Pedagogical Techniques: Cognitive Disequilibrium an Goldilocks Principle

Cognitive Disequilibrium There will always be different kinds of intellects at classrooms. What are considered the worst students do not like to think through a problem or find out how a mechanism works, while some of the better students may understand the same concepts but do not think further about them once they are done learning what they had to learn. This is when the presence of a teacher asking them questions comes into play. A technique used to make students think further is called the cognitive disequilibrium. Cognitive disequilibrium is in charge of daring students to think of better ways why something works the way it does.The name itself points at imbalanced knowledge towards a certain topic. Let’s take for example a group of students leading an experiment where they are mostly sure of what the outcome will be. Their desire to find results that matches their theory will be biased, and if something in the experiment indicates their theory is not completely true ther e will be a moment of conflicting cognitions; this is what researchers call cognitive disequilibrium. Starting as early as the 1950’s, social psychologist Leon Festinger coined the term â€Å"cognitive dissonance† in his book When Prophecy Fails.At the same time, developmental psychologist Jean Piaget realized his work in cognitive developmental theory, including a close approach to cognitive dissonance. He conceptualized that as a child grows up, he will constantly be finding new information that will challenge the former beliefs he had, thus making an imbalance in cognition and making the child adapt to a new set of ideas (Colombo, 2002). This kind of conflict affects learning the same way it can affect the process of gathering information. Much like in research, theories can change drastically based on how big the changes are when finding new data.According to Chin and Brewer (1993) there are seven different forms of response to inconsistent information, the unpredi cted information that can possibly throw off one’s already learned knowledge: ignoring, rejecting, excluding, abeyance, reinterpreting, peripheral change, and theory change. Because of its ability to change theories and change our perception of beliefs, cognitive disequilibrium is not only a concept, but it also serves as a major pedagogical technique. In the context of educational psychology, cognitive disequilibrium can be used as a tool to defy students and their ideas.We can see instances where in class a teacher asks a student a question related to the material to see if the student is familiar with it, but that does not show understanding of the material. By asking more in-depth questions of why a student thinks he has the right answer or by asking about how he came about finding the answer we are solidifying a pathway that shows us why the answer is such. If there is not an exact pathway that could explain how one came to conclude that the answer is correct, there may be an error in between that could change the answer. In the case of our lecture class, Dr.Zola has made use of this technique in a couple of occasions to motivate students into thinking deeper about their answers to simple questions he makes. I remember at least one occasion where he asks a simple question about a student’s take on a subject, and when the student confidently answered, Dr. Zola asked follow-up questions that made the student rethink his response, and thus think better about his argument. Not only would he give follow-up questions, but introduce new ideas backed up by other researchers of prestige that could really change the way we think.The times he presents new information that unbalances our beliefs are just followed by very small pauses where we reconsider our ideas, until we have to discuss them with other students or we move ahead to new material. Every concept that we rethink due to new information presented should be given a good amount of time to brea k down what we know about the concept and build up a new conclusion in our minds. By giving us more time to think, we can further build up on the ideas on our mind and solidify the new concepts we are learning.Like I said before, we need to plan out a pathway that leads us to our concluding ideas or theories. Due to the fact that most of our work in lecture and discussion is based on partner or group talk; we need to be ready to give out our opinions on different matters with a solid argument. It is true that most of the concepts we learn about in lecture are somewhat familiar to us since we have dealt with them ourselves or we have seen people been affected by what researches have to say about cognitive development.However, it is always good to satisfy the need to learn more about different concepts by bringing up new information that will make us see the concept from a different angle. We need to be able to break down what we know about the concept, pick up the details that are st ill useful to us, get rid of the details that are no longer any useful, and accept the new details that will shape our concepts in different ways. Goldilocks Principle Another technique used by effective teachers deals with being able to assign tasks and assignments to students so that they fit their levels of skill or prior knowledge.The Goldilocks principle is appropriate for this, since it deals with finding the right level of difficulty materials that are given to students. Like Graesser mentioned it (2008), material that is too easy for the audience will be disregarded as it may seem repetitive from what the audience or students have learned before; if the material is too hard, students may find it too frustrating and will give up. This technique suggests that materials and assignments should not be too hard or too easy.At a right, constant level students will remain engaged with the material. This is related to what O’Donnell, Reeve, and Smith (2008) explained as Vygots ky’s â€Å"zone of proximal development† as the concept that tells us that a child should be taught at his own level of recent maturity. This means that a student shouldn’t be pushed to work the material as if he has already mastered it or been experienced with it, but that he should work the material as if he’s still practicing it. As Wolfe et al. 1998) demonstrated in their article a group of researchers from two different schools experiment how background knowledge can affect students’ ability to comprehend different materials given. In this experiment, students were given the task to learn about something of background knowledge to them; in this case, it was the functions if the human heart. Students were given the same material but in different reading levels. The researchers found out that little background knowledge on the topic made the students gain about as much knowledge as the students with major background knowledge did.In other words, students whose prior knowledge did not overlap enough with the contents of the text did not learn well but neither did students whose knowledge overlapped too much with the contents of the text. At the end of their research, they found out that â€Å"low-knowledge† students understood just as much as â€Å"high-knowledge† students when their material was customized for the highly coherent and detailed, just as when the material given to high-knowledge students was presented with coherent gaps that they had to fill in by themselves.This technique should be used in a classroom environment to reach for those students that are not fully engaged to the material given. In the classroom we could find different types of learners, but it is fair to say that under-challenged and over-challenged students make up most of the class. By finding a way to balance the material and presenting it in a way that is fully detailed for some and challenging for others the instructor will be able to have most, if not all of the class fully engaged. Based on what I have experienced in class, we can say that Dr. Zola has made good use of this technique. Dr.Zola is letting his students use their own background knowledge to fill in gaps in the knowledge of other students through discussion. By bringing up questions that almost everybody is familiar with, but that everybody has a different take on, the discussions amongst students can last for a good while, and students always end up learning from each other when sharing stories and background knowledge. After all, there are several ways to keep a variety of learners engaged in the classroom, as by having discussions to keep the class active, integrating other fields in the material, stimulating the senses of the audience, etc.These last mentioned only keep the class active, and hopefully everybody engaged, but as a teacher one must still work on filling those gaps that some students may have about the material being learned . References Colombo, J. (2002) Infant Attention Grows up: The Emergence of a Developmental CognitiveNeuroscience Perspective. Current Directions in Psychological Science  , Vol. 11, No. 6 (Dec. , 2002), pp. 196-200. Retrieved from http://www. jstor. org/stable/20182811 Wolfe, M. W. , Schreiner, M. E. , Rehder, B. , Lahman, D. , Folts, P. W. , Kintsch, W. , & Landaure, T. K. (1998).Learning From Text: Matching Readers and Text by Latent Semantic Analysis. Discourse Processes, 25(2/3), 309-336. Graesser (2008). 25 Learning Principles to Guide Pedagogy and the Design of Learning Environments. Life Long Learning at Work and at Home. Retrieved from http://psyc. memphis. edu/learning O’Donnell, A. , Reeve, J. , Smith, F. (2008) Educational Psychology: Reflection for Action. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. Chinn, C. A. , & Brewer, W. F. (1993). The role of anomalous data in knowledge acquisition: A theoretical Framework and implications for.. Review of Educational Research, 63(1) , 1. Pedagogical Techniques: Cognitive Disequilibrium an Goldilocks Principle Cognitive Disequilibrium There will always be different kinds of intellects at classrooms. What are considered the worst students do not like to think through a problem or find out how a mechanism works, while some of the better students may understand the same concepts but do not think further about them once they are done learning what they had to learn. This is when the presence of a teacher asking them questions comes into play. A technique used to make students think further is called the cognitive disequilibrium. Cognitive disequilibrium is in charge of daring students to think of better ways why something works the way it does.The name itself points at imbalanced knowledge towards a certain topic. Let’s take for example a group of students leading an experiment where they are mostly sure of what the outcome will be. Their desire to find results that matches their theory will be biased, and if something in the experiment indicates their theory is not completely true ther e will be a moment of conflicting cognitions; this is what researchers call cognitive disequilibrium. Starting as early as the 1950’s, social psychologist Leon Festinger coined the term â€Å"cognitive dissonance† in his book When Prophecy Fails.At the same time, developmental psychologist Jean Piaget realized his work in cognitive developmental theory, including a close approach to cognitive dissonance. He conceptualized that as a child grows up, he will constantly be finding new information that will challenge the former beliefs he had, thus making an imbalance in cognition and making the child adapt to a new set of ideas (Colombo, 2002). This kind of conflict affects learning the same way it can affect the process of gathering information. Much like in research, theories can change drastically based on how big the changes are when finding new data.According to Chin and Brewer (1993) there are seven different forms of response to inconsistent information, the unpredi cted information that can possibly throw off one’s already learned knowledge: ignoring, rejecting, excluding, abeyance, reinterpreting, peripheral change, and theory change. Because of its ability to change theories and change our perception of beliefs, cognitive disequilibrium is not only a concept, but it also serves as a major pedagogical technique. In the context of educational psychology, cognitive disequilibrium can be used as a tool to defy students and their ideas.We can see instances where in class a teacher asks a student a question related to the material to see if the student is familiar with it, but that does not show understanding of the material. By asking more in-depth questions of why a student thinks he has the right answer or by asking about how he came about finding the answer we are solidifying a pathway that shows us why the answer is such. If there is not an exact pathway that could explain how one came to conclude that the answer is correct, there may be an error in between that could change the answer. In the case of our lecture class, Dr.Zola has made use of this technique in a couple of occasions to motivate students into thinking deeper about their answers to simple questions he makes. I remember at least one occasion