube and particularly Netflix, the digital era has now consumed the globe. Society
now has the ability to stream movies right into a household at a reduced cost and in some
cases for free. Although Netflix has not overtaken the movie theater industry, it does
seem as though that idea may soon become a reality. Netflix now releases television
shows on the company’s website. A similar idea is being floated around with the movie
industry. Netflix is considering the idea of releasing new movies on the organization’s
website the same day that the movie opens in theaters.

MILESTONES IN INDIAN CINEMA

The history of Indian Cinema goes back to the nineteenth century. In 1896, the very first
films shot by the Lumiere Brothers were shown in Mumbai (then Bombay).
But history was actually created when Harishchandra Sakharam Bhatavdekar popularly
known as Save Dada, the still photographer, was so much influenced by the Lumiere
Brothers’ production that he ordered a camera from England. His first film was shot at
the Hanging Gardens in Mumbai, known as ‘The Wrestlers’. It was a simple recording of
a wrestling match which was screened in 1899 and is considered as the first motion
picture in the Indian Film Industry.
Beginning of Bollywood
Father of Indian Cinema, Dadasaheb Phalke released the first ever full-length feature film
‘Raja Harishchandra’ in 1913. The silent film was a commercial success. Dadasaheb was
not only the producer but was also the director, writer, cameraman, editor, make-up artist
and art director. Raja Harischandra was the first-ever Indian film which was screened in
London in 1914. Though Indian Cinema’s first mogul, Dadasaheb Phalke supervised and
managed the production of twenty three films from 1913 to 1918, the initial growth of the
Indian Film Industry was not as fast as that of Hollywood.
Numerous new production companies emerged in the early 1920s. Films based on
mythological and historical facts and episodes from Mahabharata and Ramayana
dominated the 20s but Indian audiences also welcomed Hollywood movies, especially the
action films.
Beginning of the Talkies
The first ever talkie ‘Alam Ara’ by Ardeshir Irani was screened in Bombay in 1931. It
was the first sound film in India. The release of Alam Ara started a new era in the history
of Indian Cinema. Phiroz Shah was the first music director of Alam Ara. The first song
which was recorded for Alam Ara in 1931 was ‘De de khuda ke naam par’. It was sung
by W.M. Khan.
Thereafter, several production companies emerged leading to an increase in the release of
the number of films. 328 films were made in 1931 as compared to 108 in 1927. During
this time, huge movie halls were built and there was a significant growth in the number of
audiences.
During the 1930s and 1940s many eminent film personalities such as Debaki Bose,
Chetan Anand, S.S. Vasan, Nitin Bose and many others emerged on the scene.
Growth of Regional Films
Not only did the country witness the growth of Hindi Cinema, but the regional film
industry also made its own mark. The first Bengali feature film ‘Nal Damyanti’ in 1917
was produced by J.F. Madan with Italian actors in the leading roles. It was photographed
by Jyotish Sarkar.
The year 1919 saw the screening of the first silent South Indian feature film named
‘Keechaka Vadham’. The movie was made by R. Nataraja Mudaliar of Madras
(Chennai). Dadasaheb Phalke’s daughter Manadakini was the first female child star who
acted as the child Krishna in Phalke’s ‘Kaliya Mardan’ in 1919.
The first ever talkie film in Bengali was ‘Jamai Shashthi’, which was screened in 1931
and produced by Madan Theatres Ltd. ‘Kalidass’ was the first Tamil talkie which was
released in Madras on 31 October 1931 and directed by H.M. Reddy. Apart from Bengali
