Media Orgranisational Structure
Media Orgranisational Structure
MASS COMMUNICATION
3rd SEMESTER
MSM-521
E RSITY OF S
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CONTENTS
3 Cinema In India 30
STRUCTURE
1.0 Learning Objectives
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Newspaper Departments and their Functions
1.3 Magazine Departments and their Functions
1.4 Types of Ownership of Newspapers and Magazines
1.5 Economics of Newspaper and Magazine Production
1.6 News Print Policy
1.7 Check Your Progress
1.8 Summary
1.9 Keywords
1.10 Self-Assessment Test
1.11 Answers to Check Your Progress
1.12 References/Suggested Readings
1.1 INTRODUCTION
Every professional organization adopts the principle of division of labour for optimum output. A print
media organizational structure specifies its division of work activities and shows how different activities
are linked. It also indicates the distribution of work activities according to specialization and refers to
the hierarchy, authority, structure and relationships in the print media organization.
departments of a newspaper, an attractive. expressive and impressive newspapers can be brought out
and delivered to the readers timely with their successful feedbacks. Since time immemorial, a
newspaper organization has been defined as three-legged table, i.e., it has got three departments:
Editorial Department
Advertising Department
Circulation Department
But today, it is much more than three-legged table. Though the above three departments are the core
departments often described as linchpins, yet many other relevant and important departments have also
emerged these days in this era of digitalisation which are none-the-less significant.
These departments are as follows:
Printing Department
Administrative Department
Accounting Department
Personnel Department
Legal Department, and
Public Relations Department
EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT
This department is the real think-tank of the newspaper organization. It is the epicenter of news, views,
reviews, previews, interviews, etc. Chief Editor or Editor-in-Chief or Editor heads this department. It is
divided into several sections like: News Section, Views Section, Photo Section, Computer Section, etc.
The News Section is further divided into News Room and Reporter's Room. News Editor heads
the News Room and it consists of many other staff like Deputy News Editors, Chief Sub Editors, Senior
Sub Editors and Sub Editors. They are all responsible for editing news under the leadership of News
Editor.
The Reporter's Room is further divided into Reporting Wing and Bureau Wing. The Reporting
Wing is headed by Chief Reporter and it consists of staff like Senior Reporter, Sports Reporter, City
Reporter, Principal Correspondent, Senior Correspondents and Correspondents. On the other hand,
Chief of the Bureau heads the Bureau Wing and it also consists of Special Correspondents. The job of
all of them is collection of news.
The Views Section is further divided into Editorial Wing, Article Wing, Feature Wing and
Review Wing. The Editor, Resident Editor, Executive Editor, Associate Editors (or Deputy Editors),
and Assistant Editors look after these wings.
Chief Photographer heads the Photo Section and there are many other photographers and a few
photo editors also.
Computer In-charge heads the Computer Section and there are several other computer operators
to support him. Here a lot of digitalized activities are continuously and constantly emerging in this
modern era of online booms.
ADVERTISING DEPARTMENT
This department is the most important source of revenue for newspapers. Here a lot of
creative,innovative and imaginative activities are carried out. Hence this department is often described
as creative brain storming platform.. The economy of the newspaper depends heavily on this
department. This department looks after the collection and publication of advertisements. There can be
several sections in this department. One section looks after local advertising, another section looks after
classified ads, another section looks after general/national advertising, another section looks after legal
advertising, yet another section looks after preparing copy and so on.
CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT
This department is the final result producer. If a decent ,tasty and saviour food is prepared, but not
served to the guests, then it is a thoroughly futile exercise. Similarly ,if a wonderful newspaper is
produced, but not distributed or circulated to its readers timely and properly, then it is just like love
labour lost. Hence, this department is indispensable and sine qua non for the basic existence of the
newspaper organization.
In this way, this department is an integral part of a three-legged table and a triangular love story with
editorial department and advertising department. The staffs and their coordination with transport section
,newspaper agencies and even hawkers are the most vital and important. This department can make or
mar the ultimate results of the newspaper organization.
The main job of Circulation Department is to increase the circulation and readership of the newspaper,
timely delivery of the newspapers to the readers and collection from them.
PRINTING DEPARTMENT
This department is responsible for good and attractive printing including installation of machines, plant
layout, composing, processing, loading, scheduling, and maintenance of old machines and hiring of
latest printing technologies.
ADMINISTRATIVE DEPARTMENT
The main task of this department is to administer the different types of work relating to training,
promotion, distribution, liaison with government departments and all those activities, which facilitate
the working of other departments.
ACCOUNTING DEPARTMENT
The primary job of this department is to monitor the accounting work like maintaining books of
accounts, preparing balance sheet and other financial statements, payment, receipt, preparation of
budget, financial management, etc.
STORES DEPARTMENT
This department maintains the proper storage of newsprint and raw materials used in the production of a
newspaper.
PERSONNEL DEPARTMENT
This department takes care of all personnel functions from hiring to firing like selection, training,
promotion, compensation, employee welfare, performance appraisal, retirement, etc.
LEGAL DEPARTMENT
In small and medium newspapers, generally the legal issues are looked after by the Administrative
Department. But mostly a separate Legal Department exists in a full-fledged big newspaper.
PUBLIC RELATIONS DEPARTMENT
Like separate Legal Department this department is found mostly in big newspapers. This department
looks after maintaining harmonious internal and external relations.
Only one individual gets the whole profit of the newspaper business.
The owner is wholeheartedly associated with the newspaper and the magazine. Therefore, the
personality of the owner and the personality of the newspaper and the magazine are the same for
the society.
DISADVANTAGES OF SOLE PROPRIETORSHIP
The coordination of a fast growing industry like newspaper and magazine by one seems to be
unpractical and unsuitable
In the sole proprietorship, there are unlimited responsibilities for one individual.
oUnder this system, financial management becomes extremely difficult.
After the death of the owner, the continuation of the occupation is difficult.
2. PARTNERSHIP
According to section 4 of the Indian Partnership Act, 1932, “Partnership is a mutual relationship of
those who have decided to distribute the profit of a business which is run by any of them on behalf of all
of them.
ADVANTAGES OF PARTNERSHIP
People of different capacities, abilities and financial resources can jointly make this business a
success. If required, an individual who is not acquainted with the business of newspaper and
magazine, may also be associated with this business by way of investment and thereby the
development of this business is possible.
The responsibilities of publishing the newspaper are distributed and hence the work pressure on
every individual is relatively reduced.
In the business activities, the mental and psychological involvement of more than one individual
helps a lot in brainstorming and finally in taking any decision.
DISADVANTAGES OF PARTNERSHIP
Every partner is responsible for bearing the burden of whole credit of the newspaper and the
magazine.
Every partner has unlimited responsibility.
Due to the cunning and crafty behaviour of one or some partners, other partners are also
adversely affected.
In partnership, there is difficulty in getting the long-term loan.
Some of the newspapers and magazines are being published under the partnership form of ownership.
The names of different partnership forms are following:
Labhchand Chajalani and others, Indore (Name of the newspaper: “Naidunia”, a Hindi daily).
Transport 10%
Telephone 10%
Electricity 05%
Films 05%
Plates 05%
Ink 02%
Maintenance 03%
Total: 100%
(Source: Registrar of Newspaper for India, Press in India, 1996)
The details of average revenue of newspaper and magazine are given below:
Elements of Revenue Percentage
Advertisement 60%
Circulation 30%
Wastage 10%
(Source: Registrar of Newspaper for India, Press in India, 1996)
The details of average revenue of newspaper and magazine collected from advertisement are given
below:
Elements of Advertisement Percentage
Public Sector Ads 23.33%
Private Sector Ads 76.67%
Total 100%
(Source: Registrar of Newspaper for India, Press in India, 1996)
It is important to mention here that in 1992, the Government of India permitted private mills to
produce newsprint in India. But this could not solve the problems and the crisis still continued. The
production capacity of all government owned and privately owned mills is much less than the required
quantity of newsprint.
Moreover, what is more disturbing and distressing to the Indian Press is the sky-rocketing prices
of newsprint. From 1990 to 1994, the price of the newsprint supplied by Mysore Paper Mills shot up by
30 per cent. During the same period, the Hindustan Newsprint and their government-owned mill,
increased the newsprint price by as much as 40 per cent.
But the latest Newsprint Policy of the government is much more liberal and open than what it
was earlier. At present, there is no state control over the newsprint and anybody can import it from
outside.
Regarding newsprint, the following questions are often asked: Whether the government has
made some changes in the newsprint import policy? Whether the newsprint policy is anti-small
newspapers?
The present import policy of newsprint was announced on 29.01.1997 through Notification No. 22(RE-
96)/92-97. As per the present policy import of news print is permitted without an import license subject
to actual user condition to those who hold a “Certificate for Entitlement to Import Newsprint” issued by
the Registrar of Newspapers for India, Government of India, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting,
New Delhi.
1.8 SUMMARY
A newspaper organization has Editorial Department, Advertising Department, and Circulation
Department, Printing Department, Administrative Department, Accounting Department, Personnel
Department, Legal Department, and Public Relations Department.
Like newspapers, a full-fledged magazine set-up also consists of Editorial Department, Advertising
Department, Circulation Department, Printing Department, Administrative Department,
Accounting Department, Stores Department, Personnel Department, Legal Department and Public
Relations Department having similar role. But in magazine set-up, the hierarchy and authority are
somewhat different. In magazine set-up there are generally Editor-in-Chief, Deputy Editors
Assistant Editors, News Coordinators, Special Correspondents, Correspondents, Copy Editors,
Photographers, Artists, etc.
Even today the condition of a small newspaper is like this where the owner, publisher, printer and
editor is the same person, i.e., one individual. This is called sole proprietorship. But today due to
industrial and technological revolution, journalism has turned out to be a complicated profession.
As a result, partnership, joint stock companies, trust, societies and associations have also emerged
very fast in addition to sole proprietorship.
According to section 4 of the Indian Partnership Act, 1932, “Partnership is a mutual relationship of
those who have decided to distribute the profit of a business which is run by any of them on behalf
of all of them.