where he asks a simple question about a student’s take on a subject, and when the student confidently answered, Dr. Zola asked follow-up questions that made the student rethink his response, and thus think better about his argument. Not only would he give follow-up questions, but introduce new ideas backed up by other researchers of prestige that could really change the way we think.The times he presents new information that unbalances our beliefs are just followed by very small pauses where we reconsider our ideas, until we have to discuss them with other students or we move ahead to new material. Every concept that we rethink due to new information presented should be given a good amount of time to brea k down what we know about the concept and build up a new conclusion in our minds. By giving us more time to think, we can further build up on the ideas on our mind and solidify the new concepts we are learning.Like I said before, we need to plan out a pathway that leads us to our concluding ideas or theories. Due to the fact that most of our work in lecture and discussion is based on partner or group talk; we need to be ready to give out our opinions on different matters with a solid argument. It is true that most of the concepts we learn about in lecture are somewhat familiar to us since we have dealt with them ourselves or we have seen people been affected by what researches have to say about cognitive development.However, it is always good to satisfy the need to learn more about different concepts by bringing up new information that will make us see the concept from a different angle. We need to be able to break down what we know about the concept, pick up the details that are st ill useful to us, get rid of the details that are no longer any useful, and accept the new details that will shape our concepts in different ways. Goldilocks Principle Another technique used by effective teachers deals with being able to assign tasks and assignments to students so that they fit their levels of skill or prior knowledge.The Goldilocks principle is appropriate for this, since it deals with finding the right level of difficulty materials that are given to students. Like Graesser mentioned it (2008), material that is too easy for the audience will be disregarded as it may seem repetitive from what the audience or students have learned before; if the material is too hard, students may find it too frustrating and will give up. This technique suggests that materials and assignments should not be too hard or too easy.At a right, constant level students will remain engaged with the material. This is related to what O’Donnell, Reeve, and Smith (2008) explained as Vygots ky’s â€Å"zone of proximal development† as the concept that tells us that a child should be taught at his own level of recent maturity. This means that a student shouldn’t be pushed to work the material as if he has already mastered it or been experienced with it, but that he should work the material as if he’s still practicing it. As Wolfe et al. 1998) demonstrated in their article a group of researchers from two different schools experiment how background knowledge can affect students’ ability to comprehend different materials given. In this experiment, students were given the task to learn about something of background knowledge to them; in this case, it was the functions if the human heart. Students were given the same material but in different reading levels. The researchers found out that little background knowledge on the topic made the students gain about as much knowledge as the students with major background knowledge did.In other words, students whose prior knowledge did not overlap enough with the contents of the text did not learn well but neither did students whose knowledge overlapped too much with the contents of the text. At the end of their research, they found out that â€Å"low-knowledge† students understood just as much as â€Å"high-knowledge† students when their material was customized for the highly coherent and detailed, just as when the material given to high-knowledge students was presented with coherent gaps that they had to fill in by themselves.This technique should be used in a classroom environment to reach for those students that are not fully engaged to the material given. In the classroom we could find different types of learners, but it is fair to say that under-challenged and over-challenged students make up most of the class. By finding a way to balance the material and presenting it in a way that is fully detailed for some and challenging for others the instructor will be able to have most, if not all of the class fully engaged. Based on what I have experienced in class, we can say that Dr. Zola has made good use of this technique. Dr.Zola is letting his students use their own background knowledge to fill in gaps in the knowledge of other students through discussion. By bringing up questions that almost everybody is familiar with, but that everybody has a different take on, the discussions amongst students can last for a good while, and students always end up learning from each other when sharing stories and background knowledge. After all, there are several ways to keep a variety of learners engaged in the classroom, as by having discussions to keep the class active, integrating other fields in the material, stimulating the senses of the audience, etc.These last mentioned only keep the class active, and hopefully everybody engaged, but as a teacher one must still work on filling those gaps that some students may have about the material being learned . References Colombo, J. (2002) Infant Attention Grows up: The Emergence of a Developmental CognitiveNeuroscience Perspective. Current Directions in Psychological Science  , Vol. 11, No. 6 (Dec. , 2002), pp. 196-200. Retrieved from http://www. jstor. org/stable/20182811 Wolfe, M. W. , Schreiner, M. E. , Rehder, B. , Lahman, D. , Folts, P. W. , Kintsch, W. , & Landaure, T. K. (1998).Learning From Text: Matching Readers and Text by Latent Semantic Analysis. Discourse Processes, 25(2/3), 309-336. Graesser (2008). 25 Learning Principles to Guide Pedagogy and the Design of Learning Environments. Life Long Learning at Work and at Home. Retrieved from http://psyc. memphis. edu/learning O’Donnell, A. , Reeve, J. , Smith, F. (2008) Educational Psychology: Reflection for Action. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. Chinn, C. A. , & Brewer, W. F. (1993). The role of anomalous data in knowledge acquisition: A theoretical Framework and implications for.. Review of Educational Research, 63(1) , 1.

Calvin Klein Marketing Strategies Essay

Calvin Klein Inc. is a fashion brand founded in 1968 by Calvin Klein. The company is headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City and currently owned by Phillips-Van Heusen. Like other fashion brands, Calvin Klein established a world famous monogram: the â€Å"cK† emblem. Statistics: Wholly Owned Subsidiary of Phillips-Van Heusen Corporation Incorporated: 1967 as Calvin Klein Ltd. Employees: 900 Sales: $170 million (2001 est.) NAIC: 315232 Women’s and Girls’ Cut and Sew Blouse and Shirt Manufacturing; 315233 Women’s and Girls’ Cut and Sew Dress Manufacturing; 315234 Women’s and Girls’ Cut and Sew Suit, Coat, Tailored Jacket, and Skirt Manufacturing; 315999 Other Apparel Accessories and Other Apparel Manufacturing Company Perspectives: We believe our expertise in brand management, product design, sourcing, and other logistics provides us with the ability to successfully expand product offerings and distribution under the Calvin Klein brands while preserving the brands’ prestige and global presence. As a result, we believe we have the opportunity to realize sales growth and enhanced profitability. Key Dates: 1968: The Calvin Klein brand is launched. 1973: Klein wins his first Coty American Fashion Critics Award. 1979: Calvin Klein controls one-fifth of the designer jeans market. 1982: Klein enters the underwear business. 1985: A new perfume called Obsession is launched with a $17 million advertising campaign. 1989: A Unilever Co. subsidiary purchases the Calvin Klein cosmetics/fragrance line. 1994: A unisex fragrance, cKone, is introduced; the company’s underwear business is licensed to Warnaco Group Inc. 2000: Klein files suit against Warnaco Group and its CEO Linda Wachner. 2003: Calvin Klein is acquired by Phillips-Van Heusen Corporation. Company History: Calvin Klein, Inc., designs, licenses, and, in some cases, produces clothing, accessories, fragrances, and home furnishings bearing the name of designer Calvin Klein. Since its inception, the company was a partnership between Klein and his childhood friend Barry Schwartz. Named by Time magazine in 1996 as one of the 25 most influential Americans, Klein made his impact not only by designing but also by marketing his wares through high visibility and often controversial advertisements created by the company’s in-house agency, CRK Advertising. In 2002, worldwide retail sales of Calvin Klein products surpassed $3 billion. Most of these goods were manufactured and sold by other companies under license–licensed products account for over 90 percent of company revenue. After three years of shopping around for a buyer, Schwartz and Klein inked a deal with Phillips-Van Heusen Corporation, the largest shirtmaker in the United States. The $430 million transaction was completed in F ebruary 2003. Rocketing to Stardom in the 1970s Born and raised in New York City’s borough of the Bronx, Calvin Richard Klein decided he wanted to be a fashion designer at an early age. After graduating from the Fashion Institute of Technology in 1963, he worked for women’s coat and suit manufacturers in Manhattan’s garment district before opening his own business in 1968. A childhood friend, Barry Schwartz, loaned him $10,000 in start-up money and joined the firm a month later, after the family supermarket in Harlem that Schwartz had inherited was gutted in the riots that followed the assassination of Martin Luther King. Klein rented a dingy showroom to exhibit a small line of samples. His big break came when a vice-president at Bonwit Teller stopped at the wrong floor of the building, liked what he saw, and invited Klein to bring his samples to the president’s office. Klein wheeled the rack of clothes uptown personally and won an order of $50,000 (retail) on the spot. Bonwit’s gave the merchandise impressive exposure, with window displays in its flagship Fifth Avenue store and full-page ads in the New York Times. Soon after, Calvin Klein was besieged by orders. The fledgling company booked $1 million worth of business in its first year, reaching sales volume of $5 million by 1971. Klein mainly designed women’s coats and two-piece suits until 1972, when he began concentrating on sporty sweaters, skirts, dresses, shirts, and pants that could be mixed and matched for a complete wardrobe. The clothing featured  the simplicity of line, muted earth tones, and classic fabrics that characterized his work and gave it an air of understated elegance. Klein won a Coty American Fashion Critics Award–fashion’s Oscar–in 1973. He received an unprecedented third consecutive Coty Award for women’s wear in 1975 and, at age 32, was elected to the group’s Hall of Fame. That fiscal year (ending June 30, 1975) the firm shipped $12 million worth of merchandise, including swimsuits and dresses. It earned another $2 million to $6 million from licensing furs, umbrellas, sheets, shoes, scarves, belts, dresses, sunglasses, suedes, and patterns. Klein not only designed every item carrying his name but closely watched every step of the production process. Company revenues rose to $40 million in fiscal 1976 and a startling $90 million in 1977. Because its prices were generally below those of its two major competitors, Ralph Lauren and Anne Klein, the firm won the loyalty of young working women as well as older, wealthier buyers. Calvin Klein merchandise was so hot that the company could pick and choose among stores that wanted to carry the company’s products and blackball those that dared to try to return unsold goods. Seven hundred buyers and reporters were turned away from Klein’s fall 1978 fashion show; the buyers who got in placed $28 million worth of orders within 48 hours. Klein introduced his first menswear collection in 1978, telling the New York Times Magazine that he approached men’s clothing â€Å"with the same philosophy as the women’s. They’re for Americans who like simple, comfortable but stylish clothes–but with nothing over scale or extreme.