and South Indian languages, regional films were also made in other languages such as
Assamese, Oriya, Punjabi, Marathi, and many more.
‘Ayodhecha Raja’ was the first Marathi film which was directed by V. Shantaram in
1932. This film was made in double version. ‘Ayodhya ka Raja’ in Hindi and
‘Ayodhecha Raja’ in Marathi was the first ever Indian talkie produced by Prabhat Film
Company in 1932.
Birth of a New Era
The number of films being produced saw a brief decline during the World War II.
Basically the birth of modern Indian Film industry took place around 1947. The period
witnessed a remarkable and outstanding transformation of the film industry. Notable
filmmakers like Satyajit Ray, and Bimal Roy made movies which focused on the survival
and daily miseries of the lower class. The historical and mythological subjects took a
back seat and the films with social messages began to dominate the industry. These films
were based on themes such as prostitution, dowry, polygamy and other malpractices
which were prevalent in our society.
In the 1960s new directors like Ritwik Ghatak, Mrinal Sen, and others focused on the real
problems of the common man. They directed some outstanding movies which enabled the
Indian film industry to carve a niche in the International film scenario.
The 1950s and 1960s are considered to be the golden age in the history of the Indian
cinema and saw the rise of some memorable actors like Guru Dutt, Raj Kapoor, Dilip
Kumar, Meena Kumari, Madhubala, Nargis, Nutan, Dev Anand, Waheeda Rehman,
among others.
Songs are an integral part of Indian movies. Presence of songs has given Indian films a
distinctive look as compared to international films. The Indian film industry has produced
many talented lyricists, music directors and artists.
Bollywood – The Pioneer of Masala Movies
The 1970s saw the advent of Masala movies in Bollywood. The audiences were
captivated and mesmerised by the aura of actors like Rajesh Khanna, Dharmendra,
Sanjeev Kumar, Hema Malini, and many others.
The most prominent and successful director, Manmohan Desai was considered by several
people as the father of Masala movies. According to Manmohan Desai, “I want people to
forget their misery. I want to take them into a dream world where there is no poverty,
where there are no beggars, where fate is kind and god is busy looking after its flock.”
Sholay, the groundbreaking film directed by Ramesh Sippy, not only got international
accolades but also made Amitabh Bachchan a ‘Superstar’.
Several women directors like Meera Nair, Aparna Sen and others showcased their talents
in the 1980s. How can we forget the extraordinary and splendid performance of Rekha in
the film Umrao Jaan in 1981?
The 1990s saw a whole new batch of actors like Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan,
Madhuri Dixit, Aamir Khan, Juhi Chawla, Chiranjivi, and many more. This new genre of
actors used new techniques to enhance their performances which further elevated and
upgraded the Indian Film Industry. 2008 was a notable year for the Indian film industry
as A.R. Rahman received two academy awards for best soundtrack for Slumdog
Millionaire.
Indian cinema is no longer restricted to India and is now being well appreciated by
international audiences. The contribution of the overseas market in Bollywood box office
collections is quite remarkable. Around 30 film production companies were listed in
National Stock Exchange of India in 2013. The multiplexes too have boomed in India due
to tax incentives.
Indian cinema has become a part and parcel of our daily life whether it is a regional or a
Bollywood movie. It has a major role to play in our society. Though entertainment is the
key word of Indian cinema it has far more responsibility as it impacts the mind of the
audiences.

