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It will be a major blow to the very fabric of life in Yemen if the Saudi-led coalition takes the port of Hodeidah amidst the Houthi rebels. The port city is a crucial part of Yemen as almost 70% of food and medicine imports are brought in through here, and if the political agitation increases, it will cause a major paucity of food supply to a population of 8.4 million.

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The Times

PART I

Major Publishing and media production house

 

The Times Group also called Bennett Coleman & Co. Ltd.(BCCL) is the India’s largest media conglomerate according to the Financial Times as of March 2015. The company remains a family-owned business as the descendants of Sahu Jain own a majority stake in The Times Group. It is a private mass media industry founded on 4^th November 1838 (177 years ago). It deals in publishing, broadcasting, radio, film, entertainment and web portals. Indu Jain is the present chairperson of the Times Group.

Media Ownership and its Concentration

 

The company has 16 publishing centers, 15 printing centers, fifty-five sales offices, over 11,000 employees, 5 dailies, including two of the largest in the country with approximately 4.3 million copies circulated daily, 2 lead magazines, 29 niche magazines reaching 2468 cities and towns and 32 radio stations.

Its major brands include:

• The Times of India, world’s largest English-language broadsheet daily in terms of circulation.
• The Economic Times, India’s largest financial daily, and the World’s second largest in terms of circulation after The Wall Street Journal.
• Maharashtra Times, a Marathi daily.
• Navbharat Times, a Hindi daily in Delhi and Mumbai.
• Ei Samay Sangbadpatra, a Bengali daily in Kolkata.
• Sandhya Times, a Hindi daily evening tabloid in Delhi.
• Mumbai Mirror which is India’s largest circulated compact newspaper.
• Kolkata Mirror.
• Ahmadabad Mirror.
• Pune Mirror.
• Bangalore Mirror, Bangalore’s first morning compact daily.
• Brand Capital.
• Vijaya Karnataka, a Kannada daily.
• ZigWheels, India’s largest Automobile magazine.
• ET Wealth, India’s largest Personal Finance compact weekly.

The TV Channels under Times Group include MN+ HD, Romedy Now, Romedy Now HD, Movies Now, Movies Now HD, Movies Now 2, ET Now, Zoom, Times Now and Magicbricks Now.

The Times Group subsidiary companies include:

• ENIL

Entertainment Network India Limited that controls:

• Radio Mirchi National network of FM radio stations
• 360 Degrees Events
• Times Outdoors (TIM Delhi Airport Advertising Private Limited)
• Mirchi Movies Limited Filmed Entertainment.( Producers of BEING CYRUS, VELLITHIRAI, MANJADIKURU)
• Media 360 Concept India Pvt Ltd.

      Times Internet Limited

 

Times Internet Limited is one of the largest internet companies of India. It extends interests in spheres of online news, online business news, Hindi, Marathi, Kannada, and Bengali news, ecommerce, music, video, and communities. Some of the larger properties of TIL include:

• Indiatimes shopping – one of the largest and earliest ecommerce portals in India.
• Indiatimes
• com
• com
• com
• com
• com
• ZigWheels
• co.in

 

• Times of Money

Times of Money operates financial remittance services for Indians abroad to send money back to India. Their product, remit2India, is a standalone product, while also powering the remittance services of many banks globally.

• Times Business Solutions
• TBSL, corporate website of TBSL.
• TimesJobs, a jobs portal.
• Techgig, a professional networking site for Technology Peoples.
• SimplyMarry, a matrimonial portal.
• Magic Bricks, a real estate portal.
• Yolist, free classifieds portal.
• Ads2Book, online classifieds booking system for print publications.
• PeerPower, a Senior-Level professional networking portal.