In the modern industrial age, Joint Stock Company is an important source of supply of huge capital
for large-scale production. Most of the disadvantages of sole proprietorship and partnership can be
overcome by organizing the set-up on the principle of Joint Stock Company.
According to section 3 of the Indian Company Act, 1956, “By company, we mean company which
is registered and formed under this act or such company which has been registered under the Indian
Company Act 1866 or 1883 or 1913 or 1932”.
Some of the newspapers and magazines are not aimed at earning profit, but are targeted for the
propagation of certain purpose. In addition, many a time, the property of newspapers and
magazines are not transferred to some other form of ownership, but is transferred to some selfless
The News Section is further divided into News Room and Reporter's Room. News Editor heads
the News Room and it consists of many other staff like Deputy News Editors, Chief Sub Editors, Senior
Sub Editors and Sub Editors. They are all responsible for editing news under the leadership of News
Editor.
The Reporter's Room is further divided into Reporting Wing and Bureau Wing. The Reporting
Wing is headed by Chief Reporter and it consists of staff like Senior Reporter, Sports Reporter, City
Reporter, Principal Correspondent, Senior Correspondents and Correspondents. On the other hand,
Chief of the Bureau heads the Bureau Wing and it also consists of Special Correspondents. The job of
all of them is collection of news.
The Views Section is further divided into Editorial Wing, Article Wing, Feature Wing and
Review Wing. The Editor, Resident Editor, Executive Editor, Associate Editors (or Deputy Editors),
and Assistant Editors look after these wings.
Chief Photographer heads the Photo Section and there are many other photographers and a few
photo editors also.
Computer In-charge heads the Computer Section and there are several other computer operators
to support him.
Advertising Department: The department is the most important source of revenue for newspapers. The
economy of the newspaper depends heavily on this department. This department looks after the
collection and publication of advertisements. There can be several sections in this department. One
section looks after local advertising, another section looks after classified ads, another section looks
after general/national advertising, another section looks after legal advertising, yet another section looks
after preparing copy and so on.
Circulation Department: The main job of Circulation Department is to increase the circulation and
readership of the newspaper, timely delivery of the newspapers to the readers and collection from them.
Printing Department: This department is responsible for good and attractive printing including
installation of machines, plant layout, composing, processing, loading, scheduling, and maintenance of
old machines and hiring of latest printing technologies.
Administrative Department: The main task of this department is to administer the different types of
work relating to training, promotion, distribution, liaison with government departments and all those
activities, which facilitate the working of other departments.
Accounting Department: The primary job of this department is to monitor the accounting work like
maintaining books of accounts, preparing balance sheet and other financial statements, payment,
receipt, preparation of budget, financial management, etc.
Stores Department: This department maintains the proper storage of newsprint and raw materials used
in the production of a newspaper.
Personnel Department: This department takes care of all personnel functions from hiring to firing like
selection, training, promotion, compensation, employee welfare, performance appraisal, retirement, etc.
Legal Department: In small and medium newspapers, generally the legal issues are looked after by the
Administrative Department. But mostly a separate Legal Department exists in a full-fledged big
newspaper.
Public Relations Department: Like separate Legal Department this department is found mostly in big
newspapers. This department looks after maintaining harmonious internal and external relations.
Sole Properietorship: Even today the condition of a small newspaper is like this where the owner,
publisher, printer and editor is the same person, i.e., one individual. This is called sole proprietorship.
But today due to industrial and technological revolution, journalism has turned out to be a complicated
profession. As a result, partnership, joint stock companies, trust, societies and associations have also
emerged very fast in addition to sole proprietorship.
Joint Stock Company: In the modern industrial age, Joint Stock Company is an important source of
supply of huge capital for large-scale production.
Trust: Some of the newspapers and magazines are not aimed at earning profit, but are targeted for the
propagation of certain purpose. In addition, many a time, the property of newspapers and magazines are
not transferred to some other form of ownership, but is transferred to some selfless management system
to establish a trust so that irregularities in management and publication of newspapers is not distributed,
but is re-invested in the same organization.
Societies and Associations: For publishing newspapers, some societies and associations have been
established in our country. But their number is limited. The circulation of such newspapers and
magazines is also very less. Moreover, the purpose of such newspapers and magazines is not to earn
profit, but to convey some special messages to the people.
Newsprint Policy: But the latest Newsprint Policy of the government is much more liberal and open
than what it was earlier. At present, there is no state control over the newsprint and anybody can import
it from outside.
Regarding newsprint, the following questions are often asked: Whether the government has
made some changes in the newsprint import policy? Whether the newsprint policy is anti-small
newspapers?
The present import policy of newsprint was announced on 29.01.1997 through Notification No.
22 (RE-96)/92-97. As per the present policy import of news print is permitted without an import license
subject to actual user condition to those who hold a “Certificate for Entitlement to Import Newsprint”
issued by the Registrar of Newspapers for India, Government of India, Ministry of Information &
Broadcasting, New Delhi.
STRUCTURE
2.0 Learning Objectives
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Organizational Structure of All India Radio
2.3 Organizational Structure of Doordarshan
2.4 Organizational Structure of Private TV Channels
2.5 Economics of Programme Production for Radio and TV
2.6 Some facts about AIR & DD
2.7 Check Your Progress
2.8 Summary
2.9 Keywords
2.10 Self-Assessment Test
2.11 Answers to Check Your Progress
2.12 References/Suggested Readings
2.1 INTRODUCTION
is a question of economics. However, some small market radio outlets have staffs that rival those of
rival market stations because their income warrants it.
However, a few small stations earn enough to have elaborate staffs. But the key word at the small
station is flexibility, since each member of the staff is expected to perform numerous tasks.
Medium markets are set up in more densely populated areas and in this type of station; there are
twelve to twenty employees. While an overlapping of duties does occur even in the larger station,
positions usually are more limited to specific areas of responsibility.
Large market stations employ as many as fifty to sixty people and as few as twenty depending on
the nature of their format.
As far as All India Radio is concerned, Director General is the head of the organization. This being
a sensitive post, the requirements include: a wide cultural background, initiative, tact, administrative
ability, sound judgement of men and matters, a deep commitment to broadcasting and qualities of
leadership of a high order.
Sometimes, Indian Administrative Service Officers are assigned an additional task of Director
General of All India Radio. This is somehow not considered to be a healthy trend. However, since
independence, there have been around many I.A.S. officers who have performed the task of Director
General of All India Radio.
There are Additional Director General and Deputy Director Generals also who help the Director
General in the discharge of his vast duty. Director of Programmes assists the Deputy Director General.
Other than that a Director whose rank is equivalent to Deputy Director General heads the News
Division. Chief News Editor, News Editor, and Joint Director etc assist the Director. Moreover, there
are Translators, News Readers and Announcers also to help the News Division.
The Engineering Division of AIR is looked after by Engineer-in-Chief and is assisted by Chief
Engineer and Regional Engineers.
The Regional Stations of AIR is under the control of Station Director who is assisted by Assistant
Station Directors and Programme Executives.
In addition to that B. G. Verghese Committee has also proposed an organizational structure for
AIR, which is given below: The committee proposed the creation of the following posts of General
Managers:
1. GM Legal Services
2. GM Planning
3. GM Information
The committee also proposed a Central News Room consisting of following:
1. General Manager
2. Editor, Akashwani
3. Editor, Doordarshan
4. Foreign Editor
5. Editor Monitoring
It also proposed the five Zonal Executive Boards, which are following:
1. Zonal Director
2. Controller Doordarshan & Controller Personnel
3. Controller Engineering
4. Controller Finance
5. Controller Akashwani & Regional Controller
Moreover, this committee also proposed the creation of the posts of Station Manager, Accounts and
Personnel Officer, Programme Officer, Extension Officer, etc.
The Deputy Director General (News and Current Affairs) looks after the administrative part of
current newsgathering, news selection, news processing, news evaluation and news presentation. He is
supported by Chief Editor News, Chief Producer News and News Editor (Teletex).
The Deputy Director General (Communication and Film) monitors the entire communication
process of the organization. He is assisted by Controller of Programme (Communication) and Deputy
Controller of Programme (Films).
The Deputy Director General (Production and Transmission) looks after the entire activities of
Production and Transmission and is supported by Deputy Director Administration in the discharge of
his vast duties.
The Director (Finance and Personal Control), guides, governs and controls the financial activities
and personnel works and in the discharge of his vast duties, Deputy Director Administration and Senior
Analyst support him.
The Department of Engineering is headed by Engineer-in-Chief who is answerable to the Director
General. The Engineer-in-Chief is responsible for the growth and maintenance of all the engineering
and technical activities. In the discharge of his enormous duties, he is assisted by Chief Engineer
(Project and Budget) and Chief Engineer (Maintenance and INSAT).
The Chief Engineer (Project and Budget) supervises and prepares various projects and budgets
and is supported by Director Engineering (Study Design Coordination with ISRO and P&T), Director
Engineering (Teletext), Director Engineering (Purchase), Director Engineering (Progress and Budget),
Director Engineering (Estimates and NLF) and Director Engineering (Transmitter Design).
In addition to that there is a large number of staff in Doordarshan which are directly associated
with pre-production, production and post-production. These staff members are: Programme Producer,
Programme Executive, Video Engineer, Vision Control Operation, Lighting Engineer, Cameraman,
Vision Mixer, Studio Engineers, Make up Supervisors, Script Designer, Programme Assistant,
Production Assistant, Audio Control Manager, Mic Boom Operator, and Script Writer, etc.
Vice-Presidents
Director
Technical Director
News Director
News Editor/News Coordinator
Chief of the Bureau
Programme Producer
Programme Executive
Video Engineer
Vision Control Operator
Lighting Engineer
Cameraman
Vision Mixer
Studio Engineers
Make-up Supervisors
Script Designer
Programme Assistant
Production Assistant
Audio Control Manager
Mic Room Operator
Script Writer o Researcher
Performer/Artist
The Chairman, the Chief Executive Officer, the Managing Director, The President, Senior Vice-
President and the Vice-Presidents belong to the Administrative Department. This department directly or
indirectly controls guides and governs all other departments, sections, sub-sections and staff.
have made economic planning of radio and newspaper production more complex. At the time of
commencement of radio and television production, economic planning involves:
Estimation of amount of capital to be raised
Determining the sources of collecting capital including banks and other financial Institutions.
