Media Ownership Corporate Control and the Changing Nature of Journalism

<strong>CENTRE FOR MEDIA STUDIES SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES JAWAHARLAL NEHRU UNIVERSITY</strong> a talk by <strong>Dr. Saima Saeed</strong> (Associate Professor, Centre for Culture, Media and Governance, JMI, New Delhi) on <strong>Media Ownership Corporate Control and the Changing Nature of Journalism</strong> DATE:<strong> 30th March 2016</strong> <strong>Abstract: </strong>A key parameter of determining the changing nature of journalism is to address the question of who owns the media and why. Corrupt funding procedures and concealed ownership patterns have orchestrated a crisis of credibility for journalism while posing fresh challenges for media governance and the nature of democracy. Five cases involving leading news organizations in India are analysed to illustrate the argument. In conjunction with this, the corporate take-over of news space by non-media entities signals the rise of a press that can no longer serve as a watchdog of democracy. The presentation outlines a decline in quality journalism as a consequence of a disconcerting nexus between influential politicians, powerful corporates and profit-maximizing news organizations. Dr. Saima Saeed is Associate Professor at the Centre for Culture, Media and Governance, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi. She has over 14 years of work experience spanning across media industry (television news, documentaries and non-news genres), media teaching and research. She has authored the book, Screening the Public Sphere: Media and Democracy in India, published by Routledge in 2013. She is the Project director of an ICSSR funded project, 'Minorities and the Indian Press: Marginalization and Exclusion in the News Media'.