† No less than 779 fabrics were used in the European-produced collection, which ranged from neckties to suits and overcoats. The production and sale of most of the men’s clothing was licensed to Bidermann Industries. Also in 1978, Calvin Klein introduced his own line of fragrances and a complete makeup collection of 18 beauty and skin-care products that stressed neutral colors to give the face a natural effect. However, the lightweight, rosy perfume (at $85 an ounce) needed to anchor the collection never caught on with the public. The fragrance and cosmetics business was sold to Minnetonka, Inc. in 1980. Calvin Klein jeans, by contrast, were to become the company’s biggest hit. Klein’s first attempt, in 1976, to capitalize on the designer-jeans craze–at $50 a pair–was a failure. The following year, however, his company cu t a deal to design the product for Puritan Fashions Corp., the largest dress  manufacturer in the world. Klein raised the groin in his jeans to accentuate the crotch and pulled the seam up between the buttocks to give the rear more shape. A Times Square billboard of model Patti Hansen on her hands and knees, her derriere arched skyward and the Calvin Klein label on her right hip visible, caused a sensation and remained in place for four years. By 1979, Calvin Klein was second to Gloria Vanderbilt in designer-jeans sales, with one-fifth of the market. A company spokesman observed, â€Å"The tighter they are, the better they sell.† The biggest lift to Calvin Klein’s jeans was the television campaign directed by Richard Avedon that featured 15-year-old model/actress Brooke Shields provocatively posed in a skin-tight pair of Calvin Klein jeans. In the best-remembered spot, she pronounced, â€Å"Do you know what comes between me and my Calvins? Nothing.† In another she declared, â€Å"I’ve got seven Calvins in my closet, and if they could talk, I’d be ruined.† These suggestions of underage sexuality struck a public nerve and, following a flood of complaints, the New York flagship stations of all three networks banned the two ads from the air. Klein could shrug off the criticism because sales of his jeans were then climbing to two million pairs a month. He added a jeans-inspired collection that included shirts, skirts, and jackets, also licensed to Puritan. These products accounted for about $100 million in sales in 1980. Branching Out in the 1980s In 1982, Calvin Klein entered the underwear business, once again exploiting the allure of youth in provocative poses to push the product. Photographer Bruce Weber’s beefcake ads featured a brawny Olympic pole vaulted in various states of well-endowed undress. When the company rented space in 25 New York bus shelters to display advertising posters featuring the underwear, all 25 had their glass shattered and posters stolen overnight. The follow-up was predictable–a line of women’s underwear featuring male-style briefs and boxer shorts that retained the fly front. Both campaigns were hits. The men’s line was part of the Bidermann license, which lapsed in 1987, while the women’s skivvies so outstripped Calvin Klein’s own manufacturing capabilities that in 1984 this division was sold to Kayser Roth Corp., a unit of Gulf & Western Industries, for about $11.2 million. Calvin Klein continued to design and create advertising for women’s underw ear, later adding hosiery and sleepwear lines. In 1982, Puritan Fashions–9 percent  owned by Klein and Schwartz–had sales of $245.6 million, of which licensed Calvin Klein products accounted for about 94 percent, earning $15.6 million in royalties for the firm. However, Puritan’s finances deteriorated as the designer-jeans boom ended and so, to protect their investment, in late 1983 Klein and Schwartz bought almost all the shares they did not already hold for $65.8 million in a leveraged buyout, with a Puritan subsidiary financing the purchase by taking out bank loans. The consolidated companies were renamed Calvin Klein Industries. After Puritan lost $11.3 million in 1984, Calvin Klein Industries placed $80 million in high-yield bonds (so-called junk bonds) through Michael Milken of Drexel Burnham Lambert Inc., mostly to keep Puritan afloat. Registration statements filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission in connection with the junk bonds Calvin Klein issued afforded the public a rare look at the finances of the closely held enterprise. Calvin Klein Industries had 1984 revenue of $258.2 million and net income of $17.2 million, with Klein and Schwartz each collecting $12 million in salary, dividends, and other distributions. Puritan returned to profitability in 1985, earning $12.4 million. Nevertheless, Calvin Klein Industries had huge payments to make on its big junk-bond debt, and this financial problem seemed to be taking a toll on the designer. â€Å"Every color choice became life or death,† he later told Newsweek, â€Å"because doing everything as well as possible meant survival.† In 1988, he spent a month at the Hanley Hazelden Center in Minnesota to receive treatment for drug and alcohol addiction. When Minnetonka launched a new perfume called Obsession–at $170 an ounce–in 1985, Calvin Klein created a heavy-breathing print and TV campaign that cost more than $17 million in ten months alone, followed by another $6 million campaign for Obsession for Men. One Weber print ad featured two nude men entwined around one female; another, a naked couple with their groins pressed together; a third, three naked women, limbs entangled. A survey ranked the Obsession ads as the most memorable print advertisements of the year for four years in a row. TV commercials displayed a female model as the object of obsessive love by, in turn, a boy, a young man, an older man, and an older woman. Obsession quickly became the second-best selling fragrance in the world. Combined with Obsession for Men and a line of body products, sales broke the $100 million mark by the end of 1987. To complement Obsession, an oriental fragrance, in 1988 Calvin Klein  introduced a floral scent, dubbed Eternity, which was marketed in perfume, cologne, cologne-spray, and body-cream forms. Newly married to his second wife, Klein devised a softer $18 million promotional campaign based on the themes of spirituality, love, marriage, and commitment. By the end of its first year on the market, Eternity had grossed $35 million. Minnetonka (14 percent owned by the Calvin Klein Sport division) was sold in 1989, with the Calvin Klein cosmetics/fragrance line fetching $376.2 million from Unilever Co.’s Chesebrough-Pond’s subsidiary. Also in 1989, Calvin Klein opened its first full-line free-standing store, in a Dallas suburb. Products included Calvin Klein Sport lines for men and women, women’s and men’s underwear and sleepwear, hosiery, shoes, outerwear, accessories, cosmetics, and fragrances. Rescue and Resurgence in the 1990s In 1991, Calvin Klein introduced a new silk-scarf collection licensed to Ray Strauss Unlimited. Also that year, the company resumed menswear, licensing it to Gruppo GFT, an Italian manufacturer. Eyewear and sunglasses bearing the designer’s name, previously made by Starline Optical Corp., were licensed to Marchon Eyewear. The big story that year, however, was the introduction of Escape, a $115-an-ounce â€Å"fruity, floral† scent. â€Å"After work you get away,† Klein explained regarding the concept. â€Å"You escape, and you do it with style.† Escape proved a hit and was followed in 1993 by Escape for Men. Despite sizable royalty payments from these and other products, Calvin Klein was falling into financial trouble in the new decade. The company’s revenue dropped 13 percent in 1990, to $197 million, leading to a $4.3 million loss, the third time in five years the company had been in the red. The Puritan/Calvin Klein Sport division lost $14.2 million alone. Many younger women who could not afford the designer’s flagship Collection line were not buying his clothes at all. A sexually suggestive insert for Calvin Klein Jeans in Vanity Fair in October 1991 failed to stimulate sales, prompting U.S. retailers to contend that Klein had fallen out of touch with their customers. Calvin Klein, Inc. was restored to financial health partly through the efforts of David Geffen, the entertainment tycoon who was a long-time friend of the designer. Geffen purchased $62 million of the company’s debt securities in 1992 at a discount and was repaid in 1993, when the company took out a $58 million loan from Citibank. The firm then paid  off the Citibank loan by licensing the underwear business to Warnaco Group Inc. for $64 million. Warnaco also won the license for a new venture, men’s accessories. Undeterred by suggestions that with the end of the â€Å"decadent† 1980s sex no longer sold, Klein introduced a new line of underwear, including $16 fly-button shorts, in 1992 with ads featuring Marky Mark (Mark Wahlberg), a muscular rap star. The campaign proved successful with both young men and women, grossing $85 million for the company within 12 months. In 1994, a partnership later renamed Designer Holdings Ltd. bought Calvin Klein’s fading jeans business for about $50 million. Calvin Klein introduced a khaki collection in 1996 and also licensed it to Designer Holdings, along with CK Calvin Klein Jeans Kids and CK Calvin Klein Kids Underwear, also introduced that year. Designer Holdings was acquired by Warnaco in 1997. By 1995, when it opened a four-level, 22,000-square-foot minimalist-style emporium at Madison Avenue and East 60th Street in Manhattan, Calvin Klein had six stores in the United States. In addition, during 1993 and 1994, the company licensed Calvin Klein boutiques to operators in Barcelona, St. Moritz, Zurich, and Singapore and formed a partnership with four Japanese companies to create in-store shops there and to produce more licensed apparel. Four stores–in Manhattan, Dallas, Palm Beach and Costa Mesa, California–remained in 1997. The company also had an outlet store in Secaucus, New Jersey. In 1994, Calvin Klein introduced cKone, a unisex fragrance that became another smash hit, grossing $60 million in its first three months. It was followed in 1996 by cKbe, promoted in a $20 million monochrome print and TV campaign directed by Richard Avedon that featured young models exposing lots of pierced and tattooed flesh. In a poll conducted by Louis Harris for USA Today, only 4 percent of the respondents expressed strong liking for the ads, while 57 percent said they disliked them. Advertising experts suggested that what was turning off the general public was precisely what was attracting the people who were buying the product, especially teenagers. Advertisements for Calvin Klein jeans also continued to provoke controversy. Posters featuring a notably skinny model, Kate Moss, were festooned with stickers reading à ¢â‚¬Å"Feed this woman† by a Boston-area group called Boycott Anorexic Marketing. The company ignored the group but was unable to shrug off the reaction, especially from Christian groups, created by its summer 1995 campaign for CK Jeans, featuring models  who appeared to be teenagers in states of undress that, according to one writer, â€Å"suggested auditions for low-budget porn movies.† For the first time the company retreated, pulling the ads, which the designer maintained had been â€Å"misunderstood. †¦ People didn’t get that it’s about modern young people who have an independent spirit and do the things they want to and can’t be told or sold.† A U.S. Justice Department investigation ended without charges after federal agents determined that no minors were used in the ads. The controversial ads did not offend the market for which the campaign was intended. CK Calvin Klein Jeans continued to be one of the strongest sellers among youths. â€Å"They want the Calvin Klein label,† explained the executive editor of Children’s Business in 1996. â€Å"Also at the point the children are over eight, they’re pretty much deciding what they want to wear. †¦ These lines †¦ have the cachet that comes from the adult market.† Later that year a Calvin Klein underwear ad showing a 20-year-old male model in very tight gray briefs, posed with his legs wide apart, was dropped by the company’s own licensee, Warnaco. Also in 1996, a group of parent-led anti-drug groups called for a boycott of Calvin Klein products to protest a new ad campaign that they said glamorized heroin addiction. The magazine and television advertisements in question featured gaunt, glassy-eyed models to promote cKbe. In 1999, an underwear billboard in Times Square featuring two scantily clad young boys launched yet another round of controversy. The ad was eventually pulled after rumors surfaced that speculated on Klein’s sexual orientation. In 1995, Calvin Klein launched, under license, a home collection composed of sheets, towels, and tableware. By 1997, only the designer’s signature Calvin Klein women’s collection of apparel and accessories and the CK Calvin Klein bridge collections of less-expensive women’s and men’s apparel (except in Europe, the Middle East, and Japan) were being manufactured by the company itself. Of the company’s $260 million in sales in 1996, $141 million came from its in-house products and $119 million from royalties and designer income. Of worldwide retail sales of $4.4 billion, apparel accounted for $2.7 billion, fragrances for $1.5 billion, and other products for $200 million. Net profits were $41 million. During the late 1990s, Calvin Klein, Inc. was 43 percent owned by the designer and 43 percent owned by Schwartz, who was chairman and chief executive officer. The rest of the equity was held by family trusts.  