Planning in respect of surpluses and reserves
Planning regarding return of investment
Framing policies for administration of capital
Budgeting
More specifically speaking economics of radio and television requires the broader details of sources of
revenue and expenditure.
SOURCES OF REVENUE FOR RADIO:
The major source of revenue for radio is advertisement. 50 to 60 per cent of the revenue is generated by
different varieties of advertisements. Other sources of revenue are royalty, rent on production facilities
and equipments, etc.
SOURCES OF EXPENDITURE FOR RADIO:
The various sources of expenditure for radio are radio programme productions, transmission through
AM and FM, payment of equipments, maintenance of equipments, subscription to different agencies
and so on.
SOURCES OF REVENUE FOR TELEVISION:
The most important source of revenue for a television is advertisement. It generates around 55 to 60 per
cent revenue. The other important sources of revenue are selling of time slots to different film
producers, royalty, taxing artists/performers for their extra income elsewhere, rent on production
equipments, selling of exclusive news material to some other units, entertainment show, etc.
SOURCES OF EXPENDITURE FOR TELEVISION:
The various sources of expenditure for television are programme production, programme transmission,
payment of salaries to staff, purchase of equipments, maintenance of equipments, use of satellite
facilities-downlinking and uplinking, subscription to agencies and so on.
July 20, 1952 First National Programme of Music broadcast from AIR
July 23, 1977 First ever FM service was started from Madras.
September 28, 1994 28, Four 500 KW Superpower Shortwave transmitters at Bangalore
inaugurated
February 25, 1998 AIR 'News on Telephone' and AIR 'live on Internet'
August 15, 1999 Second FM Channels at Delhi and Calcutta with Yuvavani.
Feb 27, 2002 AIR launched its first ever-digital statellite home service.
Jan 26, 2004 BhashaBharati Channel of AIR launched at Delhi and Classical Music
Channel launched at Bangalore.
Apr 01, 2004 Launch of KisanVani Programme from 12 Stations of AIR.
When India attained Independence in 1947, AIR had a network of six stations and a complement of 18
transmitters. The coverage was 2.5% of the area and just 11% of the population. Rapid expansion of the
network took place post-Independence.
AIR today has a network of 223 broadcasting centres with 143 medium frequency (MW), 54
high frequency (SW) and 161 FM transmitters. The coverage is 91.42% of the area, serving 99.13% of
the people in the largest democracy of the world. AIR covers 24 Languages and 146 dialects in home
services. In Externel services, it covers 27 languages; 17 national and 10 foreign languages.
Narrow Casting: The National level programme is centrally produced and telecast from Delhi at
6.30 A.M. through Satellite and on terrestrial transmitters of DDI National.
The Regional level programme is produced and telecast from 18 Regional Kendras at about 6.30
P.M. and the terrestrial transmitters within the coverage zone of the Kendras relay the programme from
the respective regional Kendras.
The Regional programme has repeat telecast in satellite mode on the next morning at 6.30 A.M.
The local level or narrowcast programme is produced and telecast locally from 36 narrowcast
clusters (180 transmitters) at about 6.30 P.M.
2.8 SUMMARY
Specification of activities is simply related to the specification of individual and group work
tasks throughout the organization and the aggression of these tasks into work units.
Standardization of activities can be achieved through job description, operating instructions,
rules and regulations, formal programmes, plans and control systems. Coordination is related to
interlinking and integration of activities in organization. Then there has to be both centralization
and decentralization of decision-making.
Radio stations come in all sizes and generally are classified as being either small, medium or
large market outlets. The size of the community that a station serves usually reflects the size of
its staff. That is to say, the station in a town of five thousand residents may have as few as six
full-time employees.
A large number of staff in Doordarshan are directly associated with pre-production, production
and post-production. These staff members are: Programme Producer, Programme Executive,
Video Engineer, Vision Control Operation, Lighting Engineer, Cameraman, Vision Mixer,
Studio Engineers, Make up Supervisors, Script Designer, Programme Assistant, Production
Assistant, Audio Control Manager, Mic Boom Operator, Script Writer.
2.9 KEYWORDS
Aspects of Organizational Structure: The various aspects of organizational structure are specification
of activities, standardization of activities, coordination, centralization and decentralization of decision-
making, and the size of the work unit.
Staff Members in Doordarshan: The staff members of Doordarshan are: Programme Producer,
Programme Executive, Video Engineer, Vision Control Operation, Lighting Engineer, Cameraman,
Vision Mixer, Studio Engineers, Make up Supervisors, Script Designer, Programme Assistant,
Production Assistant, Audio Control Manager, Mic Boom Operator, Script Writer.
3. b) Post-Production
B. FILL IN THE BLANKS
1. Organizational Structure
2. Specification
3. Size
2.11 EFERENCES/SUGGESTED READINGS
1. Keith, Michael C & Krause, Joseph M. (1989) “The Radio Station: Broadcast,Satellite &
Internet” published by Focal Press, USA.
2. Chatterji, P.C. (1993) —“Broadcasting in India” published by Sage Publications,USA.
3. Dilliard,A 1990) — “Television Journalism and Broadcasting” By Focal Press,USA.
4. Bhatt, S.C. (1993) — “Broadcast Journalism: Basic Principles.Published by Har-Anand
Publications Pvt. Limited,New Delhi.
STRUCTURE
3.0 Learning Objectives
3.1 Introduction
3.2 The Beginning of Indian Cinema
3.2.1 New Era & New Themes in Indian Cinema
3.2.2 The Talkies Era
3.2.3 The Studio System
3.2.4 Popular Films
3.2.5 Art Film Movement in India
3.2.6 Film Censorship in India
3.2.7 Structure of Indian Film Industry
3.2.8 Economics & Industry Status
3.2.9 Indian Cinema by Language
3.3 Check Your Progress
3.4 Summary
3.5 Keywords
3.6 Self-Assessment Test
3.7 Answers to Check Your Progress
3.8 References/Suggested Readings
3.1 INTRODUCTION
Cinema began with the great French inventors best known as the Lumière brothers. They invented a
revolutionary camera and projector, the Cinématographe. Auguste Marie Louis Nicolas and Louis Jean
Lumière invented a camera that could record, develop, and project film, but they regarded their creation
as a little more than a curious novelty. The word ‘Cinema' originated from the name of this
revolutionary invention, Cinématographe.
In the year 1896, the very first Cinematographic Exhibition or ‘Film Show India' took place at the
Watson's Hotel in Bombay. People came in hundreds to watch 'the marvel of the century, the wonder of
the world', made by the Lumière brothers from Paris.
What they saw in the exhibition that day, wasn't a full-length feature film, but short clippings of random
things like, 'arrival of a train', a 'sea bath', and 'soldiers on wheels', These were normal, everyday
activities. But everyone was beyond excited as they were watching "Living photographic pictures in
life-sized reproductions."
This exhibition in Bombay took place six months after the first ever film show in Paris in 1895.
This 1896 film show marked the entry of Cinema or ‘Motion Pictures' in India. In the beginning of the
20th century, there were little technological advances in the field of Cinema. At that time, only short
films were made on rather simple topics. Back then, most of the films that Indian viewers watched were
imported from the west. Gradually, these films were made in India too. These filmmakers used Static
Cameras to make silent and short, documentary type films. These films had zero editing or post
production and were famously called ‘Shoot and Show' films. In this lesson, we'll study about the
various aspects of Indian cinema.
The very first Indian to make what was then called an ‘actuality film' was Harischandra Sakharam
Bhatwadekar (Save Dada). He made “The Wrestler” which was shot during a wrestling match in
Mumbai. The next big film project was by Hiralal Sen of Calcutta. He recorded some scenes from few
plays and showed them in theatres. And in 1912, Chithale and Dada Torne made a big impact by
making 'Bhakta Pundalik'. ‘Bhakta Pundalik' was actually a play, and the film was a recording of the
complete play.
THE FIRST BIG STEP
By this time, a new filmmaker had entered the scene. He blessed us all with his wonderful skills of
filmmaking. He is one of the most important figures in the history of Indian Cinema. His name was
Dhundiraj Govind Phalke, best known as Dada Saheb Phalke. He was an immensely talented painter,
architect, photographer, theatre personality and musician. And all these talents helped him become a
great filmmaker. In the beginning of his filmmaking career, he made a lot of short films. After a lot of
experimenting, he created what is now called ‘Time Lapse Cinematography'. Using this very technique,
he photographed a pea plant once every day for a whole month, and recorded the 'growing of a pea-
plant'.
After this, he left his job, sold his wife's ornaments, took a loan and started working on a feature film.
This feature film was his dream project. After a lot of sacrifices and months of hard work, Dada Saheb
Phalke finally made India's first full-length feature film, Raja Harishchandra. The film released on
April 21st, 1913 at Coronation Theatre, Bombay.
Raja Harishchandra was a four reel long silent film with title cards both in Hindi and English. For the
film's music, a group of musicians travelled with the film crew from theatre to theatre. This humble
film marked the beginning of the Indian film industry. ‘Raja Harishchandra' also played a huge role in
setting the trend for episodic treatment, action-oriented frames, lavishly designed sets and eroticism (the
film features an erotic ‘Bathtub Scene'). Decades after the release of this historic film, Indian
filmmakers, till this day use the principles and formula devised by Dada Saheb Phalke.
EARLY DAYS
In India, for a very long time, people have lived on the staple dose from the two great epics: the
Ramayana and the Mahabharata, along with the various Puranas. So, after the invention of
Cinématographe, when people found out they can portray stories with moving pictures, they started
following Dada Saheb Phalke and made mythological feature films based on stories from the Hindu
epics.
Dada Saheb Phalke made a great contribution to Indian cinema by making over a hundred short and
feature length films (mostly based on Indian mythology). Films like Savitri, Lanka Dahan, Krishna
Janma, and Bhasmasur Mohini are amongst his best works.
In the very beginning of Indian Cinema, Films were made only in Bombay. KeechakaVadam (1916)
was the first south Indian film. This film was made by, R. Nataraja Mudaliar and was shot in Madras. In
the 1920s, Kolhapur in Western Maharashtra became a major film production center. A talented
filmmaker named Baburao K. Mistry started making films in Kolhapur. His first film, Sairandhri was
released in 1920.
