Top fifty power people in the Indian media
In its second edition, the Sunday Mid Day Media 50 is a registry of the men and women who in their view rule the Indian print, electronic and interactive media.
Starting from 2002, Mid Day in
http://www.mid-day.com/smd/play/2003/april/50385.htm
Top 50 power points in the media
Pradyuman Maheshwari
Is news entertainment? Surely it isn’t, though it can be entertaining. A
Laloo Prasad Yadav, for instance, is a darling of the press not for his
socio-political leanings but his earthy charm.
However, news is quite definitely big business. Despite the recession, the
big papers are rolling in money.
In the last month, four news channels were launched , another came under
a different management and three more added renewed vigour. There are
many media projects being planned even as you read this. Media is
certainly hot property.
In its second edition, the Sunday Mid Day Media 50 is a registry of the
men and women who rule the Indian print, electronic and interactive media.
They shape our minds, influence our destinies, and in the process attain
immense power.
Read on…
1. Samir Jain
The Times of
The leader of the pack for more reason than one. The Times of India is
commercially the numero uno newspaper of the country and the rest of his
businesses aren’t doing too badly either.
More than ever before, it is the vice-chairman’s vision that guides the group
and sets it to take innovations for others to follow. With debonair brother
Vineet, the Jains tower the rest of the media like few in the world.
Last year’s rank #1
2. Aroon Purie
Aaj Tak and
The chartered accountant-turned-editor/owner of the India Today group has
had a second coming with the super-success of the Aaj Tak news
channel.
As a magazine, India Today may not impact the educated Indian as much
as it did a decade-and-a-half ago, but Aaj Tak rules the airwaves.
And this we are told is thanks to Purie’s hands-on supervision of the
channel. His latest venture, Headlines Today, is a bold attempt at creating
an audience out of an SMS-friendly urban youth.
Last year’s rank # 6
3. Arun Shourie and
Union Ministers
However much they try, ministers for information and broadcasting and
communications and information technology, Prasad and Shourie
respectively play more than a regulatory role in the two key ministries that
dictate the way media barons run their business.
Shourie is a liberal, but willy-nilly his policies affect the speed in which
telecom players can offer a new medium to pipe in content.
Prasad has quite a job on hand. Two big projects in the immediate future:
conditional access system for television and the kick-off of foreign direct
investment in the print media.
Last year’s rank #2
4. Rupert/James Murdoch/Peter Mukerjea
Star/News Corp
Ever since Peter Mukerjea took over as CEO, Star’s stock is on the
ascent.
But expect the domination to increase when conditional access system
sets in, direct-to-home television is launched, and Murdoch looks at print
with foreign direct investment (FDI) rules relaxed for investment in the print
media.
Last year’s rank #9 (Murdoch), #14 (Mukerjea)
5. Prannoy Roy
The first face of Indian news television, it speaks volumes for NDTV
president Dr Prannoy Roy’s dominance in the business that most of his
key anchors and journalists stuck around with him when he switched
allegiance from the Star network to his own Hindi and English channels.
speaking, an image that he will need to counter through NDTV India, his
Hindi news offering. If he does, he could well be on top of this list next
year.
Last year’s rank #11
6. Mahendra
Mohan Gupta
Dainik Jagran
The political party that rules UP, rules
given
the UP market, that puts chairman MM Gupta ahead of several others in
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