 

• World Wide Media

World Wide Media started off as a 50:50 magazine joint venture between BCCL and BBC magazines. In August 2011, it was announced that Bennett, Coleman & Co. bought out the remaining 50 per cent shares of Worldwide Media from BBC Worldwide thereby making World Wide Media a fully owned subsidiary of BCCL. Presently it covers the following:

• Filmfare Awards, an awards show.
• Femina Miss India, a Beauty Pageant.
• India World, a Male Beauty Pageant whose winner represents India in Mr. World.
• Miss Diva, a part of Femina Miss India pageant.
• Top Gear Magazine India.
• BBC Good Homes.
• Femina Hindi.
• Hello Magazine.

Times Group through its subsidiary companies in the realms of marketing, advertising, print and broadcast journalism, mass media, business corporations and other financial endeavors, has attained the apex position in the present plight. It is the largest conglomerate, which has emerged as a media monopoly influencing the public sphere using its various media tools. By conducting Filmfare awards, publishing Femina, hosting Miss Diva and Mr. India World and propagating its views through ENIL companies, Times Group has ameliorated the sophistication of the cross cultural pan India. Through offering its business solutions, Times Group has in a way created a huge hallway of windows of opportunity for the developing India. The power of media is well concentrated in the hands of it. Its effective print and broadcast journalism has homogenized the diversely opinionated Indian audience. Thus in the media sector ,Times Group is presently soaring at the pinnacle of the media ownership, where major leading brands of media like Times Now, Times of India are under the strings of  it.

 

Patterns of news and information

 

Spanning across the significant sectors of the market, it’s quite convenient for Times Group to disseminate the news and information. Avery striking aspect of it is that it has a gleaming effect in its dissemination of information. May it be Times Now and Zoom for broadcast journalism or Times of India for print journalism, the way they deliver the information to a certain level seems to be drenched in tones of extravaganza, exaggeration and elitism. Though the engrossment quotient remains saturated, many a times the preciseness of the disseminated information doesn’t remain intact. Utilizing the advancements in technology, Times Group has facilitated the growth of trade and commerce through its extensions like India Times Shopping and Magic Bricks. The informative pattern of news dissemination followed by Times Now and Economic Times has escalated the society to a higher echelon.

Be it Arnab Goswami of Times Now debate or The city times of Times of India, the way the news gets delivered emphatically to the readers is the same. The same impact in a recreational sense is seen through the jokes and pranks of Bollywood stars at Filmfare Awards. The audience gets attached to the various wires of the same network, here Times Group. Audience has made Radio Mirchi and Gaana.com an integral part of their lives as they deliver the same information in a frolic fun way which not only appeals more emphatically to the people but also instills the sense of brand equity in their minds. Economic Times is said to be the every morning’s ephemeral companion of every business class person, may he be a CEO or a potential shareholder. That is the efficient system in which Times Group releases its information in the esteemed pages of its newspapers and magazines. Miss Diva, Romedy Now and Femina are the rudimentary requirements of contemporary civic Indian women, who consume their sense of feminism through these portals of Times Group. Times Group is truly the largest conglomerate of India.

PART II

If the nature of media’s audience is changing, then mass communication processes must also change. Four examples to substantiate this statement:

 

With the changes in the attitudes, approaches and aspects of the audience, the mass communication processes need to adapt to the changes. As the audience progresses ahead, the media houses have to alter, advance and upgrade their strategies. This is done extensively to meet out to the demands of the audience. As customers are the king, products and services need to be presented to them in their desired way for which media processes have to be modified. Media is under a constant development which is in concord to the development of the audience. Some of the examples of this phenomenon can be:

• The pattern of news being shown today is a very evident example of this phenomenon. There was a time when only Doordarshan aired the national television. In the entire day of display only half an hour was allotted to news and the rest time was for informative clips and light hearted serials. Today the scenario is way different, due to the fast moving life of the pre dominantly cosmopolitan lifestyle; news has been now made as ‘breaking news’. The world wants to be informed of the surrounding and the happenings. Thus news has transcended the ancient boundaries of time and location. Anyone can access news anytime at any place. News is constantly under construction, as days pass away, news becomes more interactive, informative and individual oriented.