In 1921, Whittaker made Valli Thiru-Manam. This film was also shot in Madras and was a huge
success. Anantha Naryanan, another pioneer who had returned from Hollywood after his training,
started the 'General Pictures Corporation' in 1929 and made multiple films.
Gradually, more and more people started making films in different parts of India, and the films were no
more made exclusively in Bombay.
For the first whole decade of Indian Cinema, mostly mythological films were made. Around the 1920s,
there was a shift from mythological to ‘historical films. Baburao Mistry was one of the first filmmakers
to make these historical movies. His films were mostly based on Maratha history. These films had a
contemporary relevance to the people of India as they were fighting for their liberation from the
Britishers at that time.
Social concern and a sense of vigilance for the oppressed led many filmmakers to make ‘social films.'
These films tried to erase certain blind beliefs and superstitions. Satires ware another popular film genre
at the time. Dhiren Ganguly, a filmmaker from Calcutta made satirical films like, ‘Barrister's Wife' and
‘England Returned'. Other films like 'Gun Sundari' (Why Husbands Go Astray) and 'Typist Girl' dealt
with the prevailing social situation of that time. Another very famous social film of that time was,
'Savkari Pash' (The Indian Shylock, 1925). Actor V. Shantaram made his debut in this very film.
CO- PRODUCTIONS
The first Indian Filmmaker to venture into Co-Productions was Himanshu Rai. He collaborated with a
German Filmmaker, Peter Ostenmeyr and made ‘Light of Asia' in 1925. The majority of the artists were
Indian but all the technicians were German. Shiraz (1926), A Throw of Dice (1929) and Karma (1934)
are some of the other great works of Himanshu Rai. Most of his works were Co- Productions.
GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION
With the growing popularity of Cinema, profit hungry filmmakers started to make films with a lot of
nudity, violence and crime. Many of these films were imported from other countries. To top this all off,
the conditions of Cinema Halls were pathetic. Due to these reasons, the British Government passed the
Cinematograph Act in 1918. According to this act, the licensing of Cinema Halls was necessary. With
the implement of this act, film censorship was also introduced.
Accepting the proposal of a Bengal bureaucrat, the British Government implemented the ‘Entertainment
Tax' in 1922. In 1928, the Indian Cinematograph Committee was set up under the chairmanship of
Dewan Bahadur T. Rangachariar. This Committee studied the Indian film industry and recommended
wide-ranging changes and possible improvements. Sadly, the British government never accepted these
suggestions.
In India, from 1896 to 1931 around a thousand silent, both short and feature films were made. The Era
of the Talkies started in 1931 with the release of ‘Alam Ara', the first Indian Talkies Film.
Nevertheless, this wasn't the first time Indians had seen a talkies film. The world's first talkies film,
The Melody of Love (1929), was imported to India around two years before ‘Alam Ara'.
Alam Ara, the first Indian Talkies Film, was directed and produced by Ardeshi Irani. In this film the
characters talked, but that wasn't it. They also sang and danced. There were 12 songs in this film. This
overwhelming love for songs is still very prevalent in Indian Films. Even today, almost all commercial
films feature roughly half a dozen songs. In today's time, it's very hard to imagine a film without voice
and songs. One of the most recent silent Indian films was Pushpak.
Other Innovations
The film Noorjehan (1923), was one of the earliest attempts of making a film with an English Version.
This film was directed by Ezra Mir. Himanshu Rai's co-production films followed up after this film.
Another first in the Indian Film History was when a part of the film Bilwamangal (1932) was in color.
This part of the film was sent abroad for color processing, because at that time, this technology had not
come to India. Prabhat Theatre's Sairandhri (1933) was also partly shot in color and was sent to be
processed in Germany.
The very first fully colored Indian film was Kisan Kanya (1937) by Ardeshir Irani. Following it in 1938
was the film, Mother India. Regular color came much later in the 1950's with Mehboob Khan's Aan,
Sohrab Modi's Jhansi Ki Rani, Ambalal Patel's Pamposh and V. Shantaram's Jhanak Jhanak Payal
Baaje.
The 1940's witnessed the emergence of 'stars'. Actors, actresses became immensely popular amongst the
audience. Even writers, directors and other technicians also started becoming popular by the day. And
naturally, they were reluctant to work for studios for monthly salaries. Instead, they wanted to work for
the highest bidders. Whoever was able to pay the highest got the best of actors, actresses, directors and
writers. And this is how the ‘Star System' emerged. Ashok Kumar was one such star, who started off as
a technician for the Bombay Talkies and soon acted in many of their films. He eventually left the
Bombay Talkies to work for others. Another great example of the ‘Star System' is V. Shantaram. He
left Prabhat Studios and started producing and directing his own films. He also acted in most of his
films.
The 1940s marked the start of commercialization of the Indian film industry. Suddenly there was a lot
of Black Money involved with these films. Almost all the films were based on the same formula-
depending on tried and tested practices of romance, action, songs, dances and happy-endings. Fantasy
was the main basis of these films while reality took a backseat.
have been hugely popular in different overseas markets like Russia, UK, USA, Canada, The Emirates
and even China. The overseas market in Bollywood box office collections is sizeable.
India is the global leader as the largest film industry in the world. This is in terms of the number of
films produced by any single country. India produces about 2500 films a year. Of course, India lags
behind the market leader US in terms of Box-office revenues.
The Indian film industry is led by the Hindi film industry, also known as Bollywood. The Hindi film
industry contributes almost fifty percent of the revenue.
Other interesting trends in the Indian film industry include:
International/foreign films gaining share in the Indian industry,
Entry of international studios through acquisitions and collaborations,
Rise of regional cinema,
Growth in multiplexes and emergence of alternative streams of revenue
Since the 1990s, the three most successful Bollywood stars have been: Aamir Khan, Shah Rukh Khan,
and Salman Khan. They have to their credit the top ten highest-grossing Bollywood films. The three
Khans have had almost ruled the roost since the late 1980s.
During the 1990s and early 2000s Shah Rukh Khan was the most successful at the box office. Since the
late 2000s, Aamir Khan has been the most successful. According to Forbes magazine, Aamir Khan is
one of the world's biggest movie stars. Aamir Khan enjoys immense popularity both in India and China.
One land mark film of this time was Haider (2014, Vishal Bhardwaj). It is the third instalment of the
Indian Shakespearean Trilogy after Maqbool (2003) and Omkara (2006). Haider won the People's
Choice Award at the 9th Rome Film Festival making it the first Indian film to achieve this honour.
The 2010s also saw the rise of actresses like Vidya Balan, Priyanka Chopra, Katrina Kaif, Kangana
Ranaut, Deepika Padukone, Sonam Kapoor, Anushka Sharma, Sonakshi Sinha, Jacqueline Fernandez,
Shraddha Kapoor and Alia Bhatt. Vidya Balan and Kangana Ranaut achieved wide recognition for their
successful female-centric films: The Dirty Picture (2011), Kahaani (2012)., Queen and Tanu Weds
Manu Returns (2015).
Thematic Changes
Around this time, there were many thematic changes. Films of this era shared tried and tested formula
of 'conflict and collaboration'. However, the 50's and 60's were the decades of romance. The 70's saw
the overwhelming emergence of action and violence. Led by Amitabh Bachchan, Dharmendra, Vinod
Khanna among others, the Indian hero changed his personality from a soft romantic to an action-hero.
For the films of the 1970s, (Sholay, Qurbani, Amar Akbar Anthony, Muquddar Ka Sikander etc.) the
formula seemed to be a mix of song-dance-violence.
The 80's witnessed the emergence of Star- sons on the big screen. Sanjay Dutt, Sunny Deol, Kumar
Gaurav became big stars. The Romance Genre was also slowly coming back. Kamal Hasan's ‘Ek Duje
Ke Liye', Kumar Gaurav's Love Story, Salman Khan's 'Maine Pyar Kiya' became big hits. Action films,
however, continued to be a common theme in most movies. Multi-starers were also popular during this
time.
In the 90's some very turbulent times were seen. Due to factors like, the video boom, cable and satellite
TV, video piracy, etc., lesser and lesser people went to theatres. To counter this, Filmmakers made Big
Budget films. They used bigger sets, better (foreign and other exotic) locations and technical finesse to
try and lure people back to the Cinema Halls. The formula of musical melodramas with a bit of comedy,
rich-poor divide, initially thwarted love. A little bit of suspense, plenty of songs and dance numbers, a
lot of action and a happy ending was formulated back then in the 90's and is still pretty prevalent till
this day.
However, the early 2000s, there were a lot of changes compared to the 90s. The plot of the films
emphasized heavily on violence and sex. Sexually explicit gyrations became extremely popular and
common. Interestingly, there was no clear distinction between the hero and the villain (as seen in films
like Khalnayak, Baazigar, Darr, Anjaam). The comedic genre almost vanished for a while. Comedy was
briefly replaced by slapstick.
Another big change in the nineties was the emergence of directors from ‘filmy' backgrounds. Suraj
Barjatya has made a few really big films like ‘Maine Pyar Kiya', ‘Hum Apke Hain Kaun' and ‘Hum
Saath Saath Hain'. Aditya Chopra made ‘Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge', Karan Johar made Kuch
Kuch Hota Hai and both of these films were massive hits. Other than being second-generation directors,
their films have one thing in common; all these films were clean family entertainers.
In the 1990's, there was an emergence of mainstream realistic films. Ram Gopal Verma's 'Satya' was
the trendsetter in this particular genre. Mahesh Manjrekar's ‘Vastav' and E. Niwas's ‘Shool' followed
up after ‘Satya'. All these films were as close to reality as possible and did not follow the standard
filmy- formula.
And also, the nineties gave us, perhaps the second biggest super star after Amitabh Bachhan, Shahrukh
Khan. From soft romantic roles to no-good-fool characters, from an obsessed lover to maniac killer,
Shahrukh Khan has played all kinds of roles and is still going strong.