Terms –

SFX

 Special effects (usually visual), illusions used in film, television, and

entertainment
 Sound effects, sounds that are artificially created or enhanced
VFX

 Visual effects is the process by which imagery is created or manipulated

outside the context of a live action shot in filmmaking and video production.
The integration of live action footage and other live action footage or CG
(Computer Generated) elements to create realistic imagery is called VFX
CGI

 Computer-generated imagery is the application of computer graphics to create

or contribute to images in art, printed media, video games, simulators,
computer animation and VFX in films, television programs, shorts,
commercials, and videos

Cahiers du Cinéma

 A monthly French film magazine. It is the oldest French-language film

magazine in publication. The magazine has compiled a list of the top 10 films
of each year for much of its existence.
 Early issues of Cahiers were small journals of thirty pages which had
minimalist covers, distinctive for their lack of headlines in favour of film stills
on a distinctive bright yellow background. Each issue contained four or five
articles, most of which were reviews of specific films or appreciations of
directors, supplemented on occasion by longer theoretical essays. The first few
years of the magazine's publication were dominated by Bazin, who was
the head of the editorial board, also one co-founders of the magazine.

Influence Of Western Television Programs On Indian Youth

Television is the word with which person of every age is aware, it replaced
radio as the most entertaining source and is responsible for creating an impact
on people's mind. Though its popularity and need is decreasing with the coming
of smart mobile phones and latest technologies which provide entertainment on
just some clicks and much more but on a smaller portable screen. In today's
world, Television is not as important as mobile phones in one's life, but, it
surely has some control over the minds of people. A large mass of Indian
population still depends on Television as their main source of entertainment.
Indian Housewives, working population, college students, children, shopkeepers
are all attracted towards the different programmes of their choices, for example,
housewives are attracted towards the Saas Bahu drama serials and daily soaps
and on the other hand the working men's population is mostly cricket and action
movies' fans and are attracted towards the sports and entertainment channels.
There are number of television programs for children like Doraemon, Shinchan,
BEN10 etc and for the college going students we have channels like MTV,
CHANNEL V, 9XM etc which contains reality shows, music and entertainment.
A study revealed that a college student watches televison at an average of 4
hours a day and most of the times it is 8:00 pm to 1:00 am, housewives watches
television mostly in between 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm or after 9:00 pm post their
household activities.

Public Service Broadcasting always plays an important role in creating an impact

on audience and modernizing the minds of youth. Various Public Broadcasting
Services includes, PBS in USA, ABC in Australia, BBC in UK. There was a time
when Doordarshan was ruling the viewer's minds, shows like, Byomkesh Bakshi,
Jaspal Bhatti's flop show, Ramayana, Shaktimaan, Vikram-Betal etc were
grabbing everybody's attention and were able to hook audience to their shows for
years. Those were the days when people free themselves from their daily
activities for a specific time period to watch their favourite Television program.
Ramayana's episodes used to come on sundays at 10:00 am in the morning and to
watch that, whole family used to sit together to watch the show.

In the present scenario, the Indian youth is exposed to a wide variety of televison
programmes and channels which consists of numerous Indian as well as foreign
shows. This gives them a wide variety yo choose from. The interests of Indian
youth started shifting towards the foreign shows because of the improvement in
the quality of television programs of United States of America and United
Kingdom and the degradation of Indian Televison programs' quality. Present
generation is not as patient as their predecessors, they can't wait for a whole
month just to get the same already known story. They are careful in choosing
what they want to watch, they want something different, something which is more
exciting and entertaining than the Indian television programs, hence their choice
was clear, they preffered western television programs over Indian television
programs.

Indian televison programmes contains mostly daily soaps and melodramatically

approached serials which are not able to give the current generation any kind of
motivation, inspiration or any real life experience and hence they are getting
bored and have started shifting towards the foreign Television channels which
surprised them. Foreign Television channels like HBO, AXN, STAR WORLD is
giving the youth what the Indian channels always missed. Foreign shows are
directly targetting the social happennings at present and helping the youth to
relate the shows with their respective lives, showing them how to tackle wih those
situations and finding solutions for their problems from it. These channels are
entertaining their audiences in every way possible and are always ready to give
their audience something new, something different from the previous content.
Also the main reason of shifting towards the western Television programs was the
adult content provided in those programs, the language, the activities, the
suspenses, they are enough to grab every teenager's attention. Indian Television is
still not able to provide audiences the best of them, the most realistic things are
blurred in movies, bold words and scenes are covered with beeps and cuts,
although we know what's happening in a scene but what's better than watching the
real content.

Culture is a way an individual socializes with the society, it is something through

which societies reflect their common experiences. Television is a mass medium,
therefore it has cultural impacts on its audience also. The influence of Western
Television programmes can be discovered from the change in the behaviours and
attitudes of youngsters. Their music taste is changed and as we know, music is
the expression of inner life, the person's taste of music at an extent defines what a
person is, what is going on in his mind and his feelings and emotions. The change
in Indian youth's music taste is the major influence caused by western music,
their food
habits are varied, their clothing style is affected and also their social orientations.