 

• Cinema too has flown away from the black white soundless sequences to a motional vibrant scale. People evolved in their backgrounds, their standards of living enhanced. Thus the very structure of society leaped ahead the traditional ambit. The old hackneyed cinema got transmogrified into a moving sequence of life shots. People relish movies and serials which connect with them and in that short span of 2 hours or so, convey the desired message and entertain them. Cinema is a living example of the modernization. Audience grew in their psychological frames, consequently cinema became more people oriented and socialistic in nature. It was for people’s benefit that cinema took a leap in its content, angles and screenplay.

 

• Time is money in today’s rat race. Technology has bridged the gaps and thus people are trying to sculpt the 25^th hour out of their daily routine. In such an era, where landlines and telegrams and postal system have faded into history, advanced cell phones and smart phones are facilitating the communication around the world. May it be the increasing internet facilities or the developing media technologies; communication has got more time restricted. Thus even abbreviations have ensued in the texting world. People care for their time; they want the same bit of information to be bombarded at them but in the most concise way. Bulletin news, terribly tiny tales, short weather forecasts, less than 60 character news, push messages are some of the repercussions of this. Thus again technology has molded itself to suit the better, easier and faster delivery of information through its media processes.

 

• The audience is not a passive ignorant fool anymore. The increasing literacy rate has ensured the questioning radical approach in the audience. Thus the hypodermic needle theory is losing its importance in that context, as audience does not take up anything which you throw at it. Thus the media communication processes involved in advertisement and marketing are changing. The scientific pragmatic perspective is being employed in these sectors. Any product or service being advertised now shall be backed up with scientific, emotional or persuasive arguments. Unlike the primitive days, the communication processes involved in the advertisements and public relations are more objective and particular. They are designed in a way that every single person viewing it, builds up a personal contact with whatever is being portrayed. This is being done to match up with the increasing horizons of the audience.

Is Social Media the sole spark of life?

The ubiquitous social media has not spared any aspect of our everyday life. The eruption of social media and the magmatic flow of the trend has seeped in all strata of society. While many may believe that youth is the direct consumer of social media, the aftermath of its consumption can be felt in all the attributes.

Facebook is the most consumed social media platform in India which not only dominates the minds of the cosmos of urban life but also has got quite an evident following from developing and rural sectors. With Facebook’s newsfeed, many absorb the news content and share it on different platform. It has created a more virtual presence of people, utilizing which many business firms flourish because of the easy networking facility of the social media. Somewhere down the line, Facebook has become a requirement for fitting in the ‘hip/ modern/ updated/ relevant’ tag. Many events, from international rock concerts till local meet ups, garner attention and audience through Facebook. All rising and established business firms, aspiring artists, institutes, have their business Facebook pages, that not only serve as the medium of communication between the organization and the consumers but also help them in maintaining brand equity. We tend to side-line the firms who don’t have a well established social presence. This tendency is the direct repercussion of social media.

An Instagram account is a must for affirming a classy brand name, it maybe for individuals or firm. Richer the user manufactured visual content, better is the branding of the concerned party, more authentic and credible is the reputation of the user. We share and communicate with our followers through stories and pictures we upload on Instagram. The case is same with Snapchat. We are consuming and generating a lot of content for our higher visibility. The media houses have active social media platforms to facilitate that visibility. Twitter is another medium, highly used by media houses and journalism channels to engage better with the viewers. Higher TRPs and more viewership gets the credibility intact.

Talking about the pursuit of higher viewership, YouTube is one major platform where videos of all sorts catering to different interests and informative values are consumed by viewers extensively. Amateur designers taking Photoshop tutorials, working wives learning how to cook their husband’s most cherished dish, retired army official humming to the melody of Kishore Kumar songs, or simply a movie lover starting his own channel on movie reviews, YouTube offers a wide range of facilities to its users. Many popular YouTubers earn a lot from their famous channels. Lately, media houses have started their YouTube channels, where along with Facebook, they post live feeds. YouTube has become a very important social media platform where lot of content is consumed by people of different pursuits.