The 1990's also saw the emergence of the immensely talented actor, Manoj Bajpai. After years and
years of theatre, then a few small roles in films here and there, Bajpai became a huge star with his
portrayal of Bhiku Mhatre in ‘Satya'. He has shown his immense talents in 'Kaun' (a suspense thriller)
and Shool (portraying the anguish of an upright police officer) to his latest Amazon Prime Series,
Family Man, where he plays an undercover police officer.
filmmakers. FFC financed serious filmmakers. The next development was FFC being renamed as the
National Film Development Corporation. The NFDC has been promoting good cinema for a long time
now.
New Wave Cinema
The pioneers of the new-wave cinema were Ritwik Ghatak (Meghe Dhake Tara) and Mrinal Sen. Sen
made Bhuvan Shome, Baishey Sharvan, Akash Kusum, Interview, Padatik, Ek Din Pratidin,
Parashuram, Mrigaya (Mithun Chakraborty won the best actor award for this film), Ek Adhuri Kahani
and Ek din Achanak.
Other new-wave filmmakers include Basu Chatterji, M. S. Sathyu, Kumar Sahni, Mani Kaul, Gautam
Ghosh.
The new wave films are drastically different from the main stream films people were accustomed to.
They differ in their approach, themes, treatment and almost in all respects. Such films are made for a
select audience (classes as opposed to masses). And these films win national and international awards
and worldwide critical acclaim.
The Middle Cinema
While commercial films catered to the masses and art films catered to the classes, in the 1970's a new
kind of cinema was introduced that served to both the masses and the classes. The person who led this
movement was Shyam Benegal. Starting with Ankur (1974), he has made many meaningful and yet
successful films like ‘Nishant', ‘Manthan', ‘Bhumika', ‘Kalyug', ‘Junoon' and ‘Kondura'. Then came
Govind Nihlani with ‘Akrosh',' Ardh Satya' etc. Other such filmmakers are: Saeed Mirza (Albert
Pintoo Ko Gussa Kyon Aata Hai, Mohan Joshi Hazir Ho), Ketan Mehta (Holi, Bhavni Bhavai, Mirch
Masala, Maya Memsaheb).
These filmmakers started the trend of making socially conscious and political films, which were
entertaining at the same time. These films win awards and are commercially successful too. Sadly, these
kinds of film are pretty rare these days in Indian Cinema.
‘Ray’ of Hope
By this time Indian Cinema had gone through several phases. Thematically, the earliest films were
mythological. Then came the historical films followed by social films and satirical films. These genres
were followed by fantasy-films and romantic films. By the 1940's, almost all the films were made with
the sole purpose of commercial success. However, a few socially relevant and realistic films like Garam
Hawa (M.S. Sathyu), Do Bigha Zamin (Bimal Roy), Dr. Kotnis Ki Amar Kahani (V. Shantaram), Aurat
and Mother India (Mehoob Khan) were also made during this time.
A big change in the approach towards filmmaking came during the middle of the 1950's. It came with a
filmmaker from Calcutta, named Satyajit Ray. Back then, he was an advertising executive but he always
had a deep interest in literature and films. Like Dada Saheb Phalke, Satyajit Ray was also a very
generously talented individual. He was a writer, designer, musician and also a wonderful director.
Starting with the Apu trilogy – Pather Pancheli (1954), Aparajita (1957) and Apur Sansar (1959), he
went on to make many more classics. These include Jalsaghar (1958), Devi (1966) Teen Kanya (1961),
Charulata (1964), Nayak (1966), Gopy Gyne Bagha Byne (1968), Aranyer Din Ratri (1970),
Pratidwandi (1970) Seema Boddha (1971), Sonar Kella (1974), Ashani Sanket (1974), Ghare Baire
(1985), Ganashatru (1989). Despite of being a Bengali, Ray also made one Hindi film –Shatranj Ke
Khiladi (1977). He also made many documentaries including one on Rabrindra Nath Tagore. Satyjit
Ray's films were out of the ordinary. These films weren't crass commercialization projects. They were
honest pieces of art. His twenty-five films (and five documentaries) had artistic expression, thematic
thrust, cinematic exploration, and communication mixed with sensible entertainment.
Regional Films in India
India is an immensely culturally diverse country with hundreds of languages and dialects. Hindi is by
far the most commonly spoken language here, and understandably a majority of Hindi films are made in
India. However, Hindi films amount to about one fifth of the total number of films made in India. The
rest of the films are made in other regional languages. Being region specific, these films have limited
audiences and thus do not do as well commercially compared to Hindi films. While this is true for most
of the regional language films, the South Indian Film Industry is doing pretty well for itself. Telugu
films lead the regional language films in terms of numbers followed by Tamil, Malayalam and Kannada
films. In fact, the four South Indian language films account for almost 60 percent of all Indian language
films including Hindi films made every year. Among other languages, a sizable number of films are
made in Bengali and Marathi. Other languages in which films are made regularly are Oriya, Assamese,
Bhojpuri, Rajasthani, Punjabi, Gujarati, Haryanvi, Manipuri, Bodo and Nepali. A few English films are
also made every year in India.
Back in the early days, censorship differed from province to province. There were no standard practices.
In most places, the Police Commissioner's office granted permission for screening of films. Later
representatives of Police became part of the Censor Board when it was set up in 1952.
All these years the reaction from the film industry to censorship has been contradictory. Generally, no
one speaks about censorship. It has been accepted as some kind of a necessary evil. Problems arise only
when objections are raised about any film.
Also, censorship has often been arbitrary and discriminatory. For example, in the silent era and the early
talkies era, kissing was frequently shown in films. And in the present censorship code there is no
mention of kissing. However, the Censor Board has created an unwritten law about kissing and anything
around this subject. The Censor Board is very strict about violence and sex. Many films ended up being
banned, and very frequently scenes from films have been cut due to display of violence and sex.
However, filmmakers use sex in the so-called sex-education films (which were earlier banned but are
now being made regularly). Censorship of political issues is comparatively not a big problem as only on
rare occasions political films are made. Kissa Kursi Ka, a film made on emergency created a lot of
unrest amongst the people. Even the Sanjeev Kumar and Suchitra Sen starrer Aandhi was objected as
this film's lead actress looked like Indira Gandhi.
Some other popular films that raised objections in the Censor Board are Bandit Queen and Elizabeth
(both directed by Shekhar Kapoor). In the case of Bandit Queen, this film depicted the story of Phoolan
Devi, the raw violence and street language was objected. Also, the gang rape scene was strictly resisted.
Elizabeth, a Hollywood film that won many international awards including an Oscar, was subjected to
few cuts before being released here. Deepa Mehta's 'Fire' was cleared by the Censer Board at first, but
referred back to the Board after disapproval in certain parts of the film. Mahesh Bhatt's Zakham was
also objected by the Censor Board.
In conclusion, whether directors and producers like it or not, film censorship is here to stay. However, it
would be better if the practices of the Censor Board could be more consistent, logical and genuine.
In India we have three major film production centres - Bombay (Bollywood), Madras (Mollywood) and
Calcutta (Tollywood). The majority of Hindi Films are made in Bombay. However, Bollywood also
caters to Marathi, Gujarati, Konkani and other language films. Even Punjabi, Haryanvi, Rajasthani,
Kashmiri, Bhojpuri films depend quite heavily on Bombay.
Mollywood or the Madras (now Chennai) film industry caters to the four south Indian language films.
Because of the competence and popularity of Mollywood, filmmakers shoot many Hindi films there.
Lately, Hyderabad has come up as a major film production center. It has about half a dozen big studios
with all kinds of facilities. In fact, a recently build studio (owned by media-magnate Ramoji Rao) has a
five-star hotel, about 60 different gardens, dozens of shooting floors, many different landscapes in
addition to sophisticated post production facilities like editing, dubbing, recording, mixing and special
effects - all available within one complex.
Calcutta caters to Bengali, Oriya and Assamese films. Lately studios and other facilities have been
developed in both Orissa and Assam.
Film making in India is a big business. It includes transactions of thousands of crores of rupees every
year. Also, lakhs of people make their living being involved with filmmaking. Considering all these
facts, it is a pity that there is almost no financial help from the Government. Although it is called an
industry because of its size and the amount of business it does, it was not given the industry status until
recently. Former Information and Broadcasting Minister Mrs. Sushma Swaraj announced industry status
for the film industry. However, the formalities have not been worked out yet. So, filmmakers are yet to
avail bank loans and other facilities. It is surprising as the Government spends crores of rupees through
NFDC and other such bodies for the making and production of new wave cinema; the commercial film
world has been ignored for so long.
However, some recent developments show a lot of hope. Subhash Ghai's 'Taal' beame the first Indian
film to be insured. Also, many Hollywood studios are entering the Hindi film industry. All these things
promise a healthy future for Indian cinema. And governmental help or not, cinema - the marvel of the
19th century & the biggest entertainer of the 20th century - would continue to enthrall viewers in the
new millennium.
d) Nal Damayanti
4. Which of the following was the first made indigenous, coloured film of India?
a) Alama Ara
b) Pather Panchali
c) Kisan Kanya
d) Devdas
5. Which is the first indigenous feature film in India?
a) Pundalik
b) Alam Ara
c) Sant Tukaram
d) Raja Harishchandra
6. Which is the first narrative feature film in India?
a) Pundalik
b) Raja Harishchandra
c) Alam Ara
d) Sant Tukaram
3.4 SUMMARY
Dada Saheb Phalke was a painter, architect, photographer, theatre personality and musician. All
these talents helped Phalke in filmmaking. In the beginning he made many short films. Months
of dedication and hard work by Phalke resulted in India's first full-length feature film- Raja
Harischandra. It was released on April 21, 1913 at the Coronation Theatre, Bombay. 'Raja
Harischandra' was a four-reel long silent film with title cards both in Hindi and English. A group
of musicians traveled with the film to theatre halls to provide musical accompaniment.
In the beginning films were made exclusively in Bombay only. The first film in southern India-
Keechaka Vadam (1916) was made by R. Nataraja Mudaliar in Madras.
Another film – Valli Thiru-Manam (1921) was made in Madras by Whittaker. It was a big
success. Kolhapur in Western Maharastra became a major film production center in the 1920's.
