A brief description of audiovisual media as public space

1. Publicly owned media is becoming a rarity now. There are no newspapers in the public sector,
and few in the co-operative sector. The New Media is entirely private. Public ownership and
control exists only in the audiovisual media. Public ownership of the media is often criticized by
media experts as an outdated notion. Yet the role of the public media becomes apparent to an
observer without much difficulty. In a democratic country, in the hands of a welfare state the
public media can be an effective institution for the dissemination of information, for cultural
integration and for public participation in media productions. Occasional relapses and
appropriations apart, the public media in India has lived up to its declared objectives.
Considering the crucial role played by audiovisual media in public life, it is relevant to look at
the ways in which audiovisual media in the public sector can serve the interests of the people.
This is especially considerable in a multi-cultural, multi-lingual country like India. It requires a
committed audiovisual media to project the cultural diversity of a country, something which the
commercial private media is not expected to do, unless it has an agenda in such projection. The
audiovisual media in the public sector is perfectly suited to this purpose. It can judiciously air
programmes produced in different regions of the country, by different linguistic communities,
and offer representative programmes relating to various sections of society, especially the
marginalized sections.
The media in the public sector plays a crucial role in education. Educational programmes are
aired by the private commercial media only when it can gather advertisements. Programmes
prepared by the premier educational agencies in the Country have been aired by Doordarshan

2. with wide viewership. The programmes prepared by the UGC and the Educational Multi-media
Research Centre based in Pune also deserve special mention. Language learning classes are
another important service provided by the public media. Classes in Hindi and English are
offered by AIR stations across the country. Occasionally one regional language centre offers
lessons in another regional language too. AIR Ahmedabad used to offer lessons in Malayalam.
It is a truism that only the public media can undertake such regional or nation-wide
programmes while ensuring quality and effectiveness. It must also be noted that the resource
persons who are involved in the production of such programmes often hold responsible
positions in public institutions and have high profile public lives. Quite often the educational
programmes aired by private channels and radio networks serve the interests of business
houses that have invested in education rather than the prospective learners.
Creating public awareness on a variety of issues affecting the people is probably the most
important role public media can perform. This is very significant in issues like literacy, public
health and community medicine. Only the public media can put across to the people the
campaigns and initiatives undertaken by the Government or people’s initiative groups in these
areas. Only public media which is not guided by motives of profit can ensure that their reach
extends to the whole population. Thus messages on issues like public health and sanitation,
avoidance of narcotic drugs, family planning, preventing corruption in public life and fostering
social harmony can reach the whole of the population effectively only through the public
media. Info programmes on vaccination drives and public sanitation drives, and on taking
precautions to prevent or roll back epidemics are best organized by the public media.

3. A multi-lingual country like India requires massive translation activity in the media. With
eighteen languages recognized by the constitution, twenty four by the Sahitya Akademi, and
several others as significantly large by linguists and policy makers, discourses on culture and
polity can reach all the linguistic communities only through translation. This can only be
undertaken by the public media with prolific funding from the Government. The public media
are probably the best employers of translators in the country. National radio play competitions
by the All India Radio used to attract large numbers of listeners. Apart from broadcast and
telecast of translations of radio plays, short stories, poems and interviews, the national public
television networks in the country have gone in for simultaneous sub-titling and dubbing of
information and entertainment programmes where the regional networks have the choice to
retransmit the version of their choice. Films in regional languages aired by the Doordarshan
come with multiple subtitles. Given the funding and human resources required, only the public
media can successfully undertake more advanced media modes like real-time subtitling or
dubbing. Currently the European Union undertakes massive funding in these modes in the
public sector. With the technology and resource persons available, much more can probably be
done by the public media in the country.
FM Radio networks in the public sector can contribute largely in disaster management, relief
and rescue operations and crime detection by airing precise information that reaches its target
audience promptly. Warnings about cloudbursts, cyclones, heat wave or cold wave conditions,
collecting and disseminating up-to-date information about missing persons, giving descriptions
of wanted criminals are some of the functions that FM radio networks in the public sector can
perform effectively. FM radio is currently gaining in popularity because it does not demand the

4. kind of attention that television does and can be accessed on the go. Although music is the
main attraction, listeners normally pay attention to news and announcements too. FM radio is
undergoing a massive revival in India as it is in several parts of the world.
Another important function of the public media is to cater to the differently abled and less
privileged sections of society. For a long time Doordarshan was the only channel which telecast
news in sign language. The private media entered the fray much later. Special programmes for
empowering women and marginalized sections of society can be undertaken effectively only by
the public media. Special programmes for farmers on agricultural operations and bulletins on
prices of farm products in the market which commercial channels and networks would dismiss
as of no commercial value are aired by public networks and channels.
It is a truism that only the public media can air programmes catering to small linguistic
minorities, which the private media will deem unprofitable because they cannot attract
revenue from ads. The Kozhikode station of All India Radio has been broadcasting regularly
every day in Mahal, the language spoken in Minicoy in the Lakshadweep islands for more than
fifty years. In fact such programmes go beyond the levels of dissemination of information and
virtually contribute significantly to the cultural productions of linguistic minorities.
The projects on development, social and administrative reform and public welfare initiated by
governments and public institutions and often implemented with people’s participation often
get the coverage they deserve only on public media. Although the public media are often
accused of being the mouthpieces of governments in power, their role in bringing the
conception and implementation of government schemes and measures is highly significant.

5. They provide the essential information, complete with statistics, which the citizens can monitor
and evaluate.
Unlike the private media, the public media airs, as a matter of routine, programmes for
schoolchildren, college students and the youth. Quite often such programmes spur the
talented children and young men and women to scale greater heights later on. Programmes
like Yuvavani, Calling the Youth, Shishulokam and Balalokamaired by the All India Radio
stations in Kerala are good examples. Music classes are also regularly aired by many AIR
stations. Artists who go on to earn a name in the audiovisual media often begin their careers in
the public media for the steadiness of work and the security of employment they offer.
It has also been observed that the public media is more receptive to obituaries and other
announcements of a private nature handed over at short notice to be aired immediately or in
the next bulletin. It is only unfortunate that the listeners’ move away from the public media
often make such services ineffective.
In conclusion one can say that what distinguishes the public media from the private media is
that its motivation is service rather than profit. It functions with public funding and is, or ought
to be responsible to the people alone. Its role in a multi-cultural country like India is vital. It
has to be nurtured and supported by the people. The public media is an essential arm of
democracy.