Blogging platforms continue to be used by individuals, where personal content is manufactured. Blogger, WordPress, BlogSpot, and many more continue to be extended information pages of many organizations and spaces of innovation and creativity for individuals.

Social media campaigns have facilitated many changes and created a wave of awareness. From Me2 campaign till hashtag Cauvery, social media campaigns have served as change facilitators. The recent #Padmavati is becoming the raging voice of freedom of expression, which is being in a way curtailed because of the opposition against the movie. Sports commentary, news pieces, entertainment bits exploit social media to reach out to as many people as possible. Government has also started to use social media to promote their party propagandas. Elections always hit up the social media buzz.

From the lifestyle choices till the political decisions we make, social media has penetrated our society ad us to the core where it has begun to become an indispensable part of our lives. We might not interact much with our peers or colleagues, but we will surely catch up with them on digital chat boxes or follow them by liking their posts. Interpersonal communication has taken a step down, where virtual presence and social media interaction is manifesting the path ahead. It is downright a fallacious remark that social media hasn’t affected our daily functioning. It has influenced our thinking, shaped our approach, sculpted a virtual image of us and apparently connected us more. We were cave dwellers in the stone age, time developed us into social animals at the dawn of civilization and presently, we are virtual presences in the world of social media.

Discussion is the way

James Humes was verbatim correct when he had said, “The art of communication is the language of leadership”.  In present day politics, where voices are suppressed and monologues are heard more, true essence of communication is distorted. Communication is called effective when the expected feedback is received. Politicians, rather impose their views and follow one way stream of communication. When the audience won’t be feel informed and heard, how will any community or nation prosper?

A massive open online course (MOOC) provider, edX tells about three modes of communication which can be followed. Debate, Dialogue and Discussion are three modes which help in disseminating information through an effective communication. Though edX finds discussion as the best mode considering it is more solution oriented, Indian politics favours debate as the way. Debate has an underlying connotation of proving one party the tag of winner and the other loser. A person argues not just to prove the point valid but to claim his superiority and superior intellectual endowment. The aim of the argument drifts from finding a solution to claiming your victory. Parliament has on multiple occasions show the art of debate, where politicians either with their raised tones or profanely rich dialects, have tried to bring the ball in their court.

The similar phenomenon is observed in private and public spheres, where we try to project our opinions as the absolute answers, and when our views are countered, instead of accepting the difference of opinions, we resort to an enraged debate. We attach our personal egos with our stances, thus when someone dejects our viewpoint, our institution of knowledge gets disturbed. At the point of time, to prove the other person wrong, by hook or crook, is the driving force of the conversation. Roy T. Bennett sumps it up very well, “Listen with curiosity. Speak with honesty. Act with integrity. The greatest problem with communication is we don’t listen to understand. We listen to reply. When we listen with curiosity, we don’t listen with the intent to reply. We listen for what’s behind the words.” That is the exact problem with debate as a medium of conversation. When you listen to reply, you are not understanding. As the adage goes, listen and silent share the same letters.

Amartya Sen in his essay ‘Democracy as public reasoning’, stressed upon the importance of healthy communication, driven by logic and persuasion, as the way to build democracy. He enlists many historical accounts, where democracy has flourished at the dispense of public discussion. A dialogue is the mode of simple conversation, it may be backed with facts and figures, but may not always have a solution oriented path. On the contrary, discussion is considered as a medium, where difference of opinions is accepted and more importantly respected, for the better cause that is the solution.

We have beautiful speeches in our political history, where politicians, not leaders, have given hours long descriptions about our problems and challenges but very few, whom James might call leaders, have showed India the path to eliminate the persistent problems and achieve the solutions. To speak well embellished words is not wisdom, to provide practical answers, which can be implemented, to the questions is. The growth of knowledge depends upon the power of discussion.

Students, teachers, parents are the first three entities which need to adopt the system of discussion and not debates at the grassroot levels. At schools, debate competitions are held, and we proudly gasp looking at the eloquent oratory of the students but is that the way we want our future to be? Law schools shall second when I say debates have no definitive end in today’s scenario, an aftermath of the personal affiliation speakers draw towards the subject in house. A healthy discussion shall always result in an effective communication, where both the sides shall be heard and solutions shall be drawn out.