Foreign Televison programmes helps an individual to open up his mind and

develop a good personality through its contents. It gives them a great choice over
the Saas Bahu drama offered by Indian television. Instead of watching marriages,
deaths and characters coming out of their graves, they are watching FRIENDS,
BREAKING BAD, HOUSE OF CARD, 13 REASONS WHY, and many more,
which are atleast not destroying their IQ levels. According to a study conducted
in India, hooking to western television programs has shown a very positive
impact on the communication skills of the viewers. Their english speaking ability
is improved, their confidence is increased, and overall these programs made
people a better person.

Indian youth is now more comfortable as well as confused in the society. This
attitude is exposed and have changed, his reaction to a problem, situation is now
different.The youth is confused in deciding what is wrong and what is right for
them, for someone else, or for the society. Most importantly there is a great
influence on relationships nowadays, a male or a female, they are mostly
confused and are not sure for their feelings. The extra marital affairs, relation
with best friend, cheating on husband/wife, friends with benefits, shown in these
programs have resulted in growth of extra marital affairs cases. People are now
more confused between love and lust, for them, love is all about finding
someone rich, making out, giving expensive gifts and not about feelings. These
western programmes are playing with the minds of teenagers who are not that
much exposed to the world, they want their friend circle to be as that of the TV
show FRIENDS, they are copying western lifestyle which is responsibe for
disturbing the culture they inherited.

Getting influenced by western culture should not result in neglecting the Indian
culture completely, but it is happening, our culture is disturbed. Girls started to
style themselves according to the fashion icons on the western fashion television
 programs, they have coloured their hair and hairstyles, their clothes are shortened,
which is not a bad thing at all, change is mandatory and is consistent but, this
change is not according to the Indian culture and disturbs the Indian culture for
sure. Men have started wearing jeans and according to a study it is proved that,
jeans is harmful for our health, the material used in making of jeans is not
suitable for our
skin, also as an Indian child we were told that Kurta Pyjama is the best outfit
which provides comfort as well as flexibility and is not harmful at all. Learning
something beneficial is good but depleting the previous learnt things, ethics and
manners is not good at all.

VISUAL MEDIA
Visual media is interpreted using primarily what humans see, as opposed to aural or
tactile media. It plays a role in advertising, art, communication, education, business and
engineering. Visual media is often used as a learning aid, such as in presentations and
training guides. Photography and video are major types of visual media and captures a
location or moment in a visual form. Fine arts such as painting and drawing are also
visual and communicate elements of life and interpretations. Graphic design and drafting
use computer-aided imaging software to create visual representations of life or art.
Architecture relies on visual guidelines and appeals to visual senses, as does fashion.
Visual communication uses artistic license to communicate thoughts and ideas through
sight.
TYPES OF VISUAL MEDIA
Traditional Folk Media
Folk art, predominantly functional or utilitarian visual art created by hand (or with
limited mechanical facilities) for use by the maker or a small circumscribed group and
containing an element of retention—the prolonged survival of tradition. Folk art is the
creative expression of the human struggle toward civilization within a particular
environment through the production of useful but aesthetic buildings and objects.
Traditional media generally, cover folk song, folk dance and drama that depict the stories
of most common rural dwellers. Although, not as glamorous as the organized sector of
mass medium folk media provides messages that contribute to the rural development
significantly. Characteristically folk art is not influenced by movements in academic or
fine art circles, and, in many cases, folk art excludes works executed by professional
artists and sold as "high art" or "fine art" to the society's art patrons.
The most easily distinguished characteristics of folk art as a whole relate to materials and
techniques. Most commonly used were the natural substances that came readily to hand;
thus, various materials that have little or no place in sophisticated art, such as straw, may
figure importantly in folk art. Sophisticated media, such as oil painting, might be adopted
if they could be manipulated, and manufactured products—notably paper, which was
cheap and versatile—might be used where available. The unique forms evolved in these
sophisticated media illustrate the way in which folk art draws upon the general culture in
a limited way, while developing along original lines of its own.