Gabriella Forte, a former Giorgio Armani executive, became the company’s president in 1994 and was put in charge of day-to-day administration. The company was divided into three parts: the Calvin Klein collection, cK sportswear, and cK Jeans. In addition to apparel, each segment offered perfume, accessories, and housewares. New Ownership in a New Century During 1999, both Klein and Schwartz agreed that it was time to seek out expansion via a merger or an alliance. In October, the company hired investment firm Lazard Freres & Co. to organize a deal. With a billion dollar price tag however, Calvin Klein was unable to find a suitable partner. and in April 2000 the firm took itself off of the market. Klein commented on the process in a June 2000 DNR article, claiming that â€Å"a year ago we decided to explore strategic options for the company. We wanted to see how we can take the company to the next step. It gave us the opportunity to talk to various partners and explore opportunities and take the business to the next level.† Klein went on to say, â€Å"We decided to remain a private company because we thought we could do it better on our own.† During that same time period, Klein filed suit against his largest licensee, the Warnaco Group Inc. and its CEO Linda Wachner. Claiming the firm had violated federal trademark laws and breached fiduciary duty and several contracts by distributing its jeans to low-end retailers, Klein hoped to strip Warnaco–on the brink of bankruptcy–of its licensing rights. Warnaco on the other hand, claimed that Klein had been fully aware of its distribution practices for years and they stood to lose millions if the suit favored Klein. In 1999, one-third of the company’s revenues and cash flow was attributed to the sale of Calvin Klein jeans. Relations became even more strained between the two companies when Wachner filed a libel suit against Klein for comments made in several speeches and on the television show Larry King Live. The two appeared in court in January 2001 but came to an amicable resolution before the proceedings began. In late 2002, Calvin Klein, Inc. caught the eye of Phillips-Van Heusen Corporation (PVH), a company looking to acquire a major brand. As the largest shirtmaker in the United States, PVH owned the Van Heusen, IZOD, and G.H Bass brands and had licensing agreements with Geoffrey Beene, Arrow, DKNY, and Kenneth Cole. Under the leadership of CEO Bruce Klatsky, PVH made a play for Calvin Klein and eventually won the battl e. A  2002 New York Times article reported that the union would â€Å"give Van Heusen what Mr. Klatsky called the best-known apparel label in the world, and will give Calvin Klein, who will stay on with the new company, the financial resources to further expand his name in Asia and Europe. The purchase will also free the designer to worry more about aesthetics and less about production and bookkeeping.† Under the terms of the deal, Klein remained a design consultant for Calvin Klein, Inc. while PVH retained 100 percent ownership of the firm. The $430 million cash and stock deal also included royalty payments to Klein through 2018. Completed in February 2003, the acquisition marked a new era for the brand. For the first time, Klein did not have complete control over the products sold under his name, and his partner Schwartz had retired. After questionable behavior in March at a Knicks basketball game in New York was made public, Klein announced he was again seeking professional help for substance abuse. Both PVH management and Klein claimed it would not affect his role with the company. In March 2003, Calvin Klein announced a licensing agreement with Vestimenta S.p.A. in which the Italy-based concern would manufacture and distribute the Calvin Klein Collection line. PVH also planned to launch a new Calvin Klein men’s sportswear line in 2004. While Calvin Klein would no doubt continue as a leading brand for years to come, the results of its new ownership and management structure remained to be seen. Reference: https://giantkillers13.wordpress.com/2013/03/27/calvin-klein-marketing-strategy/

Media Helping in Nation Building

| | |Media | |[pic] | | | |'Media' is the medium of carrying information, education and entertainment to the masses. It is an easier and efficient means of| |communication which plays a key role in the overall development of an economy. In an era where knowledge and facts are the tools| |for economic, political and cultural exchange, presence of the strong and constructive media in a country is important for | |catering to the diverse needs of individuals, society as a whole, small and large business and production houses, various | |research organizations, private sectors as well as the public sectors. Media is a conscience-keeper of the nation and has many | |tasks to perform in our day-to-day lives. It helps the Government to achieve various socioeconomic and political goals; educate | |urban and rural masses; instill a sense of responsibility among the people; as well as provide justice to the needy. It largely | |consists of print media like newspapers, magazines, journals and other publications, etc. as well as electronic media like | |radio, television, internet, etc. With the changing scenario of the world, it has acquired the status of an industry. | |In India, the media and entertainment industry is undergoing remarkable change and is one of the fastest growing sectors. The | |main factors responsible for this are rising per capita/ national income; high economic growth and strong macro-economic | |fundamentals; and democratic set up, good governance as well as law and order position in the country. Specifically, spectacular| |growth of the television industry, new formats for film production and distribution, privatisation and growth of radio, | |gradually liberalising attitude of Government towards the sector, easier access to and for international companies as well as | |advent of digital communication and its technological innovations are the other attributes of the growth of the sector. The | |media industry plays an important role in creating people's awareness about national policies and programmes by providing | |information and education, besides creating healthy business environment in the country. Thus, it helps people to be active | |partners in the nation-building endeavour. | |The  Ministry of Information and Broadcasting  is the nodal authority in India for formulation and administration of the rules, | |regulations and laws relating to media industry. It is involved in catering to the entertainment and intellectual needs of | |various age groups and focusing attention of the masses on issues of national integrity, environmental protection, health care | |and family welfare, eradication of illiteracy as well as issues relating to women, children and weaker sections of the society. | |It plays a significant part in helping the people to have access to free flow of information. It is also responsible for | |international co-operation in the field of mass media, films and broadcasting and interacts with its foreign counterparts on | |behalf of Government of India. The main functions of the Ministry are to:- | |Provide news services through All India Radio (AIR) and Doordarshan (DD) to the people | |Develop the broadcasting and television network as well as promote import and export of films   | |Educate and motivate the people for greater participative involvement in the various developmental activities and programmes of | |the Government   | |Liaise with State Governments and their organisations in the field of information and publicity   | |Organise film festivals and cultural exchanges in the country   | |Administer the Press and Registration of Books Act, 1867 in respect of newspapers   | |Disseminate information about India within and outside the country through publications on matters of national importance   | |Use interpersonal communication and traditional folk art forms for information/ publicity campaigns on public interest issues | |Serve as a constant link between the Government and the Press, by acting as a clearing h ouse of official information and | |authentic data pertaining to the Union Government’s plans and programmes. | |The Ministry is divided into the following wings, namely:- | |Information Wing  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ deals with the policy matters, the print media as well as the press and publicity requirements of the | |Government. The media units in this wing re:-   | |Press Information Bureau | |Photo Division   | |Research, Reference and Training Division   | |Publications Division | |Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity | |Directorate of Field Publicity   | |Song and Drama Division   | |Registrar of Newspapers for India   | |Press Council of India   | |Indian Institute of Mass Communication   | |Broadcasting Wing  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ handles matters relating to the electronic media. It formulates policies and frames rules and regulations | |for this sector, which include public service broadcasting, operation of cable television, private television channels, | |F. M. channel, satellite radio, community radio, DTH services, etc. The organizations under this wing include:- | |Electronic Media Monitoring Centre | |The Prasar Bharati (Broadcasting Corporation of India) – has been set up with the mandate to organise and entertain people and | |to ensure balanced development of broadcasting on radio and television through agencies like:- (i) All India Radio, and (ii) | |Doordarshan. | |Broadcast Engineering Consultants (India) Limited (BECIL) | |Films Wing  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ handles matters relating to the film sector. Through its various units, it is involved in the production and | |distribution of documentary films required for internal and external publicity, development and promotional activities relating | |to film industries including training, promotion of good cinema, organization of film festivals, import and export regulations, | |etc. This wing has the following media units: | |Films Division | |Central Board of Film Certification   | |National Film Archive of India   | |National Film Development Corporation   | |Film and Television Institute of India   | |Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute   | |Directorate of Film Festivals   | |Children’s Film Society | |Integrated Finance Wing  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ performs important functions of maintaining and monitoring the Accounts of the Ministry, through its | |subordinate office of ‘Chief Controller of Accounts'. | |The media industry has significantly benefited from liberal investment regime in the country. Foreign direct investment (FDI) | |has been permitted in its various segments. FDI upto 100 per cent has now been allowed for print media covering non-news | |publications and FDI (with FII) upto 26 per cent has been allowed for print and electronic media covering news and current | |affairs. However, the news sector has also been opened up for FIIs, NRIs and PIOs. The FDI (including FII) in FM radio | |broadcasting sector has been allowed at 20 per cent. While, FDI and FII upto 49 per cent have been permitted for cable network; | |direct to home (DTH) – (within this limit, FDI component not to exceed 20 per cent); setting up hardware facilities such as | |up-linking, hub (teleports); etc. | |At present, there are 110 million TV households in India, out of which 70 million are cable and satellite homes and rest 40 | |million are served by the public broadcaster, that is, Doordarshan. Similarly, there are 132 million radio sets in the country. | |Further, over the years, the number of private satellite TV channels have grown very fast from 1 TV channel in 2000 to 273 TV | |channels till 31. 12. 2007. The news and current affairs TV channels constitute 58 per cent and non-news and current affairs TV | |channels constitute 42 per cent of total permitted 273 TV channels. The former channels have grown from 1 in 2000 to 158 till | |31. 12. 2007, while latter rose from 0 to 115. | |The Ministry has been making several policy announcements as well as framing guidelines in order to create conducive environment| |for healthy development of various mass media in the country. Some of these are:- | |The formulation of ‘Policy Guidelines for Downlinking of Television Channels' which implies downlinking all satellite television| |channels downlinked / received / transmitted and re-transmitted in India for public viewing. Under it, no person/entity shall | |downlink a channel which has not been registered by the Ministry. Henceforth, all persons/ entities providing Television | |Satellite Broadcasting Services (TV Channels) uplinked from other countries to viewers in India as well as any entity desirous | |of providing such a Television Satellite Broadcasting Service (TV Channel), receivable in India for public viewership, shall be | |required to obtain permission from Ministry, in accordance with the terms and conditions prescribed. The policy guidelines | |enumerates certain eligibility criteria's for applicant company, which are as follows:- | |The entity (applicant company) applying for permission of downlinking a channel, uplinked from abroad, must be a company | |registered in India under the Companies Act, 1956, irrespective of its equity structure, foreign ownership or management | |control; | |The applicant company must have a commercial presence in India with its principal place of business in India;. |It must either own the channel it wants to downlink for public viewing, or must enjoy, for the territory of India, exclusive | |marketing/ distribution rights for the same, inclusive of the rights to the advertising and subscription revenues for the | |channel and must submit adequate proof at the time of application; | |In case the applicant company has exclusive marketing / distribution rights, it should also have the authority to conclude | |contracts on behalf of the channel for advertisements, subscr iption and programme content;   | |The applicant company should have a minimum net worth as prescribed, that is, networth of  Rs. 1. 