Baburao K. Mistry started making films in Kolhapur. His first film Sairandhri was released in
1920. Slowly, more people started film making in different parts of India.
V. Shantaram and three others set up the first film studio in India: 'Prabhat Film Company'. This
company had its own studio where shooting could be done. It had its own regular writers,
directors, technical staff, equipment and also actors and actresses on the payroll who worked
exclusively in the films made by the studio.
Himanshu Rai set up 'Bombay Talkies' in 1935. Other studios that followed were 'Imperial Film
Company' of Bombay under the stewardship of Ardeshir Irani, 'Wadia Movietone' by the
brothers: producer J.B.H. Wadia and director Homi Wadia. In Calcutta, Dhiren Ganguly and
B.N. Sircar formed New Theatre Company (Chandidas, 1932; Devdas, 1936; Mukti). The other
major studios were Raj Kapoor's RK Studio, Dev Anand's Navketan Films. Madras based
studios like AVM, Gemini, etc. are still active and making films in both south Indian languages
and Hindi.
The forties marked the commercialization of the Indian film industry. Black money started
flowing thru the film industry. Also, most of the films became formula based - depending on
tried and tested practices of romance, action, songs, dances and happy-endings. Reality went out
of films and fantasy became the main basis for Indian films.
3.5 KEYWORDS
Studio System: Phalke set up the first film production company in India. He set up the Hindustan
Cinema Film Company in 1918. The next step in this direction was the 'studio system'.
The Star System: The 1940's saw the emergence of 'stars'. Actors, actresses became immensely
popular. So did writers, directors and other technicians. They did not want to work for studios for
monthly salaries. They wanted to work for the highest bidders. Whoever paid the highest 'fee' got the
best of actors, actresses, directors and others. Thus, emerged the "star system". Ashok Kumar who
started as a technician with Bombay Talkies and Devika Rani were among the first stars of Indian
cinema.
5. d) Raja Harishchandra
6. a) Pundalik
1. Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema; Ashish Rajadhyakshya; Oxford University Press, New Delhi,
1995
2. The Hundred Luminaries of Indian Cinema; Raheja & Kothari; India Book House, Bombay,
1996
3. New Indian Cinema; Shampa Ghosh; Directorate ofFilm Festivals, New Delhi, 1982
STRUCTURE
4.0 Learning Objectives
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Advertising Agencies
4.3 PR Organizations
4.4 Check Your Progress
4.5 Summary
4.6 Keywords
4.7 Self-Assessment Test
4.8 Answers to Check Your Progress
4.9 References/Suggested Readings
4.1 INTRODUCTION
Advertising is here, there and everywhere. It reaches almost everywhere on earth. It is intrusive. It
intrudes in to the privacy of our bedroom. Sometimes it is entertaining and sometimes it is annoying.
Advertisements, whatever people say about them, try to inform, educate or to persuade. Advertisements
let us know about the various options available in the market. And advertisements help us take
informed-buying-decisions. Now the question is how advertising is created? More importantly here,
who creates advertisements? The answer is advertisements are created by advertising agencies.
Public Relations also plays a very important role in the world of business and elsewhere. There are
many different types of organizations working in the field of public relations.
In today's world of cutthroat competition, success for organizations and institutions has become
difficult to achieve. As the number and variety of organizations and institutions - business houses
governments, non-profit organizations, educational institutions etc.- is growing at an alarming rate, the
key to success is winning over more and more of customers or clients.
Organizations trying to woo more customers or clients use 'persuasion'. And the two major means
of persuading are advertising and public relations. Both the means of persuasion use ‘information' to
create a favorable 'image' while trying to 'influence' more and more clients and customers.
From insignificant and obscure beginnings both advertising and Public Relations have grown into
professions and now are full-fledged industries. While advertising has become one of the largest
industries of the world, Public Relations however, has somewhat lagged behind in the developing
countries.
Majority of the advertising business is handled by specialized organizations called advertising
agencies that plan, prepare or produce and place advertisements. Public Relations is also mostly handled
by specialized organizations that plan and implement PR campaigns. Advertising agencies and Public
Relations organizations, while being outside agencies, have become a major component of business and
many other areas. And like the organizations and institutions they serve, ad agencies and PR
organizations also have grown in size, stature and complexity.
Most advertisers assign this job of informing the target audience and creating images to advertising
agencies. Now the question arises how agencies do their job. The answer is that they plan; they prepare
and place ads in the media.
But even an advertiser can do all these things. The management can do planning of ad
campaigns. For preparing ads, creative personnel can be hired. And the advertiser for placing the ads
can buy media space or time. So why do advertisers hire ad agencies? We shall discuss these reasons in
this lesson. Also, we shall discuss more about ad agencies.
In addition, we shall also focus on the structure and functions of PR organizations.
deal with clients working in ad agencies. All these people have both expertise and varied
experience in their respective sub fields.
An agency turns all these people into a team and gives them a highly conducive work
atmosphere. The agency makes the best use of their talents and experience to deliver rapidly,
efficiently and in greater depth than a company or an organization could do on its own. An
advertising agency acquires experience by working with a variety of clients and in a variety of
market situations. The varied background of its employees provides a much broader perspective.
2. Objectivity and Professionalism: Advertising agencies are highly professional. Objectivity is a
major virtue of ad agencies. They operate in a strange way. While they take up advertising for
others, agencies hardly advertise themselves. What gets them business is their reputation. And
reputation is built up by their professionalism and objectivity.
If an organization hires some people to do its advertising, they cannot be objective all the
time. They have to work under a lot of constraints. However, ad agencies being outside
intermediaries can be objective. They offer independent and detached viewpoints and
suggestions based on objective analysis.
3. Cost Effectiveness: If an organization wants to hire people to do its advertising, it cannot
provide them work all through the year. Also, most experts in the field of advertising like
directors, musicians, photographers charge huge amounts and are often not affordable.
Moreover, hiring, organizing and managing all talents required to produce advertising
campaigns is not an easy job.
And the fact that 98 percent of advertisers the world over hire ad agencies is proof
enough about the cost effectiveness of the agencies. Also, the kind of consistent, powerful and
compelling advertising that can be created by using the expertise, experience, objectivity and
professionalism of ad agencies cannot be measured economically.
TYPES OF AD AGENCIES
Agencies, like advertisers, come in all sizes and styles. There is little standardization in form, size, and
range of services of ad agencies. Size-wise, agencies range from one man shows to huge multinational
agencies employing hundreds and thousands of people. In terms of the services provided, ad agencies
range from creative boutiques dealing with copy writing and designing, and media planning and media
buying agencies to big agencies that provide a wide range of services.
Top international ad agencies like Young & Rubicam, Ted Bates Worldwide, Ogilvy & Mather,
J. Walter Thompson, McCann-Ericson, BBDO, Leo Burnett, Saatchi & Saatchi, Foot Cone & Belding
not only provide wide range of services, but are also equipped to handle huge multinational accounts
such as Pepsi, Coca Cola, Uni Lever, Philips, Sony, etc. Like the companies they serve, ad agencies
have branches all over the world.
The functions of advertising agencies changed from acting as salesmen and selling advertising
space to creating advertisements by combining planning, copy, art work, producing final print-ready
plates of ads and placing the ads in newspapers and magazines from whom they received a commission.
From those early days advertising agencies have passed through many changes. Now advertising
agencies, the world over, are in the reengineering phase. Takeovers, mergers, strategic tie-ups are
occurring every day. This way we now have transnational advertising agencies that have branches in all
major countries of the world.
Another big change in the present day is that agencies are providing integrated services. Most
major ad agencies try to coordinate a client's entire marketing communication (promotion) and more.
In addition to advertising, they are handling public relations, direct marketing, brand designing,
brand nomenclature, packaging, exhibitions, road shows and other sales promotion activities including
training sales forces, etc.
ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE OF AD AGENCIES
Advertising agencies vary in size and the type of services they provide. As we have discussed earlier,
there are full-service agencies, which provide the basic services of account management, research,
creative development and media services. Then there are specialized services that deal with specific
services. Some agencies specialize in certain specific areas of advertising like financial advertising,
television advertising, outdoor advertising, etc.
Recently, many agencies have come up which specialize in Internet advertising only. The size of
agencies ranges from one-person creative boutiques to large transnational agencies that employ
hundreds of people. Accordingly, there is no standard organizational structure for ad agencies. The
structure of an agency usually depends upon the type of services it offers and the number of people it
employs. A small or medium sized agency offering the basic services will have a basic organizational
structure like:
services like Public Relations and Exhibitions, separate departments for their additional services are
created in the agency. A typical full-service agency with large number of staff will have the following
organizational structure.
The Account Management department first gets the business or account by convincing the client
that their agency can deliver the goods. Usually agencies get the accounts through two ways - pitching
and empanelling. We shall discuss these in detail later.
It is said that people working in the Account Management Department (Account Managers,
Account Executives, Client Service Personnel), or account handlers as they are generally known as, are
the client's representative at the ad agency and the agency's representative to the client.
As the link between the client and the agency, the role of an account manager is to define what
kind of advertising the client needs and then coordinate all the resources of the agency to deliver it to
the client's satisfaction. An account manager needs to know all aspects of the advertising process from
start to finish in addition to a thorough understanding of the client's business. This way the account
manager can coordinate everything properly. So, what it takes to be an account manager is:
Jack-of-all-trades and master of some,
Punctuality or delivering before the deadline,
An eye for details,
Quality consciousness,
Ability to coordinate,
Strong understanding of the advertising process,
Strong communication skills,
Team spirit and leadership,
A sense of urgency,
Excellent organizational skills,
Ability to handle many things at one time, and
Ability to remain calm under pressure.
RESEARCH FUNCTION
The basic raw material for creating good advertising campaigns is information. Ad agencies require
information about the product (brand) and its competitors, the company and its competitors, the market
place, the consumers (their latent needs, wants and their buying behavior), the media (the circulation,
readership, listener ship, viewer ship, rates, options and prestige, etc.).
Client provides some of this information. But for rest of the information, agencies conduct
research. However, only a few agencies across the globe provide this research service on their own.
They usually depend on readymade material prepared by specialist research organizations (IMRB,
ORG-MARG, Nielson's, etc.) or ask these organizations to conduct the required research.
