Mass Media and Communications Class 12 NCERT Solutions

Concept used. The print media means newspapers and magazines. This is a two-part question: first trace (describe in order) the changes in the newspaper industry, then give a reasoned opinion of your own. The chapter shows that, unlike what many feared, the spread of television and the internet did not kill the newspaper in India. Instead, circulation grew, especially for Indian language (vernacular) newspapers, and the way newspapers are produced and what they contain both changed. The answer below stays close to the textbook's examples, then closes with a balanced opinion so you can practise arguing a view.

Part 1: tracing the changes.

1. Circulation grew instead of falling. Many feared that television and the internet would sideline print, but in India newspaper circulation actually grew. Print publications saw average daily circulation rise from 39.1 million copies in 2006 to 62.8 million in 2016. The rise in the number of literate people migrating to cities is a major reason.
2. The Indian language newspaper revolution. The biggest change has been the explosive growth of vernacular newspapers, with Hindi, Telugu and Kannada recording the highest growth. Indian language dailies as a whole grew from 191 million people to 425 million people by 2019, while the readership of English dailies stagnated at around 31 million. The top Hindi dailies, Dainik Jagran and Dainik Bhaskar, lead the field.
3. Catering to local needs. Vernacular papers meet needs that city English papers do not. Papers like Malayala Manorama and Eenadu launched local news with district and block editions; Dina Thanthi used simple, colloquial Tamil. The Eenadu story, linking up with rural causes like the anti-arrack movement, shows how a paper reached the countryside.
4. New production technology. From the late 1980s and 1990s, newspaper production became fully automatic, from reporter's desk to final page proof, using networked PCs (LANs) and news-making software. A reporter's old tools, the shorthand notebook, pen, typewriter and telephone, gave way to a digital recorder, laptop, mobile or satellite phone, modem and dish. This sped up news and let papers run many local editions from limited print centres.
5. Dependence on advertisers and the rise of infotainment. To compete with electronic media, English papers cut prices and brought out editions from multiple centres. Falling prices made papers depend more on advertisers, who then have a larger say in content. Reading habits changed too: younger people jump to sports, entertainment or gossip, so papers carry a plurality of stories and push infotainment, a mix of information and entertainment. The newspaper has become a consumer product.

Part 2: my opinion. On balance these changes are positive but carry a real risk. The growth of Indian language papers is a healthy sign: it has spread news to small towns and villages, given a voice to people in their own language, and proved that print can thrive alongside new media. New technology has made news faster and more local. The worry is the growing dependence on advertisers and the drift towards infotainment. When a paper becomes mainly a consumer product, serious reporting can be crowded out by gossip and sponsored content. So I welcome the reach and the technology, but I would want newspapers to guard their role as a watchdog of democracy and not let advertising decide the news.

The newspaper industry has changed in five ways: circulation grew instead of falling; Indian language papers boomed (191 to 425 million people) while English ones stagnated near 31 million; papers added local district and block editions; production became fully automated with digital tools; and rising dependence on advertisers pushed papers towards infotainment as a consumer product. In my opinion the wider reach and faster, local news are gains, but the pull of advertising and infotainment threatens serious journalism, so the press must protect its watchdog role.

Concept used. Radio is one of the oldest forms of mass media in India, run for decades mainly by the state through All India Radio (AIR). The question has two parts: first decide whether radio is dying out (you must take a view and support it), then discuss the potential of FM stations after liberalisation, the policy since the 1990s that let private players enter. The textbook's evidence points to one clear answer: radio is not dying; private FM has given it a fresh boost.

Part 1: is radio dying out? No.

1. AIR's reach is enormous. Radio is far from dead. AIR operates a three-tiered service, national, regional and local, to cover India's geographic, linguistic and cultural diversity. It has grown to 480 stations and 681 transmitters covering 99% of the population over 92% of the country's area.
2. A mass public already exists. In 2000, around 110 million households, about two-thirds of all Indian households, were listening to radio in 24 languages and 146 dialects, and more than a third of them were rural. The transistor revolution of the 1960s, which made sets mobile and cheap, first put radio within reach of ordinary people.
3. FM gave radio a fresh boost. The arrival of privately owned FM radio stations in 2002 boosted entertainment programming over radio. Far from fading, radio gained a new, lively, urban-focused life through FM. So the medium is changing form, not dying.

Part 2: the potential of FM stations in post-liberalisation India.