5 crore for downlinking of one | |channel and  Rs. crore for each additional channel;   | |It must provide names and details of all the Directors of the company as well as key executives such as CEO, CFO and Head of | |Marketing, etc to get their national security clearance; | |It shall furnish technical details such as nomenclature, make, model, name and address of the manufacturers of the | |equipments/instruments to be used for downlinking and distribution, the Block schematic diagram of the downlinking and | |distribution system as well as also demonstrate the facilities for monitoring and storing record for 90 days. |Similarly, the notification of ‘Guidelines for Uplinking from India', wherein the applicant, seeking permission to set up an | |uplinking hub/ teleport or uplink a TV Channel or uplink facility by a News Agency, should b e a company registered in India | |under the Companies Act, 1956. The company shall uplink only those TV channels which are specifically approved or permitted by | |the Ministry. For setting up of uplinking hub/ teleports in applicant company, the foreign equity holding including NRI/OCB/PIO | |should not exceed 49%. The networth requirement varies from  Rs. 1 crore to  Rs. 3 crores for channel capacity one to ten. The | |applicant company, irrespective of its ownership, equity structure or management control, would be eligible to seek permission | |for uplinking a non-News and current affairs TV channel. Networth required for single TV channel is  Rs. 1. 5 crore and  Rs. 1 | |crore for each additional channel. While, for uplinking a news and current affairs TV channel, networth required for single TV | |channel is  Rs. 3 crores and  Rs. 2 crores for each additional TV channel. | |The Ministry has issued ‘Guidelines for Obtaining License for Providing Direct-To-Home (DTH) Broadcasting Service in India', | |wherein DTH service refers to the distribution of multi-channel TV programmes in Ku Band by using a satellite system for | |providing TV signals direct to subscribers premises, without passing through an intermediary such as cable operator. The | |eligibility criteria's in the guidelines include:- | |Applicant Company to be an Indian Company registered under Indian Companies Act, 1956. | |Total foreign equity holding including FDI/NRI/OCB/FII in the applicant company not to exceed 49%. Within the foreign equity, | |the FDI component not to exceed 20%. | |The applicant company must have Indian Management Control with majority representatives on the board as well as the Chief | |Executive of the company being a resident Indian; etc. | |A ‘Policy on expansion of FM Radio Broadcasting Services through Private Agencies (Phase-II)' has also been announced to expand | |FM radio network through private agencies to supplement and complement the efforts of All India Radio. This is to be done by | |operationalising radio stations that provide programmes with local content and relevance, improving the quality of fidelity in | |reception and generation, encouraging participation by local talent and generating employment. There are 21 channels already in | |operation under Phase-I. Out of 337 channels offered for bid in Phase II, Letter of Indent (LOI) has been issued to 245 | |channels, of which all channels have signed the agreements. In all, 178 private FM channels are in operation till date in India | |including the 21 channels of Phase I. | |There is also a ‘Policy for Import of Cinematograph Films and Other Films', wherein import of cinematograph feature films and | |other films (including film on video tape, compact video disc, laser video disc or digital video disc) has been allowed without | |a licence. The importer of the film shall comply with the provisions of all applicable Indian laws governing the distribution | |and exhibition of films, including the requirement of obtaining a certificate of public exhibition prescribed under the | |Cinematograph Act 1952. Under it, import of any unauthorized/pirated films shall be prohibited. Import of foreign reprints of | |Indian films shall not be permitted without the prior permission in writing from the Ministry. | |'Draft Broadcasting Services Regulation Bill, 2007†² has been announced to promote, facilitate and develop in an orderly manner | |the carriage and content of broadcasting. For the purpose, it aims to provide for the establishment of an independent authority | |to be known as the Broadcast Regulatory Authority of India as well as encourage broadcasting services to be responsive for the | |educational, developmental, social, cultural and other needs and aspirations of people and include in their programming public | |service messaging and content; etc. | |As a result of all such incentives, the media industry in India has shown considerable growth over the years, with almost | |double-digit growth. It is projected to grow from an estimated size of  Rs. 437 billion to  Rs. 1 trillion by 2011. It provides | |ample opportunities for investors the world over, brings in more capital inflow into the country and presents significant | |avenues for both direct and indirect employment. It helps in shaping people's views and outlooks about various national and | |international issues and thus helps in formulation of schemes, policies and programmes. It is a powerful medium for providing | |entertainment, disseminating information, nurturing and cultivating diverse opinions, educating and empowering the people of | |India to be informed citizens so as to effectively participate in the democratic process; as well as preserving, promoting and | |projecting the diversity of Indian culture and talent of the country. | Mass Communication IN a country like ours, mass communication plays a vital role in creating people’s awareness about policies and programmes of development. It helps in motivating them to be active partners in the nation-building endeavour. A skillful synthesis between traditional and folk forms of communication on the one hand and modern audio-visual media including Satellite Communication on the other, is being attempted. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting being the nodal organisation in this field has a comprehensive set-up of its mass media units with their regional and branch offices as well as mobile units. ELECTRONIC MEDIA AKASHVANI Broadcasting started in India in 1927 with two privately-owned transmitters at Bombay and Calcutta. The Government took over the transmitters in 1930 and started operating them under the name of Indian Broadcasting Service. It was changed to All India Radio (AIR) in 1936 and later it also came to e known as Akashvani from 1957. AIR is serving as an effective medium to inform and educate people besides providing healthy entertainment. NETWORK At the time of Independence there were six radio stations. All India Radio presently has 197 radio stations including 184 full-fledged stations, ten relay centres, and three exclusive Vividh Bharati commercial centres. AIR presently has 305 transmitters. These include 145 medium-wave, 55 short-wave and 105 FM transmitters and provide radio coverage to a population of 97. 3 per cent spread over 90 per cent area of the country. MUSIC Music constitutes 40 per cent of the total programmes broadcast over AIR omprising classical, light, folk, film and music in the regional languages. National Programme of Music (Hindustani and Karnatic) are the prestigious programmes broadcast on every Saturday and Sunday. These programmes are broadcast live from the four metros. Keeping in view the Centenary celebration of eminent artists of music, viz. , Pt. Onkar Nath, Musari Subramanya Iyer and Dr Doraiswami Aiyengar, special programmes have been broadcast in the National Programme of Music. Akashvani Sangeet Sammelan – an annual affair is another musical treat to serious classical music listeners and lovers. About 50 concerts of both Karnatic and Hindustani ere featured at different places and the recordings were broadcast for over a month. AIR Music competitions is another regular feature towards searching new talents amongst youngsters. The competitions are held in different categories like classical (Hindustani and Karnatic both) instrumental, light for boys and girls. During 1998, music competitions were held at different stations of AIR in which 111 candidates participated and eight won the prizes. VIVIDH BHARATI AND COMMERCIAL BROADCASTING SERVICE Commercials were introduced on All India Radio from 1 November 1967 on Vividh Bharati. Now all the Primary Channel Stations, 30 Vividh Bharati entres, all Local Radio Stations and four FM Metro channels are taking Commercials. Commercials are also allowed over National Channel, New Delhi and the North-Eastern Service, Shillong. Vividh Bharati Service provides entertainment for more than 14 hours a day from 34 centres. The revenue earned by radio during 1 998-99 was Rs 92. 26 crore. Some innovative commercial broadcasting was introduced by AIR during 1998-99. AIR took over all the slots on 4 metro FM channels with effect from 26 June 1998 which were earlier allotted to private parties. At present all the 4 metro FM channels are being run by All India Radio through in-house programmes. AIR was able to market all the available ommercial time during the broadcast of 1998 Parliamentary elections results for about 72 hours. AIR also did the marketing of World Cup Cricket, 1999 through its own in-house arrangement. Efforts are being made to undertake extensive marketing of air time on all the channels of AIR. DRAMA More than 80 stations of AIR broadcast plays in various languages. Radio adaptations of outstanding novels, short stories and stage plays are also broadcast. Besides original plays, a large number of stations regularly broadcast family drama with a view to eradicate social evils. The National Programmes of plays is broadcast on every fourth Thursday of the month n Hindi and its regional versions are broadcast by relevant stations simultaneously. Special model plays of 30 minutes duration are produced at the Central Drama Unit at Delhi, which are broadcast by 33 stations of AIR in a chain of six months. All India Competition for Radio Playwrights is being organised in 15 major languages. All the prize-winning entries are translated in Hindi and then circulated to all stations for further translation and production in various languages. NEWS SERVICES DIVISION The News Services Division (NSD) of All India Radio disseminates news and comments to listeners in India and abroad. The history of news broadcasting in India is much older than that of All India Radio. The first ews bulletin went on the air from the Bombay station on 23 July 1927 under a private company, the Indian Broadcasting Company. The News Wing of All India Radio came into existence ten years later in August 1937. From 27 bulletins in 1939-40, AI R now puts out 314 bulletins daily withMass Communication a total duration of 39 hours and 29 minutes. Out of these, 88 bulletins are broadcast in the Home Services from Delhi with a duration of 12 hours and 05 minutes, while 42 Regional News Units originate 137 news bulletins daily with a duration of 18 hours and 01 minute. In the External Services, AIR broadcasts 65 bulletins for 8 hours and 59 minutes in 24 languages (Indian and foreign). The News Services Division has been putting out news headlines bulletins on the FM Channel since 28 May 1995. These are now available round-the-clock. AIR News on phone was introduced on 25 February 1998. The service provides the latest news highlights in Hindi and English on phone on dialing the specified numbers. AIR is now available on the Internet. AIR broadcasts special bulletins such as sports news, slow-speed bulletins and youth bulletins. Two youth bulletins are broadcast from Delhi in English and Hindi. AIR, Calcutta also broadcasts two youth bulletins in Bengali. During the Haj period, a five-minute Haj bulletin is aired from Delhi daily for the benefit of the pilgrims. Comments from the Press’ are broadcast every day. In addition, NSD puts out a number of news-based programmes and commentaries in English and Hindi. During Parliament Sessions, commentaries in Hindi and English reviewing the day’s proceedings in both Houses, are broadcast. Similarly, the RNUs p ut out reviews of the proceedings