CREATIVE DEVELOPMENT
Developing great selling ideas and advertising that is liked and acted upon is perhaps the very objective
that every agency aims for. The people who do it are the creative people. These people take all the
information collected by the account manager and the strategy developed by the account planner. And
they turn these information and strategy into perceptions. Next, they turn the perceptions into words and
pictures.
As words and pictures are like the heart and soul of advertising, usually copy writers (people
who write copy or the written text of the ads) and artists (who visualize and conceptualize the visual
part and also decide the layout) work together. Copywriters and artists working in pairs complement
each other.
MEDIA FUNCTION
'Media' services in advertising language means selection, booking, purchase of media space or time, and
placement of advertisements according to the prepared schedule. This involves media planning and
media buying. And both these have emerged as highly specialized areas.
In fact, media planning and media buying have become independent areas and many specialized
organizations have come up which deal with media planning and media buying respectively.
Some full-service ad agencies do not have a media department at all. They depend on media
planning organizations to create the media plan or to select the media, the vehicles, and the options and
of course to prepare the schedule. Then accordingly they ask media buying organizations to book
advertising space and time in the relevant media. Some agencies do the media planning on their own
and leave the job of media buying to specialized organizations.
PRODUCTION
Although this is a very important aspect of advertising many agencies do not have production
departments. A production department requires many experts in the field of production (photographer,
finishing artists, illustrators, computer experts, jingle writers, music directors, musicians, directors,
etc.). Also, highly expensive equipment is required.
Having all these technical experts and the equipment demands heavy investment. Advertising
agencies leave this part of advertising operation to organizations that specialize in such fields. However,
most of the agencies have functional art studios and sufficient computer facilities.
ADDITIONAL SERVICES PROVIDED BY AGENCIES
Advertising agencies offer the following additional services. This list, however, does not include all the
additional services.
Public Relations,
Media relation,
Election campaign management,
Direct marketing,
Exhibitions,
Road shows and Event management,
Marketing research,
Brand nomenclature,
Brand designing,
Packaging,
Training of sales force,
Sales promotion, and
Internet and on-line advertising.
AGENCY COMPENSATION
As in case of the size and the organizational structure, the ways the agencies are compensated also vary.
In fact, there are three ways of agency compensation:
Flat Fee System,
Retainership System, and
Media Commissions.
FLAT FEE SYSTEM
Under this system, the agency estimates the total cost of handling the client's advertising for a year (this
is done for long duration campaigns, otherwise, calculations are made for one campaign) and collects it
in monthly installments. In this case the agency, does not get any commission from the media. In fact,
the client pays the media cost minus the usual agency commission.
The fee is calculated by the total hours of work put in for the client's advertising, multiplied by
the standard hourly fee (agreed upon earlier by the client) and then a further 25 percent is added for
overheads and profit. Earlier this system was not very popular. But these days many agencies are
adopting it.
RETAINER SYSTEM
This system is mostly used for limited or short duration work done by the agency. This is similar to
what happens in the general consultancy business. This system is adopted mostly when the primary
function of the agency is to advice. Other instances include where there is no media commission like in
case of organizing exhibitions, sales force training, demonstrations, and road shows, designing
promotional literature or items.
Here the fee is usually decided well in advance. This method is also used by agencies that are
not accredited and thus are not eligible for commissions.
COMMISSION SYSTEM
This is the most commonly used method. In fact, the earliest ad agencies also worked in a commission
business. But there was no standardization and the commission percentages varied according to
availability of space and demand for it. Francis Ayer who fixed the commission at 15 per cent
standardized this system. What happens in this system is that a client employs an agency. The agency
plans, prepares and places ads in media. The media bills are sent to the agencies, which are then
forwarded to the client. The client pays the full amount to the agency. But the agency pays the media
only 85 per cent of the billed amount keeping 15 per cent for itself.
Variations of this system also exist. For example, in case of outdoor advertising, where there are
no recurring media costs and it is a one-time expenditure, the commission is fixed at 16.5 per cent. In
the New Zealand, agencies change 20 per cent instead of the regular 15 per cent. In USA and many
other countries, the regular 15 per cent comes down to 12.5 or even 10 per cent depending on the total
amount of the media costs.
While this system is the most widely used, it has got some disadvantages. These include over-
payment and under-payment to agencies. Over-payment occurs in the high volume (quantity wise)
advertising world of consumer nondurables, which involve large number of advertising exposures or
repeated media inserts. Underpayment occurs in the low volume advertising of industrial goods.
Here the number of exposures is less, as is the cost of media. Also, there is a tendency by
agencies to plan more expenses in media costs, which leads to more profit for the agencies.
To overcome these problems, many newer methods have been devised. One such method
involves prior negotiation of payment on the basis of risks involved. Clients adopt an incentive-based
payment system that links performance (in terms of success of the ad campaign) to pay or
compensation.
AGENCY RECOGNITION
Advertising is a highly profitable business. So, the field of advertising attracts a lot of people.
Accordingly, agencies have mushroomed in large numbers. This is a worldwide phenomenon. This
large number of agencies creates a lot of chaos - particularly when the legitimacy of most small of
agencies is in doubt.
The media, which do not get paid in time, faces the biggest problem and in some cases they do not
even get paid. For this purpose, media - particularly media associations - have adopted a method of
'recognition'. This system is known as the 'accreditation' system in many countries including India. In
addition to media trade associations, individual media vehicles like newspapers and TV channels also
'accredit' or 'recognize' few agencies.
In India, Doordarshan has its own list of accredited agencies and receives TV commercials only
through them. For recognition to be granted, agencies need to fulfill certain criteria to ensure that the
standards of service provided by the agencies are consistently high. Some of these criteria include:
The agency must have people with sufficient expertise and experience to perform the necessary
advertising activities efficiently.
The agency must have sufficient financial resources to be able to meet its obligations to media
owners in paying bills.
The agency must be free from control - financial or otherwise- of advertisers and media
owners.
SELECTION OF THE AGENCY
One of the most important decisions that an advertiser takes is selecting the agency to handle its
account. There is no standard procedure for this, but usually the following criteria is used:
1. Growth: How the agency has been growing in terms of accounts and billing over a period of
time? This reveals the growth rate of the agency.
2. Expertise & manpower: One gets to know about these two things by asking the following
questions. Does the agency have manpower with the expertise to run the campaigns? Does the
agency have the experience to handle the account? Has it worked with accounts of similar type,
size, and nature? Has it shown versatility in handling all product categories?
3. Agency philosophy: Is the agency philosophy traditional or progressive? Does it employ
situational sensitivity and practical selectivity in handling different accounts?
4. Camping planning: Does the agency have the ability to gather relevant information, analyze,
and interprete all facts and conditions, and can it come up with sound ideas?
5. Media: Does the agency have ability to conduct efficient media research and prepare effective
media plans? Can it buy the required media time and space?
6. Creativity: Can the agency come up with good ideas applying imagination to solve your
advertising problems?
7. Production: Does the agency have sufficient production facilities? Does it have enough
contacts for getting production done from outside agencies?
In addition, some advertisers also look for qualities to handle product publicity, merchandising,
marketing, public relations, etc.
EMPANELLING OF AGENCIES
The most common way of selecting an agency is through pitching. Agencies find out about companies
that plan to launch ad campaigns and try to get the contracts by making presentations about the agency's
capabilities. In other cases, the client asks a few agencies to make presentations for a campaign. The
agency that makes the best presentation gets the account.
Another way of choosing agencies is through empanelling. Mostly larger companies with a wide
range of brands opt for this method. They invite some agencies to make presentations and then put the
best agencies on a panel. Mostly different agencies on the panel are given different accounts or different
parts of an account like print account, TV account, outdoor account, etc.
CHANGING TRENDS IN THE AGENCY WORLD
While advertising agencies have seen a lot of changes in the recent times, two major developments are
very significant. These are mega mergers and consolidation.
Mega mergers: While mergers have been an integral part of the ad agency world since a long time, it
took a different turn in 1990s. Three international agencies: Batten, Barton, Durstine, and Osborne
(BBDO), Doyle Dane Bernbach (DDB), and Needham-Harper Worldwide - join together to form
Omicom, which became a really big ad agency conglomerate. Soon after Saatchi & Saatchi of London
acquired Ted Bates Agency along with William Wisty Agency and many other agencies. It became
bigger than Omnicom.
Since then many mega mergers have taken place. In 1989, the biggest mega corporation of ad
agencies was created. It is called the WWP and is based in London. It has under its belt the Ogilvy &
Mather agency and the J. Walter Thompson agency - two of the biggest agencies along with a host of
other agencies. WPP also owns direct marketing agencies, sales promotion agencies, Public Relations
firms, market research organizations, companies dealing with directory (Yellow Pages) advertising, etc.
With the ability and infrastructure in all aspects of advertising, these mega corporations are able
to offer what is called 'integrated marketing communication' (IMC) that brings together all the variables
of the marketing mix and integrates their programmes and activities.
Also, these mega corporations have increased their geographic reach and scope considerably and
are able to serve global (multinational) clients more easily and efficiently.
Consolidation: This is one of the cruelest practices in the field of advertising. It involves appointment
of one single agency for all the advertising of a client. And this client is usually a large, multinational
company with many brands. One example of this is that Square D. Company, a worldwide manufacturer
of electrical controls dismissed thirty agencies and appointed Young and Rubicam agency to look after
all its accounts. Supporters of consolidation claim that it achieves one 'look' for the company's varied
advertisements and campaigns, gets better rates of media and reduces the complexity of managing the
entire marketing efforts.
Other changes taking place in the ad agency world include - sinking creative standards, cutting of
commission, diversion of money from advertising to other promotional activities, special deals for
retailers (for push selling), etc.
4.3 PR ORGANIZATIONS
In a world of increasing complexities, chaos and cutthroat competition, it becomes imperative for
organizations, companies, and institutions to stay ahead in the race for success. One good way of doing
this is to perform well and better than the competitors. Performing well is not enough. So, organizations
and companies try to maintain good and mutually beneficial relationships with all their publics through
the practice of public relations. PR has been defined by many in different ways.