1. Entertainment and a young urban public. Private FM channels are popular among young urban professionals and students. Because they are not allowed to broadcast political news bulletins, many specialise in particular kinds of popular music to hold their listeners; one channel's slogan is ``All hits all day!''. Big media houses run them, such as Radio Mirchi (Times of India group), Red FM (Living Media) and Radio City (Star Network).
2. Growing demand for local news and culture. The demand for local news is growing, and the number of homes listening to FM has reinforced the worldwide trend of big networks being replaced by local radio. FM is well placed to serve specific local cultures and tastes.
3. Community radio at the grassroots. The chapter's example of Raghav Mahato's village FM station in Bihar shows the potential vividly. Run cheaply out of a small repair shop, it plays film songs and broadcasts public-interest messages on HIV and polio, local news and alerts on missing children to villagers within a 20 km radius. It shows how FM can cater to local cultures and serve real community needs.
4. Room to grow further. The textbook says the potential for FM is ``enormous''. Further privatisation of radio stations and the emergence of community-owned radio stations would lead to the growth of radio and meet the rising demand for local content.

No, radio is not dying out. AIR reaches 99% of the population through 480 stations, and around two-thirds of Indian households were already radio listeners in 2000. Private FM, allowed from 2002, has revived radio with entertainment for young urban listeners (Radio Mirchi, Red FM, Radio City). The potential of FM is enormous: it can serve growing demand for local news and culture, support community radio like Raghav Mahato's village station in Bihar, and grow further through more privatisation and community-owned stations.

Concept used. Television in India moved from a single state-controlled service to a crowded private satellite market. The command words are trace (set out the changes in order) and discuss (add some comment and weigh up the effects). The clearest way to trace television is to walk through three phases: its early state-led, development-focused years; its commercialisation in the 1980s; and the explosion of private satellite channels after liberalisation in the 1990s.

Phase 1: state-led, development television.

1. Television started experimentally in 1959 to promote rural development. The SITE experiment (1975 to 1976) broadcast directly to about 2,400 community TV sets in rural areas of six states for four hours daily.
2. Doordarshan set up stations in Delhi, Mumbai, Srinagar and Amritsar by 1975, with Kolkata, Chennai and Jalandhar added within a year. Each centre mixed news, children's, women's and farmers' programmes with entertainment.

Phase 2: commercialisation in the 1980s.

1. As programmes were allowed to carry advertisements, the target public shifted towards the urban consuming class and entertainment programmes grew. Colour broadcasting arrived with the 1982 Asian Games in Delhi.
2. Indigenous soap operas like Hum Log (1984 to 85) and Buniyaad (1986 to 87), and the epics Ramayana (1987 to 88) and Mahabharata (1988 to 90), were hugely popular and pulled in large advertising revenue, marking the commercialisation of Doordarshan. Hum Log also used the entertainment-education strategy, slipping social messages on gender equality and small families into a drama.

Phase 3: private satellite television after liberalisation.

1. The number of channels exploded. In 1991 there was one state channel, Doordarshan; by 1998 there were almost 70 channels, and by 2020 about 900 private television networks were broadcasting while Doordarshan ran over 35 channels.
2. The Gulf War of 1991 (which popularised CNN) and the launch of Star TV that year signalled the arrival of private satellite channels. Zee TV, a Hindi entertainment channel, began in 1992. By 2000, regional-language channels like Sun-TV, Eenadu-TV, Udaya-TV and Asianet were on air, and cable operators grew from 100 in 1984 to about 60,000 in 1999.
3. Transnational channels (Star, MTV, Channel V, Sony) at first worried people about the effect on Indian youth and culture, but they soon found that using the familiar works better. They localised: STAR Plus turned into a Hindi channel with the slogan ``Aapki Boli. Aapka Plus Point'', and channels added Hindi and regional programming and dubbing.
4. Content multiplied. Channels run 24x7 with lively, informal news, and a flood of news channels, reality shows, talk shows, family soaps and game shows. Reality shows like Kaun Banega Crorepati, Indian Idol and Bigg Boss became very popular, many modelled on western programmes.

Discuss: weighing the changes. Television has become far more immediate, democratic and intimate, and it has fostered public debate and widened its reach each year. That is a real gain. But there is a downside the chapter raises: when serious political and economic issues get neglected, and when channels compete to outdo one another with sensational ``exclusive'' live coverage, as in the rescue of the boy Prince, television can slide into a kind of voyeurism that intrudes on private lives. So the same medium that informs and connects can also sensationalise.

Television in India moved through three phases. It began in 1959 as a state-led tool of rural development (SITE, Doordarshan). In the 1980s it commercialised, with advertisements, colour from the 1982 Asian Games, and hit soaps like Hum Log and the epics. After liberalisation it exploded into private satellite television, from one channel in 1991 to about 900 networks by 2020, with localising transnational channels and round-the-clock news and reality shows. Discussing it, television is now more immediate and democratic and fosters debate, but it can also neglect serious issues and turn to sensationalism and voyeurism.