-The Times of India   Last month's general election brought the role of media under the spotlight. Media faced severe criticism from political parties, intellectuals and industry insiders for allegedly being partisan during elections. A large section of mainstream media has been castigated as "paid media" by social media enthusiasts. In this context, however, a great deal of work already exists in the political economy literature analyzing the real effects of having a...

-The Times of India     Attempt to muzzle newspapers by withdrawing advertising for critical news coverage A new report by the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN) has strongly condemned "soft censorship" by governments and regulators as a "very serious threat to media independence and the very viability of media companies". WAN, which is the umbrella organization of newspapers representing more than 18,000 publications and 15,000 online sites in 120 countries...

The Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, also called the CSDS or informally, just the Centre, is a premier institute of India in the social sciences and humanities. The Centre provides a unique institutional space which seeks to nurture intellectual interests outside the entrenched boundaries of academic disciplines. This simultaneously gives the Centre a sense of intimacy with and distance from universities. Therefore, the Centre has deliberately chosen not...

The FMP is an effort to celebrate the romance of journalism. Journalistic collectives have so far either been watering holes or trade unions. It is an organization dedicated to Media Freedom and quality journalism. Editors have a guild. Owners, whether of newspapers or TV channels have associations to lobby their interests. But there is no association that cuts across mediums to champion issues of professional interest to journalists. FMP is...

-PTI   Amid an ongoing debate on freedom of media, the Law Commission has floated a consultation paper to help it recommend an approach to be adopted in tackling issues like opinion polls, paid news, media regulation and use of social media. The law panel said though the country has every reason to celebrate its news media, as society evolves, new challenges are constantly thrown up that require consideration. "Technology has expanded our horizons,...