of their respective State Legislatures. The bulk of AIR news comes from its own correspondents spread all over the country. It has 90 regular correspondents in India and seven abroad at Colombo, Dhaka, Dubai, Pretoria, Kathmandu, Singapore and Islamabad. Apart from this, AIR has 246 part-time correspondents based at important istrict headquarters. AIR subscribes to the news agencies – UNI, PTI and their corresponding Hindi services – Univarta and Bhasha, and ANI to supplement its news sources. Other sources of news are the monitored reports from Monitoring Units (English and Hindi) attached to the General News Room and the Central Monitoring Services, which monitor the bulletins of major broadcasting organisations of the world. EXTERNAL SERVICES DIVISION The External Services Division (ESD) broadcasts programmes for about 70 hours a day in 25 languages (16 foreign languages and nine Indian languages) for listeners in different parts of the globe. The broadcast project the Indian oint of view on World Affairs through daily commentary and Press reviews and acquaint the overseas listeners with the developments in India along with information on the myriad facets of Indian life. The target areas of ESD span almost all the continents and include areas of East, North-East and South-East Asia, West, North-West and East Africa, Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom, Europe and the Indian sub-continent. The services in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Gujarati are directed to Indians overseas, while those in Urdu, Bengali, Punjabi and Sindhi are meant for the listeners in the sub-continent and the bordering countries. During the year, due coverage was given to all conferences, seminars, ymposia and festivals of films and trade of National and InternationalMass Communication importance in the form of Radio reports and interviews besides, the visits of foreign dignitaries to India and of Indian dignitaries abroad. Special initiati ves were taken to give wide publicity to India’s geo-political compulsion for a nuclear and Agni-II test in view of the security environment in her immediate neighbourhood. ESD transmitters, also carry the 9 P. M. National bulletin in English, originally meant for Home Services. External Services Division continues to supply recordings of music, spoken word and other programmes to about hundred countries and foreign roadcasting organisations, under the Programme Exchange scheme. Introduction of internet broadcasting by AIR has enabled its listeners in various parts of the world like USA, Canada, West and South Africa to avail of AIR’s services on Internet. NATIONAL CHANNEL The National Channel was inaugurated on the 18 May 1988 and is located at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, New Delhi. Presently, it works as a night service covering over 76 per cent of the population of the country and provides a judicious blend of information and entertainment. Having the whole of Ind ia as its zone, it draws the best available talent in the country. The programme complexion of the Channel has been designed to make it epresentative of the cultural mosaic and ethos of the nation as a whole. Programmes entitled Ek Kahani – dramatization of selected best short stories from regional languages and Basti Basti – Nagar Nagar to familiarise the people of other states with various tourist spots all over the country are being broadcast. Hourly news-bulletins, alternatively in Hindi and English, are broadcast from the National Channel throughout the night. Whenever the Parliament is in session, National Channel broadcasts recordings of the question hour for the benefit of the listeners. Sahargahi, a special early morning programme is broadcast from the National Channel in the holy month of Ramzan. CENTRAL MONITORING SERVICE The Central Monitoring Service (CMS) monitors news and news-based programmes of foreign radio and television networks. It also feeds the Newsrooms of AIR and Doordarshan with news flashes. During the year, the CMS on an average monitored about 100 broadcasts and 38 telecasts from 15 radio and three television networks every day in eight languages including one foreign language. The organisation brought out a report everyday containing all the material monitored on that day. Besides, the CMS brought out two weekly reports, a weekly analytical report giving an analysis of the important news of the week and a weekly special report on Kashmir ased on the anti-India propaganda of Pakistan’s radio and television networks on the Kashmir issue. The CMS has two field units—one at Jammu and the other in Calcutta. TRANSCRIPTION AND PROGRAMME EXCHANGE SERVICE Transcription and Programme Exchange Service (T&PES) consists of Sound Archives, Transcription Un it, Programme Exchange Unit, Foreign ProgrammeMass Communication Unit and Satellite Transmission Unit. The AIR archives store about 47,000 tapes of various formats which inlcude vocal and instrumental music of both Hindustani and Karnatic styles; light, folk, tribal and patriotic music of different regions and also orchestral compositions. Besides, the Archives has he voice recordings of distinguished personalities like Mahatma Gandhi, Rabindra Nath Tagore, Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, Subhas Chandra Bose, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Dr B. R. Ambedkar, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Sarojini Naidu, Aruna Asaf Ali and many others. Apart from this, the speeches delivered by all the Presidents and the Prime Ministers are also preserved in the Archives. Recordings from the Archives are now being transferred to compact discs which will replace the tapes now being used. So far, 235 CDs of spoken word and music have been prepared. This year the Archives has helped prepare a CD/Cassette consisting of v oice recordings of Rabindranath Tagore and a ocumentary on Rabindranath Tagore produced by Satyajit Ray. This along with a monograph on Tagore which has been jointly produced by AIR and Vishwa Bharati, has been released by the Prime Minister in Calcutta on 20 May 1999. Project on Data Entry updating tapes of PMs and Presidents has been completed and work on Hindustani and Karnatic music is in progress. It has added to its collection 125 tapes which include, among others, the radio autobiography of Shiv Mangal Singh ‘Suman’ and Milkha Singh. The Programme Exchange Unit (PEU) exchanges good quality programmes among the AIR stations as per their requirements in its library. Approximately 8,000 tapes containing the recordings of music and spoken ord programmes are preserved, among them are the Ramcharit Manas Gaan and award winning programmes of Akashvani Annual Awards and the language lessons in Bengali, English, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya, Sanskrit, Tami l and Telugu. A bi-monthly bulletin Vinimaya is published from T&PES giving details of available foreign programmes, Karnatic and Hindustani music (vocal and instrumental) and other forms of musical programmes, viz. , orchestral compositions, stage songs, folk and tribal music, etc. , and spokenword programmes, i. e. , features, plays, talks, opera and interviews, etc. , for circulation among the AIR stations. It also gives daily information regarding ur satellite transmission to meet the requirements of the stations. Transcription unit procures from AIR stations and News Services Division, all the speeches delivered by the President and the Prime Minister in different parts of the country and abroad. The unit received 117 such speeches delivered from January to November 1998. Central Tape Bank (CTB) looks after the needs of AIR stations for exchanging good programmes among the stations. CTB has 76,000 number of tapes circulated among 194 AIR stations. The Foreign Programme Unit pro cures the best of the programme material from different countries for All India Radio. During 1998 the foreign nit of T&PES received 438 programmes from SAARC Secretariat, France,Mass Communication Germany, Bulgaria, World Radio, Beijing, Sweden, Australia, United Nations. These programmes are screened and circulated to stations in Audio magnetic tapes and through INSAT 2C and INSAT 2C 3. T&PES has a satellite transmission on RN Channels of INSAT-1D and RN Channels of INSAT-2A. A total of 500 programmes transmitted through these channels were recorded by different AIR stations for future use. FARM AND HOME PROGRAMMES Farm and Home units function at various stations of AIR. The average duration of farm and home broadcasts is 60-100 minutes per day from each station. The broadcasts also include programmes for rural women and rural children. Broadcast of mother and child care series in collaboration with UNICEF and State governments has been undertaken by many AIR stations. The main thrust has been on issues relating to rights of the child, gender bias and child abuse, etc. Environmental Protection programmes receive adequate emphasis in these broadcast to retain ecological balance. â€Å"Farm school on air† as a method of communicating distant education on farming has been adopted by many AIR stations. Besides imparting technical and other information, the thrust of the broadcasts are : (i) dissemination of information relating to ways and means for increasing roduction of cereals, oilseeds, pulses, vegetables, fruits, etc. ; (ii) diversification of agriculture, social forestry, preservation of environment and farm forestry; (iii) poverty alleviation schemes, health and sanitation, etc. ; (iv) adult education programmes and (v) role of pan chayats in rural development. The programmes also lay emphasis on the various economic measures taken by the Government, aimed at rural development. FAMILY WELFARE PROGRAMMES AIR Stations broadcast more than 10,000 programmes on Family Welfare every month in all the major languages/dialects of our country. Programmes on AIDS, TB, Dengue, Sexually Transmitted Diseases, water borne diseases, alaria eradication programme, child survival and safe motherhood programme, sterilization, vasectomy, tubectomy, etc. , are broadcast under the title of family welfare programmes. Success stories are also broadcast regularly. SPORTS During 1998-99, AIR provided extensive coverage to the National and International Sporting events held in India and abroad. Major international events covered were the World Cup Hockey Tournament at Utrecht, Asian Games at Bangkok, Commonwealth Games at Kuala Lumpur, World Cup Cricket Tournament in the UK and the Wimbledon Tennis Championship in London. AIR also encour ages traditional games like Kabaddi, Kho-Kho, etc. , hrough broadcast or running commentary in order to popularise them among the youth of the country and to foster sports talents in the domain of traditional sports and games. Mass Communication AKASHVANI ANNUAL AWARDS All India Radio presents Akashvani Annual Awards to outstanding broadcasts for every calendar year in different disciplines and subjects. Special prizes, Lassa Kaul Awards on National Integration and ‘Correspondent of the Year’ for excellence in News Reporting are also awarded. There is also an award for a special topic documentary. This year’s subject is ‘Senior Citizen’. An award at national level is given to the Best Choral Singing Group (Senior nd Junior Groups) for a competition held for children at various regional centres. An award for â€Å"Audience Research/Survey Reports† has also been introduced from 1995. AIR also awards the Best Commercial Broadcasting Service Centr e and awards for Technical Excellence. DOORDARSHAN Doordarshan, the national televison service of India devoted to public service broadcasting is one of the largest terrestrial networks in the world. The flagship of Doordarshan—DD-1—operates through a network of 984 terrestrial transmitters of varying powers reaching over 87 per cent of the population. There are 57 additional transmitters giving terrestrial support to other channels. Doordarshan uses a large number of transponders on he Indian National Satellites (INSAT) and other satellites to network its terrestrial transmitters and also to extend coverage. The signals of Doordarshan’s International service could be received in most part of the globe. Doordarshan has established programme production facilities in 46 cities across the country. Doordarshan programmes are watched in India by 360 million viewers in their homes. Doordarshan earned around Rs 4 billion during the financial year 1998-99 through commer cial advertisements. THE EARLY YEARS The first telecast originated from a makeshift studio in the Akashvani Bhavan, New Delhi on 15 September 1959. A transmitter of 500 W power arried the signals within a radius of 25 km from Delhi. The regular service with a News bulletin was started in 1965. Television went to a second city, Mumbai, only in 1972, and by 1975 Calcutta, Chennai, Srinagar, Amritsar and Lucknow also had television stations. SITE The first experiment with satellite technology in India, known as the Satellite Instructional Television Experiment (SITE), was conducted in 1975-76. This was, incidentally, the first attempt anywhere in the world of using the sophisticated technology of satellite