Solution:Types of Newspaper Ownership in India: There are various types of media ownership. There are many media organization in the country that are owned and controlled by a wide variety of entities including corporate bodies, societies and trusts and individuals.There are four major types of ownership of mass media. Chain, cross media, conglomerate and vertical integration.
Chain Ownership: Chain ownership means the same media company owns numerous outlets in a single medium, a chain of newspaper, a series of radio stations, a string of television stations or several book publishing companies.
Chain ownership in India applies mostly to newspapers. There are many publishing groups in India which fall into this category such as the group headed by the Times of India, Hindustan Times, Indian Express, Statesman, Ananda Bazar Patrika, Hindu, Telegraph and living media foundations.
Cross Media Ownership: Cross media ownership is when the same company owns several along with newspaper, magazines, musical labels, and publishers and so on. Cross-media ownership across the various carriers such as television, radio or print;
consolidation, including vertical integration among media operations of content, carrier and distributor within a media segment such as television or radio; and market share dominance in a given geography within each media segment.
Conglomerate Ownership: Conglomerate ownership means the ownership of several business one of which is media business. For example when a publishing company owns a newspaper along with chemical, fertilizer, cement, rubber or plastics factories,
or a liquor brewery or distillery or a major corporation has controlling shares in a number of media related business, the pattern is conglomerate.
In a conglomerate, there will be interlocking of directorships, which means the same persons will be directors of a media company as well as of manufacturing industries or financial corporations.
Infact several transport or lorry company directors are directing the destiny of newspaper, television or film production companies.
Their main business will be a high profit industry, but they run a media company for prestige or to exercise social and political influence on decision makers in the private or public sector and in the government of the day.
Such a conglomeration may not always support an unbiased or dispassionate presentation of events, issues and personalities. However, there are already at least six states where a single media house has a clear and growing dominance.
These are media groups that are emerging as national conglomerates. They are all in the news business as well as in entertainment, media distribution and network business.
They own newspapers, magazines, radio, cable TV and television channels, to name their key businesses.