Performing arts
Performance art, a time-based art form that typically features a live presentation to an
audience or to onlookers (as on a street) and draws on such arts as acting,
poetry, music, dance, and painting. It is generally an event rather than an artifact, by
nature ephemeral, though it is often recorded on video and by means of still
photography.  They include numerous cultural expressions that reflect human creativity
and that are also found, to some extent, in many other intangible cultural heritage
domains.
Traditional theatre performances usually combine acting, singing, dance and music,
dialogue, narration or recitation but may also include puppetry or pantomime. These arts,
however, are more than simply ‘performances’ for an audience; they may also play
crucial roles in culture and society such as songs sung while carrying out agricultural
work or music that is part of a ritual. In a more intimate setting, lullabies are often sung to
help a baby sleep.
In the performing arts includes musical instruments, masks, costumes and other body
decorations used in dance, and the scenery and props of theatre. Many forms of
performing arts are under threat today. As cultural practices become standardized, many
traditional practices are abandoned. Even in cases where they become more popular, only
certain expressions may benefit while others suffer.
Theatre
Theatre, in dramatic arts, an art concerned almost exclusively with live performances in
which the action is precisely planned to create a coherent and significant sense of drama.
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers, typically actors or
actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a
specific place, often a stage. The performers may communicate this experience to the
audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music, and dance. Elements of
art, such as painted scenery and stagecraft such as lighting are used to enhance the
physicality, presence and immediacy of the experience. (The different aspects of Mise en
scene, helps in the study of the language of theatre)
Painting
Painting, is the expression of ideas and emotions, with the creation of certain aesthetic
qualities, in a two-dimensional visual language. The elements of this language—its
shapes, lines, colours, tones, and textures—are used in various ways to produce
sensations of volume, space, movement, and light on a flat surface. These elements are
combined into expressive patterns in order to represent real or supernatural phenomena,
to interpret a narrative theme, or to create wholly abstract visual relationships. An artist’s
decision to use a particular medium is based on the sensuous qualities and the expressive
possibilities and limitations of those options. The choices of the medium and the form, as
well as the artist’s own technique, combine to realize a unique visual image. The design
of a painting is its visual format: the arrangement of its lines, shapes, colours, tones, and
textures into an expressive pattern. (Elements and Principles of design)
Earlier cultural traditions—of tribes, religions, guilds, royal courts, and states—largely
controlled the craft, form, imagery, and subject matter of painting and determined its
function, whether ritualistic, devotional, decorative, entertaining, or educational. Painters
were employed more as skilled artisans than as creative artists. Later the notion of the
“fine artist” developed in Asia and Renaissance Europe. Prominent painters were
afforded the social status of scholars and courtiers; they signed their work, decided
its design and often its subject and imagery, and established a more personal—if not
always amicable—relationship with their patrons.
Cinematic Images/ Motion Picture
Motion picture, also called film or movie, series of still photographs on film, projected in
rapid succession onto a screen by means of light. Because of the optical phenomenon
known as persistence of vision, this gives the illusion of actual, smooth, and continuous
movement.
The motion picture is a remarkably effective medium in conveying drama and especially
in the evocation of emotion. The art of motion pictures is exceedingly complex, requiring
contributions from nearly all the other arts as well as countless technical skills (for
example, in sound recording, photography, and optics). Emerging at the end of the 19th
century, this new art form became one of the most popular and influential media of the
20th century and beyond.
Multimedia
Multimedia is content that uses a combination of different content forms such as text,
audio, images, animation, video and interactive content. Multimedia contrasts with media
that use only rudimentary computer displays such as text-only or traditional forms of
printed or hand-produced material.
Creative industries use multimedia for a variety of purposes ranging from fine arts, to
entertainment, to commercial art, to journalism, to media and software services provided
for any of the industries listed below. An individual multimedia designer may cover the
spectrum throughout their career. Request for their skills range from technical, to
analytical, to creative. For instance, in order to put together an engaging company
website to attract page hits and customers, a Web page must contain high quality
photography, attractive graphic design, original artwork and, in some cases, an attention-
grabbing video.
In addition, multimedia is heavily used in the entertainment industry, especially to
develop special effects in movies and animations (VFX, 3D animation, etc.). Multimedia
games are a popular pastime and are software programs available either as CD-ROMs or
online. Some video games also use multimedia features. Multimedia applications that
allow users to actively participate instead of just sitting by as passive recipients of
information are called Interactive Multimedia. In the Arts there are multimedia artists,
whose minds are able to blend techniques using different media that in some way
incorporates interaction with the viewer. Another approach entails the creation of
multimedia that can be displayed in a traditional fine arts arena, such as an art gallery.
Although multimedia display material may be volatile, the survivability of the content is
as strong as any traditional media (eg. Installations at Kochi Biennale). Digital recording
material may be just as durable and infinitely reproducible with perfect copies every time.

