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Tag: Vajpayee

  • Vajpayee leads says Zee News opinion poll

    Vajpayee leads says Zee News opinion poll

    MUMBAI: With elections around the corner, it seems like a busy month ahead for the news channels. So while the channel have already churned out a variety of election special programming, latest on the election special agenda seem to be the opinion polls. Following the heels of NDTV, Zee News is all set to release results of its Taleem opinion poll. 

    According to the data collated, while Vajpayee leads the popularity data, a majority of the public is still undecided on their choice of party.

    Interestingly, data indicates that 73 per cent Indians haven’t heard about BJP’s “Feel Good” campaign.

    As for opinion about the electorial results, 31.1 per cent of the sample population have decided to vote for the NDA, 24.6 per cent for Congress and allies and 18.8 per cent for Third Front. But a crucial 25.5 per cent preferred not to disclose their minds, says a release issued by the company.

    The release elaborates that 45 per cent of the people feel the NDA will come to power again, while 25 per cent think that Congress and allies will pick the baton. A mere Six per cent feels that Third Front will form the government but a sizeable 24 per cent were still unsure.

    The poll indicates that NDA may bag 265+ seats, Congress and its allies 196+ seats, while others may get 75.

    The pre-poll survey was conducted by Zee News-Taleem through stratified random sampling technique covering 65 parliamentary constituencies across the country barring, Jammu and Kashmir, Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura, Andaman and Nicobar and Lakshwadeep Islands. Both urban and rural voters with a proportionate number of SC/ST constituencies were selected.

    The team had selected four assembly segments in each parliamentary constituency, to conduct the study. Within each segment, two polling booths were randomly selected from where 25 voters, whose names appear in the 2004 voters list, were randomly picked. The only exception to this was Jharkhand. The data were collected by a team of over 260 social scientists, informs the release.

    Of the 13,000 respondents, data were collected from 12,788 between 15-20 March with the exception of Tamil Nadu, where the survey was conducted between 21-23 March. There was just one glitch, respondents comprised larger number of males than females compared to national sex ratio. Despite that, Zee is sure of the analysis as the data was randomly selected.

    As per the data, the biggest issues in these elections will be infrastructure and water with 71 per cent voicing the same, unemployment and poverty stand at 66 per cent and economic development at 57 per cents. The much-hyped Indo-Pak relations are of 27 per cent consequence and the Hindutva card seems played out at 21per cent.

    While 34 per cent of the sample population have a positive opinion of the NDA government, 28 per cent people give it an average on performance, 11 per cent give it a minus and 27 per cent are undecided.

    Besides “Feel good” campaing, another interesting observation was that about Advani’s flogging popularity. While Atal Bihari Vajpayee continued to be a popular choice with 51 per cent votes, Sonia Gandhi was second with 28 per cent. Advani was placed on the same podium as Mayawati, Mulayam Singh and Laloo Yadav at 2 per cent.

  • Be tough on media policy, IMG tells Vajpayee

    NEW DELHI: The Indian Media Group (IMG) – the new front for the “swadeshi” bandwagon – is not letting up on the issue of media policy.
    In a meeting today with Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, the IMG exhorted the government to “play by the book” on media policy and ensure strict compliance of existing laws.
    Vajpayee, who met the 15-strong IMG delegation at his residence, reportedly heard them out but gave no assurances.
    Speaking after the meeting, Hindu Group editor N Ram said, “Nobody should make a monkey of the law.”
    One of the key demands of the IMG is that there should be one uniform and comprehensive media policy for foreign investment with respect to print, television and radio wherein foreign investment is capped at 26 per cent.
    The Star News issue, which has become a rallying point for the IMG, also came up during the discussions.
    Await a detailed report that follows.

