An interesting read for those of you in the media: Vir Sanghvi on The Elusive Clout of Media Barons. Sanghvi argues that it's fallacious to believe that media barons have clout, citing the example of BCCLs owner Ashok Jain who was subjected to needless harassment by the political establishment, and despite owning the most powerful media house in India, could not do much to prevent it. The article also provides a brief on failed attempts at dabbling in the media business by various corporate houses, including one by the Ambanis. But is newspaper the most powerful medium, when it comes to having political clout? Rupert Murdoch certainly thinks so. Today, one can argue that the television is more powerful a medium - more of a mass medium than newspapers or magazines - and there was a TV channel gold rush last year. Remember that Reliance Entertainment had (had) a BIGT TV rollout plan, which appears to have been deferred (shelved?). Read a couple of interesting posts on the TV channel business: at PressTalk, here and here. Also read this rather revealing post from Samreth Singh on INX News.