Present plight of political discussions is not at all solution oriented. Parties merely throw shades at each other and side-line the most important issue: the future of India. We need to stay silent to imbibe what the other speaker is saying and then analyse the argument and speak when you think you have something concrete to contribute to the discussion. Speaking just for the sake of it, shall never fetch us the India we dream of.

Look around, you will find people engaged in heated arguments, pedestrians fighting, politicians as usual quarreling with miles away from a solution, and then think about the dream of a developed India. It is like an unpaved road with one sided fence fading in the distant undergrowth. Seems far, doesn’t it?

The waves will still hit the rocks

You took my hands to the beach,
no one else to be seen in the reach,
kissed the rain drops,
till my cheeks and closed eyes.

Knit together, our red hands,
I felt the time running in distant sands,
You whispered, I blushed coy.
My ears are still warm with that melody.

My smile was your adoration.
Holding me by the waist in sweet redemption,
We traversed further,
Water receding from our feet to horizon.

Five seasons passed away,
And you went to the foreign bay.
Memories stay and haunt me,
Render me wide awake.

To see me asleep in your embrace,
with nothing to worry for days.
The sweet rain of love,
Still tickle down my terrain.

Well, I still remember,
How you had held me for the first time there.
Blood rushed, I twisted, love flushed,
And you hid me in your arms,
No sun, no winter, nothing to be seen.

‘Time wasn’t with us’, murmured your lips,
That our paths will meet an eclipse,
feathers will eventually burn,
that I will crash to the ground.

Those rides, that mirth,
Warmth of your breath,
Smell of your hair,
Rush of your fingers,
Still cripple me, make me moan,
Recall, regret and break.

You said you’ll still be there,
Still care,
Will still love me.
But, I know, it can never be like before.

I will go to that beach again,
To that bed in vain,
Where the waves and wrinkles will wait to drown me.
I will stretch out my head in that sun again.

No ends will meet,
No kiss, no touch, no heat,
This time,
It shall just be me.

The waves will still hit the rock,
Where we once sat in love lock.
The wind will still kiss the dusky paths,
Where we walked together.
The world will still smile a day ahead,
But my world won’t stay the same for me.

28 Days of Sunshine

As a young journalist and mother, Andria Stones goes to drop her daughter Sarah at school when they meet with an accident that kills Sarah.
The immense grief and trauma result in the complete breakdown of  Andria’s life. The fact that she might be getting a divorce from her husband Patrick adds to her predicament. She goes to the countryside center “Sunshine Hills” to recuperate.
Will the woman who has lost her love, her child and her job be able to recover? Will her past have a bearing on her present and future? Will she find love again? What will be the end of her stay over there?
A beautiful description of love, nature, hope, struggle and will with an evident conflict of emotions and harsh realities will answer these and many other questions as you connect with Andria and the other Sunshiners in ’28 Days of Sunshine’.

You can order your copy today at Amazon, Flipkart, Scribd, Notion press, Bookada, Infibeam,Kindle, Google books,Paytm,Shopclues and Kobo! To keep in contact with this editorially 4.4 star rated realistic fiction, you can follow:

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Share with your friends! Happy reading!

To The Factory Worker

Charcoal hands with brawn at the ends,

mist smeared at his rustic bends.

The placid face, worn off too young,

lines of hard work, unable to be wrung.

Watery eyes, parched lips, bare foot for a mile,

still, the apparent despondency had a smile.

He picks up the spade,

Humps it into the heap of boulders of trade.

The furnace exhales putrid smoke,

his nights and strides still awoke.

He falls, gets up, punching down the Earth,

he has hope, never which can be in dearth.

Those tattered clothes,

those spilled curses and oaths,

the malediction of his seemingly benefactor,

his employer, the brazen contractor.