broadcasting for social education. The year 1982 witnessed the introduction of a regular satellite link between Delhi nd other transmitters, the starting of national programme and the era of colour television in the country. The Asian Games held in Delhi that year acted as the major impetus for bringing out these changes within a short period. After 1992, television facilities have been rapidly expanding and during certain periods the country got an additional transmitter every day. In theMass Communication decade 1981-90, the number of transmitters increased from 19 to 519. THREE-TIER SERVICE Doordarshan has a three-tier primary programme service—national, regional and local. In the national programmes the focus is on the events and issues of interest to the whole nation. These programmes include news, current ffairs, science, cultural magazines, documentaries, serials, music, dance, drama and feature films. The regional programmes originating from the State capitals and relayed by all transmitters in the respective State telecast programmes of interest at the State level, in the language and idiom of that particular region. The local programmes are area-specific and cover local issues featuring local people. INFORMATION PROGRAMMES On the National Netwo rk news bulletins are telecast in Hindi and English at regular intervals. All the major Kendras telecast news bulletins in the evenings in their respective languages where the regional events are covered in greater detail. Some Kendras telecast regional news in Urdu also. Doordarshan has a number of programmes on current affairs where topical issues are discussed in-depth, bringing out the various viewpoints. Information programmes also include telecast on agriculture, rural development, health, family welfare, consumer’s rights, environment, etc. There are programmes specially targeted for women, children and youth. Doordarshan brings to its viewers all the major national and international sports and games through live telecast. There are other programmes on sports, including interviews with eminent sports persons, sports education, etc. Doordarshan also has an exclusive sports channel. EDUCATIONAL TV The educational programmes are at different levels ranging from basic health education for the not-so-well-educated to the higher education programmes for university students. In 1961 India’s first school television service was commissioned at Delhi for the institutions run by the Delhi Municipal Corporation. ETV programmes for school children are telecast from a number of regional Kendras in different languages covering both formal and informal education. The software for these programmes are produced by the Central Institute for Education Technology in Delhi and State Institutes of Education Technology of different Centres. To put quality education within the reach of students residing even n small villages and towns, the University Grants Commission, has a countrywide classroom telecast on the national network. Besides this, syllabus-based programmes for the students of Indira Gandhi National Open University are also being telecast on the national network. ENTERTAINMENT The entertainment programmes include music, dance, plays and serials. Mass Communication Feature films and programmes based on excerpts from feature films are also telecast on the national network and from the regional kendras. METRO CHANNEL In 1984 a second channel was added in Delhi to provide an alternative viewing to the heterogeneous metropolitan population. Later, similar acilities were provided to viewers in Mumbai, Calcutta and Chennai. In 1993 these four terrestrial transmitters were linked through satellite to provide an exclusive entertainment channel for the urban audience. This service, known as DD-2 Metro Entertainment Channel, is now available terrestrially in 54 cities. In other parts of the country the programmes of this channel could be received through dish antennas or through cable operators. The metro channel targets the younger viewers in urban areas. REGIONAL LANGUAGE CHANNELS To provide additional software in the major languages of the country, some of which are spoken by more than 50 million people, Doordarshan has 11 regional language satellite channels. The programmes on these channels include the regional service, which is available terrestrially in the concerned state and additional programmes which could be received in the satellite mode. These programmes are carried on the INSAT satellite which has footprint over the entire country and the regional language programmes could be watched by people irrespective of their place of residence. INTERNATIONAL CHANNEL Doordarshan-India, the international channel, is in operation from 1995 and reaches about 50 countries in Asia, Africa and Europe through PAS-1 and USA and Canada through PAS-4 and PAS-1 satellite. It is presently on the air for 19 hours each day. AUDIENCE RESEARCH The Audience Research Unit of Doordarshan, manned by professional researchers, is involved in studies on the various aspects of broadcasting. It also operates a system of getting ratings on Doordarshan programmes each week. Audience Research is also monitoring the voluntary feedback from viewers and maintains Data Banks at the national and kendra level. VIEWERSHIP Over the years Doordarshan’s viewership has increased phenomenally and now an estimated 69 million homes have televisioin sets which mean that 362 million people can watch Doordarshan programmes in their homes. Community TV sets have been established under various schemes operated by Central and State governments. In rural areas most of the privately-owned sets also act as community sets, attracting a number of viewers from nonTV homes and the total number who watch Doordarshan at least once in a week exceeds 500 million. In the last four years programmes of commercial channels operating from outside India are available for some sections of the population, but Doordarshan has retained more than 70 per cent of the totalMass Communication viewership in urban areas and more than 90 per cent of the viewership in the rural areas in most of the States. PRASAR BHARATI All India Radio and Doordarshan functioned as departments under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. There were persistent demands that the electronic media should be free from Government control and they should have autonomy in their functioning. The Parliament had passed an Act to give autonomy to the media in 1990 itself, but at that time the Act was not notified. In 1997 the Government decided to notify this Act and Prasar Bharati, the autonomous Broadcasting Corporation of India, came into existence on 23 November 1997. A Board consisting of a chairman, an executive member and a number of part-time, full-time, ex-officio and elected members is to manage the affairs of Prasar Bharati. There is also to be a representative of the Government of India on the Board. PRESS AND PRINT MEDIA REGISTRAR OF NEWSPAPERS FOR INDIA Registrar of Newspapers for India (RNI), commonly known as Press Registrar came into being on 1 July 1956. Besides, the statutory functions, the Registrar recommends import of printing machinery and allied materials for newspapers. The duties and functions of the Press Registrar are defined in the Press and Registration of Books Act, 1867 and rules made thereunder as amended from time to time. As on 31 December 1998, the total number of newspapers and periodicals was 43,828 as compared to 41,705 in 1997. There were 4,890 dailies, 331 tri/bi-weeklies,15,645 weeklies, 12,065 monthlies, 5,913 fortnightlies, ,127 quarterlies, 383 annuals and 1,474 publications with periodicities like bi-monthlies, half-yearlies, etc. Newspapers were published in as many as 100 languages and dialects during 1998. Apart from English and 18 principal languages enumerated in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution, newspapers were published in 81 other languages, mostly Indian languages or dialects and a few foreign languages. The highest number of newspapers were published in the Hindi language. Daily newspapers were brought out in 18 principal languages and Kashmiri was the only principal language that did not have a daily newspaper. Newspapers were published from all States and Union Territories. Uttar Pradesh with 7,895 newspapers retained the prestigious position of publishing the largest number of newspapers in India. In the case of dailies also, Uttar Pradesh held the top position with 805 dailies. Bombay Samachar a Gujarati daily published from Mumbai is the oldest existing newspaper. In 1998, the total circulation of Indian Press was 12,68,49,500 copies. The Anand Bazar Patrika, Bengali daily from Calcutta with a circulation of 5,86,637 copies was the largest circulated single edition newspaper. The Times of India, an English daily from Mumbai which had a circulation of 5,66,378 copies stood second. Hindustan Times, English Daily from Delhi with aMass Communication irculation of 5,55,911 copies occupied third position. The Times of India having six editions in English with a circulation of 13,90,827 copies occupied first position among multi-edition dailies during 1998. The Malayala Manorama published with eight editions in Malayalam with a total combined circulation of 11,23 ,745 copies stood second. Gujarat Samachar with five editions in Gujarati occupied third position with a total circulation of 8,59,015 copies. Among periodicals, Malayala Manorama, a Malayalam weekly published from Kottayam was the largest circulated periodical with 11,58,108 copies. Saras Salil, Hindi Fortnightly from Delhi with a circulation of 9,32,753 copies ccupied the second position. TABLE 11. 1 : NUMBER OF NEWSPAPERS IN 1998 (LANGUAGE AND PERIODICITY-WISE) Languages Dailies Tri/Bi- Weeklies Fort- Monthlies Quarterlies Bi-monthlies Annuals Total weeklies nightlies Halfyearlies English 353 29 835 635 2,606 1,172 734 153 6,517 Hindi 2,202 125 9,062 2,741 2,960 544 173 29 17,836 Assamese 14 3 73 38 57 12 10 1 208 Bengali 96 14 580 463 661 441 156 14 2,425 Gujarati 106 8 565 161 455 57 43 13 1,408 Kannada 290 6 337 217 542 43 17 3 1,455 Kashmiri 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 Konkani 1 0 3 1 1 0 0 0 6 Malayalam 208 5 167 152 712 54 23 8 1,329 Manipuri 12 0 6 5 9 6 3 0 41 Marathi 302 20 870 16 1 451 100 39 103 2,046 Nepali 3 2 14 6 8 16 5 0 54 Oriya 68 2 132 81 260 85 23 4 655 Punjabi 106 15 332 83 231 31 18 1 817 Sanskrit 3 0 8 4 16 13 6 0 50 Sindhi 10 0 35 11 35 8 2 0 101 Tamil 344 43 391 220 717 27 20 7 1,769 Telugu 129 3 236 178 453 24 10 2 1,035 Urdu 509 20 1,290 356 496 56 15 3 2,745 Bilingual 65 19 534 311 1,082 327 135 31 2,504 Multilingual 15 4 92 60 197 64 31 11 474 Others 54 13 82 29 116 47 11 0 352 Total 4,890 331 15,645 5,913 12,065 3,127 1,474 383 43,828 PRESS INFORMATION BUREAU The Press Information Bureau (PIB) is the nodal agency of the GovernmentMass Communication to disseminate information to the print and electronic media on government olicies, programmes, initiatives and achievements. Functioning as an interface between the Government and the media, the PIB also provides feedback to the Government with people’s reaction as reflected in the media. With its eight Regional Offices and 32 Branch Offices and Information Centres, the PIB disseminates information through dif ferent modes of communications, such as press releases, press notes, feature articles, backgrounders, press briefings, interviews, press conferences and press tours, etc. The information material released in Hindi, Urdu and 13 other regional languages reaches to over 7,000 newspapers and media organisations. The Bureau at headquarters has a team of officers who are exclusively attached to various ministries and departments for the purpose of assisting them in disseminating information to the media. They also provide feedback to their respective ministries and departments. As part of the Special Services, the Feedback Cell in the PIB prepares a daily digest and special digests based on news stories and editorials from national as well as regional dailies and periodicals. The Feature Unit of the Special Services of the Bureau provides backgrounders, updates, features and graphics. These are circulated in the national network and also sent to the Regional and Branch Offices or translation and circulation to the local Press. PIB arranges photo coverage of Government activities and the photographs are supplied to dailies and periodicals published in English and other Indian languages all over the country. During 1998-99, 2,78,485 photographs were supplied to the newspapers and periodicals. Th e PIB is linked with 30 of its Regional and Branch Offices over computer network to facilitate speedy feeding of information. The Bureau has a Home Page on Internet which makes available publicity material such as press releases, features, photos and graphic for international consumption. The PIB internet home page is accessible at website www. nic. in/IndiaImage/PIB. The press releases from the Bureau are also faxed through computers to local newspapers as well as all resident correspondents of the important outstation newspapers. PIB has started photo transmission by computer to its offices. PIB is connected to its 22 regional-centres by video conferencing system. This enables media persons at regional centers to participate in press conferences in New Delhi and also in other parts of the country. PIB provides accreditation facility to media persons so as to make easy access to information from the government sources. 