KV Thomas
Senior Congress leader and former Union minister K V Thomas wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi with a suggestion. He said the emergence of social media has created an unexpected level of competition for visual and print media. While large media houses have to make high capital investments and employ several personnel, he said, social media gets huge advertisement revenue by merely providing a platform without responsibility or accountability and without directly contributing to India’s economic growth. So, Thomas suggested that royalty or tax be charged from social media for using news and photos from the media. The suggestion mirrors the Australian government’s move to make Google and Facebook pay media outlets for news content.
Large Reach
PM Narendra Modi garners an impressive TV viewership for his speeches and public events. So, Doordarshan expected a large viewership for the foundation stone-laying ceremony for the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, especially as it was the sole channel allowed. Though it will take a week to get the TRP, the reach can be gauged by the number of TV channels that relayed the feed. Prasar Bharati CEO Shashi Shankar Vempati tweeted that the live coverage by the public broadcaster was carried by “around 200 TV channels per initial estimates”. On online viewership, Vempati said “more than 15 million digital watch minutes” were clocked on YouTube channels of DD News and DD National.
Lens On Attendants
Railways top brass has again moved to end the practice of officers keeping bungalow peons or Telephone Attendant Cum Dak Khalasis at their homes. Railway Board is scheduled to discuss the issue. Messages have gone out seeking data of such personnel appointed, purportedly sought by Minister Piyush Goyal. PM Narendra Modi had in 2014 asked Railways to explore if officers could be given an allowance in lieu of keeping bungalow peons. A committee was formed to look into it, but it did not recommend abolition of the system. Railway officers have stressed the need to keep the practice alive, citing the 24×7 nature of their jobs.