  • Star the focus as IMG petitions Vajpayee to crack down

    NEW DELHI: Star dabao, desh bachao (suppress Star and save the country). This seems to be the clarion call of the Indian Media Group (IMG), an organisation made up of various Indian media companies claiming to be fighting for a “level playing field” for domestic players vis-?-vis foreign companies.
    The ante was upped today as the message was conveyed in no uncertain terms to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, who is reported to have told the 15-strong IMG delegation that the law of the land would be kept in mind, in a meeting held at his residence.
    The other ministers met by the delegation included deputy prime minister LK Advani, finance minister Jaswant Singh, law and commerce minister Arun Jaitley and information and broadcasting minister Ravi Shankar Prasad. 
    “Nobody should be allowed to make a monkey of rules,” N Ram, editor of The Hindu group of publications told journalists, after the meeting with Vajpayee where among other media issues Star News’ case was also discussed.
    While Times of India group MD Vineet Jain and Sri Adhikari Brothers Vice-Chairman and MD Markand Adhikari named Star and Rupert Murdoch as “flouting” rules after a meeting with Prasad, India Today Group’s promoter Aroon Purie told indiantelevision.com, “We want parity in rules for the print and electronic media. Let the norms, including 51 per cent shareholding with a single Indian entity (as in the print medium FDI guidelines), for both the media be the same.” 
    The company in the eye of storm, the Rupert Murdoch-controlled Star, however, was cautious in reacting to today’s high-pitched developments in the Capital. “We are not aware of what transpired at the meeting with the PM. But we would always abide by the rules set by the government,” a senior executive of Star India said.
    PM COMFORTING, NO ASSURANCES
    Prominent members of the IMG demanded a “uniform approach” and a “level-playing field” for all media organisations competing in the field of information and broadcasting. Though the prime minister is not prone to blurt out his mind at such meetings, according to government sources, all that he told the visiting media team was that “Kanoon ka dhyaan rakhenge (the law will be kept in mind).” Vajpayee was told that the government’s rules pertaining to the media should be enforced uniformly and in “letter and spirit.”
    According to The Hindu’s Ram, “We have called for uniformity of all news media and the rules must be implemented in letter and spirit.” He also added that in other countries Murdoch was compelled to comply (with the local rules and regulations).
    After the meeting at 7, Race Course Road, Vajpayee’s residence, TOI’s Jain told reporters: “We are seeking a media policy without discrimination for all media.” Sahara Group’s MD Subrato Roy said, “The PM gave us a patient hearing. We told him that we are not worried about any particular channel or organisation, but we don’t want discrimination.”
    The group, comprising 15-odd persons, which met up with the PM included, amongst others, Zee Telefilms vice-chairman Jawahar Goel, India Today’s editor Prabhu Chawla, NDTV’s Prannoy Roy, Enadu’s I Venkat and representatives from powerful regional media groups like Dainik Bhaskar, Sun TV and Dainik Jagran.
    Yet again, absent from this group, was Hindustan Times group, Ananda Bazar Patrika that runs The Telegraph and Business World, The Pioneer, The Indian Express and Business Standard. Except HT, the other absentees had been in the forefront for lobbying with the government for liberalising the FDI guidelines relating to the print medium that barred any foreign investment— a rule that was reviewed last year and up to 26 per cent foreign investment has been allowed.
    I&B MINISTER REFUSES TO TAKE A STAND
    Though India Today’s Purie is reported to have conveyed to I&B minister Prasad that Star is treating India “as a soft state” (the example of Radio City was given), the minister left it to another IMG (inter-ministerial group) to finish taking a stand on the uplinking issue, aka Star News case and continued temporary extension, before he could voice his opinion. Pointing out that it would not be fair on his part to comment now, he told journalists after the meeting with the media team, “I had no problems with other issues raised by them, but on the uplinking issue, I told them that the matter is currently under investigation and we are trying to ensure a transparent and honest investigation without any bias.”
    According to sources in the team that met Prasad, NDTV’s Roy is reported to have told the minister, referring to Star, that “they are pushing you” and Purie is understood to have quipped that a scam is brewing where the backdoor entry of Star into various segments of media is concerned. The minister, caught between moral and professional obligations, is understood to have told the visiting personalities that the government cannot be rushed into taking decisions. “It (the examination of Star News case) may take some time. two weeks may be. You cannot rush it,” the minister told journalists, adding that “no view” has been taken by him at the moment on the financing and funding of Media Content Communications Services India Private Limited (MCCS), the company that has applied for uplinking news content from India for Star News channel.
    The media team, according to Prasad, also dwelt on other issues like conditional access system (“they support the government on this”: RSP) , a level playing field for domestic players and duty exemption on a whole range of machines for tech upgradation. However, according to a person who attended the meeting the media barons had with Prasad, Star was foremost on the minds of everybody and other issues were just mentioned in the passing. India Today Editor Chawla, at one point, asked directly as to why the government was giving temporary extensions to Star News for uplinking if the government had so many doubts! Everybody laughed at this and no reply came, of course.

  • Govt. mulls revenue share for 2nd round of FM licences

    Govt. mulls revenue share for 2nd round of FM licences

    NEW DELHI: The government is contemplating going in for revenue sharing with the licence holders of the second round of licences for FM radio.
     

    The process of second round of licences is likely to begin post July by when the government expects the first round of licencees would have started their operations in various part of the country.

    According to a senior information and broadcasting ministry official, the second round of FM radio licences would be given out after the process is initiated post July, by when other aspects of the licensing would also be finalised.

    The official also indicated that if the government goes in for revenue sharing during the second round of licencing, a migration package, a la telecom, would be devised for the existing players too.

    Licence holders, including MBPL-Star, Radio Mirchi from the Times group and Radio Today from the India Today Group are expected to start their operation in Delhi soon

    In recent times the private radio FM players have been grumbling that the losses have been increasing, owing to high licence fee (given out after an open auction) and low revenues.

    Radio City chief Sumantra Dutta had told indiantelevision.com several months back that if the losses keep mounting then its associate, MBPL, may have to give up the licence in cities like Lucknow, Prime Minister’s Vajpayee’s consituency. Radio City had paid Rs 750 million towards the license fee and the station doesn’t make more than Rs 1 million per month.

    Meanwhile, the private FM radio stations submitted their balance sheets to India’s information & broadcasting ministry on 16 April and, according to government sources, the industry has reported a combined loss of Rs 1.2 billion against revenues of Rs 0.5 million.

    The industry had made a presentation to the I&B minister Ravi Shankar Prasad in the first week of this month. In their presentation, the industry had advocated for shifting towards a revenue sharing model and relaxation on license fee payment. The industry had claimed that the revenues are not adequate and hence, the high license fee is not justified. The ministry had asked them to present their financial reports in two weeks time to support their cause.

    The FM players are required to submit the license fee for the second year by the 30 April. If the ministry fails to come to a mutual agreement with the private FM industry on time, the industry had pointed out that some of the smaller players may have to shut down operations very soon.