Though the factory brews with depravity,

last night’s dry bread saves this anxiety.

Look around! you will find him there,

toiling in the heat, grovelling in the dust all bare.

He thinks, he hopes, he works,

but the unfortunate unknown Death always lurks.

He is not futile in his incessant attempts,

those whips and lashes aren’t anything he tempts.

His morning prayers do reach the Almighty,

he is there to lessen his pain & bring prosperity.

Still at last, it’s upon us, the liberal society,

to ameliorate this system & bring equality!

Those factory workers, some old & some bold,

That Little Girl!

The zeal soared beyond the ambit,

the villagers weren’t insipid for a bit.

The mellifluous cries of her in that sight,

reverberated through that moonlit night.

The colossal crowd surrounded the cot,

waiting recklessly for the tot.

The taciturn ones were rejoicing,

the verbose were sanguine in expressing.

But very soon, the clandestine was bared,

the puny paragon of femininity plunged

in the thin air of humility.

Her cries were the malediction for their masculinity!

“Preposterous!”, cried the capricious men,

“Prerogative demands to kill!”

Camaraderie absconded the cot,

the bellicose father left the mother void.

It wasn’t a brouhaha,

but a malicious chimera!

That little girl screamed and howled,

the pusillanimous women juxtaposed.

The pristine soul was snatched from the mother.

Lamentation was the sole possession for her!

But the banshee was still wandering,

while the traditional men were slaying.

The raging creek savored the succulent soul,

when the girl was thrown into the death hole.

The bedrock relished the luscious flesh.

Life persevered through the hokum mesh.

The quintessence of Femininity,

was bamboozled by the orthodoxy!

This isn’t a rare exercise,

but a peregrination practice.

We kill our girls, murder their dreams,

And then  yearn for content of primes.

The times won’t change,

unless, we, the youth, will not rage!

That Butterfly

Touched gingerly by the manna petals,

captivated by the fragrance.

The vibrant butterfly tunnels

with exuberance beyond endurance.

That puny creature flies yards by yards,

flapping the remnants of the crayon,

formed from the crystals of sards.

She transcends her elegance within the transient yon.

Roses prosper in all shades

still cannot match her grace.

The mesmerized class of fish wades,

futile, they are in the haste to catch her pace.

In gardens, backyards or forests,

you can always see those wings soaring.

Flushed with confidence and jests ,

she keeps flying.

She spurts some enigma.

The sullen sulk becomes gay.

Some say she is Comma,

others vouch her to be West Coast Lady.

Poets ponder and thinkers think,

“What is it to be like her?”,

drenched in the rainbow’s ink.

But the frolic fly flies above their power.

I yearn to be painted like her,

to kiss the sky and embrace the grounds,

to be ephemeral and explore Nature,

to spend my days taking worldly rounds!

The Paper Boats

By the lake in the summer morning,

the level had risen from the yesterday’s pouring.

The two kids in their frolic hue

were examining the enthralling view.

One in an extravagant display,

while the other exuding a rustic dismay.

Half bare, clad in a worn out breech

that peasant’s child of unfathomable reach.

Covered within a  piece of stitched cloth,

stood the Superior uptight,relishing his fitful wroth.

Their innocent palms had colorful boats,

which had crossed their stature moats.

Each placed on water their hand creation,

pushed their boats and cheered with no restriction.

They spent hours making innumerable paper boats:

One in his haven and other in his cote.

Unmuzzled in their ephemeral mirth,

they spent hours leisurely lying on the soft earth.

They dreamed of sailing together on a voyage,

unaccompanied with Cast,Creed,Color or Spoilage.

The rigid village and its orthodox norms

could not endure the horizon meeting the storm,

consequently sundered the two friends

and shattered all their fancy trends.

Their paper boats embraced the ocean,

but their friendship  got swallowed in an old notion.

Their innocence to the ruthless villagers, was ignorance.

They drove them away to the outskirts, following their intolerance.

The unlettered boy, his peasant father moved away with their goats,

with the pond left with despondent paper boats.