Kinetograph
The world’s first motion-picture camera, developed in 1890 by American inventor
Thomas Alva Edison and his assistant and protégé, William K. L. Dickson. It was
electrically powered and worked with celluloid film, which was advanced through the
camera via a system of sprockets.
Kinetoscope

The Kinetoscope was an early motion picture exhibition device, and the first to utilize
sequential images printed on a strip of perforated, flexible, photographic film driven by
sprockets and an intermittent movement.
A product of the Thomas A. Edison labs, the Kinetoscope’s name was coined from the
Greek roots kineto- (“movement”) and scopos (“to view”).
The Kinetoscope was designed for films to be viewed by one individual at a time through
a peephole viewer window at the top of the device. The Kinetoscope was not a movie
projector, but introduced the basic approach that would become the standard for all
cinematic projection before the advent of video, by creating the illusion of movement by
conveying a strip of perforated film bearing sequential images over a light source with a
high-speed shutter.

Cinematograph

Cinematograph or Kinematograph is an early term for several types of motion picture

film mechanisms. The name was used for movie cameras as well as film projectors, or for
complete systems that also provided means to print films (such as the Cinématographe
Lumière).
Louis Lumière and his brother Auguste worked together to create a motion-
picture camera superior to Thomas Edison's kinetograph, which did not have a projector.
The Lumières endeavored to correct the flaws they perceived in the kinetograph and the
kinetoscope, to develop a machine with both sharper images and better illumination.
Furthermore, while only one person at a time could use Edison's kinetoscope for viewing
—through an eyepiece, peep show style—the Cinématographe could project an image
onto a screen, so a large audience of people could view images simultaneously

Vitaphone

Vitaphone technology was a process designed to bring sound into the world of film. It
consisted of a disc which was meant to be played as a projector displayed a film, adding
sound to the experience. Vitaphone was the last method of sound on disc used in
Hollywood, as printing sound directly onto film turned out to be a far more effective and
efficient method of creating films with sound.

Vitaphone was a sound film system used for feature films and nearly 1,000 short

subjects made by Warner Bros.

The Vitaphone was a sound-on-disc system developed by Bell Telephone Laboratories

and Western Electric. The system was first embraced by the Warner Brothers and over
100 short subjects were produced at the Warner Brothers-First National Studios in the
mid 1920s. The cumbersome equipment, used to produce and show the product, did not
create a demand for more talking films and the inconsistent quality of the synchronized
sound system often produced unintentional laughter from audiences.

Vitaphone was the last major analog sound-on-disc system and the only one that was
widely used and commercially successful. The soundtrack was not printed on the film
itself, but issued separately on phonograph records (is an analog sound storage medium in
the form of a flat disc). Many early talkies, such as The Jazz Singer (1927), used the
Vitaphone system.

Video streaming

The technology of transmitting audio and video files in a continuous flow over a wired or
wireless internet connection.
Streaming refers to any media content – live or recorded – delivered to computers and
mobile devices via the internet and played back in real time. Podcasts, webcasts, movies,
TV shows and music videos are common forms of streaming content.
How does streaming work?
Music, video and other types of media files are prearranged and transmitted in sequential
packets of data so they can be streamed instantaneously. This is unlike traditional
downloads that are stored on your device. Here media files are played online and there
is no need to download them.
Ex: YouTube, Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hotstar
All you need to stream is a reliable and fast high speed internet connection, access or
subscription to a streaming service or app, and a compatible device.
Live streaming is the broadcast of an event over the internet as it happens. Awards
shows, sports, boxing matches, video games and special one-time events are the most
popular types of live streaming with an ever-growing menu of topics.