This,
they say, has ill-served the cause of democracy, let alone commerce because
neither can prosper in the absence of suitable competition.
The
have-nots have also pointed to the asymmetry in the law as regards print media
on the one hand an electronic media on the other. FDI in the latter is not
subject to the same rules even thought it has a wider reach and appeal because
it does not require literacy as a precondition to accessibility.
However,
neither side has ever satisfactorily answered one question. This is, is there
is a long queue of foreigners waiting to invest in Indian newspapers?
On
the contrary, according to available information, only four publications have
any reasonable prospect of foreigners being interested. These are India Today
magazine which has been seeking a tie up with Time magazine, the Indian Express
in which the Wall Street Journal of the New York may invest, the Business
Standard in which the Financial Times of London may invest and the Pioneer in
which un-named persons may invest.
The
Indian Express, which a general newspaper and offers news and views of fairly
even quality, is a direct competitor to several newspapers such as the Times of
India in Mumbai and Delhi, the Hindustan Times in Delhi, and Hindu in Chennai,
the Deccan Herald in Bangalore and so on.
All
these, it should be noted, are family businesses. Those in favour of FDI are
not.
The Business Standard would offer competition to The Economic Times owned by the same family that owns the Times of India and Business Line which is owned by the family that owns