1,006 correspondents and 226 cameramen are accredited with the Bureau’s headquarters. Besides, bout 133 technicians and 56 editors/media critics have also been granted these professional facilities. The Bureau’s eight Regional Offices are located at Mumbai, Chennai, Chandigarh, Calcutta, Lucknow, Guwahati, Bhopal and Hyderabad. All the Regional Offices, Branch Offices and information centres are linked with PIB headqu arters by teleprinter also. A National Press Centre set up in the Press Information Bureau, New Delhi serves as a nerve centre for both nationalMass Communication and international Press. The Centre has all the facilities of international standards like a telecommunication centre, a press conference hall and a cafeteria. NEWS AGENCIES PRESS TRUST OF INDIA India’s largest news agency, Press Trust of India is a non-profit sharing cooperative owned by the country’s newspapers with a mandate to provide efficient and unbiased news to all its subscribers. Founded on 27 August 1947, PTI began functioning from 1 February 1949. PTI offers its news services in the English and Hindi languages. Bhasha is the Hindi language news service of the agency. PTI subscribers include 450 newspapers in India and scores abroad. All major TV/Radio channels in India and several abroad, including BBC in London, receive PTI service. The news services are provided at speeds up to 1,200 bits per second (about 1,400 words per minute) by satellite, data channels and ticker lines. PTI is now on the Internet too and its website address is: http:/ www. ptinews. com. With a staff of over 1,500 including 400 journalists, PTI has over 100 bureaux across the country and foreign correspondents in major cities of the world including Beijing, Bonn, Cairo, Dhaka, Islamabad, London, Moscow, New York and Washington. In addition, about 300 stringers contribute to the news file at home while 20 part-time correspondents bring news from the rest of the world. Besides the English and Hindi language news services, the other services of the agency include the on-line Photo Service, mailer packages of Feature, Mag, Graphics, Science Service, Economic Service and Data India, nd screen-based services as News-scan and Stockscan. PTI has a television wing, PTI -TV, whi ch provide s spot cove rage and make s corporat e documentaries on assignment basis. PTI has arrangements with Reuters and AFP for distribution of their news in India and with the Associated Press for its photo service and international commercial information. PTI is a partner in Asia Pulse International, a Singapore-registered company, formed by PTI and five other Asian media organisations to provide an on-line data bank on economic developments and business opportunities in Asian countries. PTI is also a participant in Asianet, a cooperative arrangement among 12 news agencies f the Asia-Pacific region for distribution of the corporate and government press releases. PTI is a leading partner in the Pool of News Agencies of the NonAligned Countries and the Organisation of Asia-Pacific News Agencies. The agency contributes its news to these two news exchange arrangements and in turn receives news from the other participating members for its use. PTI has just completed 50 years of its operations. The DepartmentMass Communication of Posts brought out a special 15-rupee multi-colour, multi-lingual stamp on PTI to mark its golden jubilee. President K. R. Narayanan released the stamp on 5 March 1999. An other highlight of the celebrations was a 2- ay international seminar on media issues in New Delhi on 12 and 13 March 1999 which was inaugurated by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and attended by a galaxy of media personalities both from India and abroad. UNITED NEWS OF INDIA United News of India (UNI) was registered as a company in 1959 and began its news operations from 21 March 1961. UNI is now one of the largest news agencies in Asia with over 100 bureaux in India and abroad. It has more than 1,000 subscribers in the country and over 30 abroad. Its news service is provided to subscribers in four Gulf countries as well as Mauritius and Bhutan. It has reporters in 400 big and small towns in India. Its orrespondents are located in a number of world capitals also. UNI also has collaboration with a number of foreign news agencies. It has more than 300 journalists working full time and about 400 as stringers. UNI launched a full-fledged Indian language news service Univarta, in Hi ndi in May 1982. A decade later, it launched Urdu Service on teleprinter for the first time in the world. Other teleprinter services of the news agency include UNIFIN, a specialised service for banking, financial and commercial organisations as well as UNISTOCK, a service for stock exchanges and stock brokers. In July 1986, UNI started its television wing which provides news eatures, newsclips and documentaries for Doordarshan and other organisations. Another specialised service run by the news agency is UNISCAN, a news service fed into television sets. A national photo service, started in 1987, is another pioneering venture. UNI also supplies computerdesigned graphics in ready-to-use-form on economic and other topical subjects on a regular basis. NON-ALIGNED NEWS AGENCIES POOL The Non-Aligned News Agencies Pool (NANAP) is an arrangement for exchange of news among the news agencies of non-aligned countries who for long have been victims of imbalances and bias in the flow of news. Th e Pool came into existence in 1976 with India as its first Chairman (1976-79). The Pool is a worldwide operation embracing four continents, viz. , Asia, Europe, Africa and Latin America. The Pool news is exchanged in four languages—English, French, Spanish and Arabic. Pool activities are coordinated by an elected body known as the Coordinating Committee with a Chairman as its head. The Chairmanship, is co-terminus with the tenure of the Coordinating Committee and goes by rotation. The Chairman and members of the Coordinating Committee are elected on the basis of regional representation, continuity, active participation and rotation. The Coordinating Committee meets once a year and the meetings are open to all member agencies. Mass Communication Advt. Mass Communication Six General Conferences and 17 meetings of the Coordinating Committee have taken place since the inception of the Pool. The last General Conference of the Pool was held in Tehran in June 1992, when the Iranian news agency IRNA assumed the Chairmanship of the Pool from ANGOP of Angola. The countries elected to the Coordinating Committee in Tehran were India, Indonesia, Vietnam, DPR Korea, Kuwait, Syria, Mongolia, Bahrain, Afghanistan, Lebanon and Oman from Asia; Angola, Algeria, Burkina Faso, Congo, Ethiopia, Egypt, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Senegal, Sudan, Tanzania, Tunisia and Zambia from Africa; Yugoslavia from Europe; and Bolivia, Cuba, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, Surinam and Venezuela from Latin America. At the Tunis General Conference of the Pool in November 1982 a resolution was adopted to form a Monitoring Group, for closer review and monitoring of the Pool operations. The Monitoring Group was last reconstituted in Tehran in 1992 when Malaysia, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, Libya, Zimbabwe, Mexico, Peru, Cuba and Yugoslavia were elected to it. India has played a vital role in the creation and expansion of the Pool. India News Pool Desk is operated by Press Trust of India. The agency receives news copy from Pool Partners and in turn contributes Indian news nto the exchange arrangement on a daily basis. The incoming news traffic from Pool member agencies into PTI is in the range of about 15,000 words per day. PTI’s contribution into the network is about 7,000 words per day. The news is exchanged through a network of statellite/terrestrial/E-mail communication links with Antara (Indonesia) , Bernama (Malaysia), Lankapuvath (Sri Lanka), GNA (Bahrain), VNA (Vietnam), Prensa Latina (Cuba), Tanjug (Yugoslavia), BSS (Bangladesh), RSS (Nepal), MENA (Egypt) and NAMPA (Namibia). Leading national dailies of the country publish between 20 to 30 Pool items a month. As part of the News Pool operation, the Indian Institute of Mass Communication, New Delhi, which is recognised as a premier institute for training in journalism in the Non-Aligned countries, has been offering a regular course in News Agency Journalism. The five-month twice a year course is popular with journalists belonging to the member agencies of the Pool. PRESS COUNCIL OF INDIA The Press Council of India has been established under an Act of Parliament for the purpose of preserving the freedom of the press and of maintaining and improving the standards of newspapers and news agencies in India. The Chairman of the Council is by convention, a retired judge of the Supreme Court of India. The Council has 28 members – 20 from the newspaper world, ive are Members of Parliament (three nominated by the Speaker of the Lok Sabha and two by the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha) and remaining three are nominated by the Sahitya Academy, the Bar Council of India and the University Grants Commission. The Council is reconstituted every three years. The Counc il has its own source or revenue in that it collects levy from the registered newspapers and news agencies. It also receives grantin-aid from the Central Government for performing its functions. Mass Communication As an autonomous quasi-judicial body, the aim of the Press Council is to administer ethics and to inculcate principles of self-regulation among the Press. It also keeps under review any development likely to interfere with the freedom of the Press. The Council discharges its functions primarily through adjudications on complaint cases received by it, either against the Press for violation of journalistic ethics or by the Press for interference with its freedom, where the Council is satisfied during the inquiry that a newspaper or a news agency has offended against the standards of journalistic ethics or public taste or that an editor or working journalist has committed any professional misconduct, the Council may warn, admonish or censure them or disapprove of their conduct. The Council is also mpowered to make such observations as it may think fit in respect of the conduct of any authority, including Government, for interfering with the freedom of the press. The decisions of the Council are final and cannot be questioned in any court of law. During 1998-99, the Press Council of India received 1,213 complaints of which 361 were filed b y the Press and 852 were against the Press. The Council adjudicated 342 cases. 575 cases were dismissed by the Council for lack of sufficient grounds for inquiry. The Council disposed of 917 matters during 1998-99. The Council has also suo moto initiated studies on various matters that had bearing on the freedom of the Press and its standards. During 998-99 the Council prepared a report on â€Å"Right to Privacy of Public Figures and the Press† and formulated guidelines to achieve a balance between the right to privacy of public persons and right of the Press to have access to information of public interest and importance. The Council also prepared a report on Press Coverage of the 12th General Elections on 2 June 1998 which gave an overview as to how the Press covered election news. In its advisory capacity, the Council considered and rendered its opinion to various authorities and organisations in matters relating to Press freedom. The Press Council of India is an active me mber of the World Association of Press Council (WAPC), an umbrella organisation of Press Councils and similar bodies committed to championing the cause of free speech and freedom of responsible Press on international level. The Council organised the 5th International Conference of World Association of Press Councils on 4-5 April 1998 in New Delhi to mark the 50th year of Independence. Approximately 40 representatives of International Media/ Press Organisations of 19 countries attended the Conference apart from 200 distinguished Indian participants. The National Press Day (16 November) celebrations this year were dedicated to the memory of late Nikhil Chakravartty, a renowned journalist ho was also a member of the Council. On 16-17 November 1998 the Council organised a two-day Nikhil Chakravartty Memorial Seminar. The Seminar was also attended by prominent-media representatives from the SAARC countries. The National Press Day celebrations were organised atMass Communication the state/district level by authorities, press organisations and associations throughout the country. RESEARCH REFERENCE AND TRAINING DIVISION The Research, Reference and Training Division (RR&TD) functions as an information servicing agenc