Ah, we couldn’t not ask our Wizard with Word this question. Without much ado, here’s Dr Bhaskar Das in the November 30 edition of Das ka Dum. Read on…
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Q. In an interview with Financial Times, Gautam Adani has said his acquisition of NDTV wouldn’t impact media independence? Should we believe him?
A. Why should we not believe him? We are believing Jeff Bezos for Washington Post, Rupert Murdoch for Fox News, Times of London and Wall Street Journals. The litmus test for success of any media organisation is its loyal audience base. So long the media organisation enjoys its stickiness, no amount of external criticism can justify the point of view of detractors. Please don’t underestimate the audience’s intelligence. As they say, yeh public hai sab janati hai.
Even in India a lot of media houses have interest in other industries but that haven’t affected their audience loyalty or market dominance. I would like to add that a media organisation has to be managed as a business also. There is nothing pejorative about it. The second richest industrialist knows the principles of managing multiple businesses successfully and the same principles ought to be applied for the media business too. And audiences are prudent enough to act as judge of the credibility of its content. And in the ultimate analysis, that’s what matters for any media organisation.