Public Relations help an organization and its publics adapt mutually to each other. Public
Relations is an organization's efforts to win the cooperation of its publics. Public Relations include the
deliberate, planned and sustained efforts to win the good will of the publics through mutually beneficial,
two-way communication.
FUNCTIONS OF PUBLIC RELATIONS
John Marston, a professor of communication, has identified four functions of PR. These include
Research, Action, Communication and Evaluation (RACE). 'Research' involves finding out what the
various publics want from the organization. This basically involves finding out the attitudes of the
publics on a particular issue. 'Action' means planning and finalizing programmes to address this
particular issue. 'Communication' involves reaching the publics with messages designed to gain
understanding, acceptance and goodwill. Finally, 'evaluation' means finding out the effects of the
communication efforts on the publics.
Public Relations Professor Sheila Clough Crifasi has extended the R-A-C-E formula into the R-O-
S-I-E formula. While the 'R' and 'E' in this formula stand for research and evaluation respectively, the
other functions included here are objectives, strategies, and implementation. PR practitioners set clear
objectives (as in case of advertising) on the basis of the attitudinal research conducted. Strategies are
devised to achieve these objectives, which are duly implemented.
On the basis of the R-A-C-E and R-O-S-I-E formula, Denny Griswold has given the following
definition, which encompasses the functions of PR.
Public Relations is the management function which evaluates (researches) public attitudes,
identifies the policies and procedures of an individual or organization, and plans and executes
(implements) a program of action to earn public understanding and acceptance.
PR plays the role of a 'harmonizer' of long-term relationships among individuals and
organizations. Professor Melvin Sharpe has identified that good Public Relations works by way of:
Honest communication for credibility,
Openness and consistency of actions for confidence, or Fairness of action for reciprocity and
goodwill,
Continuous two-way communication to prevent alienation and to build long term relationship,
and
Periodical research and evaluation to determine the actions or adjustments needed for social
harmony (between the organization and its publics).
Here, the goal of Public Relations is to harmonize internal and external relationships. This way the
specific functions of Public Relations fall under two broad categories of building internal relationships
and external relationships. Internal relations includes employee relations. External relations includes
client or customer relations, shareholder relations, financier or investor relationship, trade relations,
government relations, media relations, industry relations, community relations, etc.
In another sense, the functions of PR fall under three categories: man management, issue
management and crisis management.
PR DEPARTMENTS AND PR CONSULTANCIES
While PR has grown in leaps and bounds in the West, particularly in the USA, it still has to do a lot of
catching up in a country like India. PR is still practiced in a rudimentary form in many organizations in
India. However, most major organizations- government or private- have got PR departments.
In fact, the Government of India has the biggest PR set up, although it is not practiced in the
name of PR. The Central Government, under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, has got two
of the biggest government mouthpieces in Doordarshan and All India Radio. Then there are a host of
other organizations. The Press Information Bureau (PIB) works as a clearinghouse for government
information to various media. The Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity (DAVP) is the
clearinghouse for all government advertising except for the Railways Ministry. It also looks after visual
publicity of the government's plan, policies and programmes.
The Directorate of Field Publicity (DFP) is armed with mobile vans and publicizes government
activities in the remote areas. The Photo Division has the largest network of photographers and largest
collection of still photos. The Research and Reference Division (RRD) procures information on all
aspects and provides them to various ministries and departments. The other divisions of the Ministry of
Information and Broadcasting include the Song and Drama Division, the Publication Division, the
Registrar of Newspapers of India (RNI), and the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC).
Similarly, the state governments also have ministries, departments or directorates of Information
and Public relations, which look after the Public Relations of the states.
Most organizations in the country have PR departments and these are developed to a great
extent. However, the concept of PR consultancies has not caught up in India in a big way. There are
only a few dozens of PR consultancies while there are thousands and thousands of ad agencies.
However, many advertising agencies provide PR services.
ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE OF PR DEPARTMENTS AND PR CONSULTANCIES
Every organization today has a PR department. We have already discussed about the government.
Public sector organizations also have PR departments, as do private organizations- be it business
houses, educational institutes, voluntary organizations or religious institutions. Public Relations
departments in India do not have much direct authority. But they assist, advise, and stimulate other
departments to carry out PR activities towards increasing the public acceptance of the organization as a
whole.
Often other departments forget about their PR responsibility being busy with their own work.
While other departments concentrate on the performance part, the Public Relations department looks
after getting the recognition for their performance.
Public Relations departments employ specialists who do a better and effective job by identifying
and anticipating attitudes and trends, formulating plans and programmes, implementing them and
finally coordinating all Public Relations activities of an organization. Public Relations is usually placed
at the top management level in an organization. A Director or President or Vice-President looks after
the PR activities.
The Director of Public Relations is there to advise and participate with management in major
policy decisions. A PR Director should be in a position to represent the public viewpoint on corporate
policies and problems. A PR Director usually has the same position as those of heads of other
departments. This way he is able to understand the problems of other departments and gain their
cooperation in carrying out PR programmes.
A Public Relations department is organized on the basis of the functions to be carried out, on the
basis of the staff, or on the basis of the 'media of communication', 'publics', 'geographic areas' etc. When
organized on the basis of media of communication, a PR department has different divisions for print
media, radio, TV, films, exhibitions, advertising, etc.
For example, in India the government PR departments are organized this way. We have already
discussed that the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has several wings like the Press
Information Bureau, All India Radio, Doordarshan, Films Division, Directorate of Field Publicity,
Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity, etc. Most of the state government PR departments or
directorates are also organized this way.
The second type divides the PR department on the basis of publics. PR departments of many
organizations - particularly private sector organizations - have such divisions as Employee Relations,
Shareholder Relations, Investors Relations, Media Relations, Government Relations, Community
Relations, etc.
Some very big organizations which have branches in many parts (of the country or the globe)
have PR divisions in various geographic locations as part of the PR department.
Sometimes organizations have a mixed organizational pattern. Some manufacturing
organizations have PR divisions for the different products or brands they manufacture.
The organizational structure of PR departments differs on the basis of the size of the parent
organization, the management philosophy, and the policies and also the areas of operation. The size and
structure of the PR department depends on the degree of importance given to PR by the organization.
For example, in the Western countries, where PR is given a lot of importance and practiced
relentlessly and vigorously, the PR departments are elaborately organized. But in India, except in some
very large organizations and institutions, PR is not given much importance and thus the PR departments
are quite small in size. The organizational structures of big and medium-sized PR organizations are
given at the end of this lesson.
FUNCTIONS OF PR PERSONNEL
Earlier we discussed the general functions of a PR department; now let us focus on the specific
functions of the PR personnel. These include public speaking or addressing the various publics, writing
and editing publicity material, newsletters, house journals, speeches (for others), reports, articles, etc.
PR personnel also handle employee relations, media relations, shareholder relations, government
relations, community relations, etc. They also answer and deal with complaints, act upon suggestions
and of course, they plan and organize special events ranging from annual day functions, anniversaries,
Foundation day celebration, the various pujas, etc.
PR CONSULTANCIES
The concept of Public Relations consultancies originated in the 1930's in the USA and other major
Western countries. The earlier press agents who arranged for more coverage for organizations in the
press switched over to form PR consultancies. In the beginning, these consultancies helped big
corporations regain public confidence lost in the economic depression of the 1930s and also to counter-
act public criticism of business.
Most of these early practitioners of PR counseling ran one-man operations. The big names of the
early days (1930s and 1940s) include Ivy Lee, Edward L. Barnays, Pendelton Dudley, Steve Hannagan,
Albert Lasker, and John Price Jones. All these PR counselors expanded their business following World
War II. They recruited more people, developed teams of experts and formed big firms.
Now, in the USA, one third of all business houses and industries rely on PR consultancies for
their PR. About half of the major corporations retain PR consultancies on a continuous basis in addition
to their own in-house PR departments. And the services of Public Relations consultants (individuals and
groups) have expanded manifolds. The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) has listed the
following services.
Establishing and defining of short-term and long-term PR goals.
Counseling and guiding the management on actions and policies that affect Public Relations
goals.
Support the marketing communications programmes including product publicity by way of
news releases, features, case studies, audio-visual aids, and media coverage.
Stockholder and Financial Relations - including interim, quarterly and annual reports, assistance
in conducting the annual meeting, liaison with financial organization.
Employee Relations - including company publications - newsletters, house journals etc.-and
information programmes for the employees.
Community Relations - Liaison with local media for increased and improved coverage, staging
special events such as pujas, open houses, tours, etc.
Government relations - Helping build relations with local, state or central governments by
liaising with concerned government departments.
Evaluation - Measuring effectiveness of PR programmes.
As we have discussed, the functions of the in-house PR departments and outside PR consultancies are
the same. However, often the outside PR consultancies only plan the programme while the operational
part is left to the in-house PR department.
ADVANTAGES OF PR CONSULTANCIES
As in case of advertising agencies, PR consultancies offer wide-ranging expertise and experience,
objectivity, professionalism and other things. The services of an outside PR consultant are often much
less expensive for smaller organizations, which cannot afford to have a full-fledged PR department. The
outside point of view of PR consultants brings the 'public perspective' to an organization's public
relations.
The services of an outside consultant are flexible and can be adapted to the various needs of an
organization. Most importantly, outside PR consultancies have better resources and contacts.
LIMITATION OF AN OUTSIDE PR CONSULTANCY
An outside consultancy is not familiar with the internal operations and problems of an organization like
the personnel of the internal PR department. Many outside consultancies specialize in specific aspects
of PR and thus are not suitable for managing complete PR programmes. Some consultancies have fewer
staff and thus cannot execute comprehensive PR programmes.
SELECTION OF PR CONSULTANCIES
As PR consultancies vary in size and structure, they also vary in terms of the quality and quantity of
services offered, experience, background, etc. Thus, before selecting an outside PR consultancy a few
characteristics should be checked. These include:
Competence and Reputation- Years in business, size, personnel, and billing; range of services
(specialties);
Reach (local, regional, national, international); growth pattern; financial stability; types of
accounts; experience of similar accounts; samples of work; etc.
Clients - Existing client list, past clients, average number of clients during last three years,
retainership clients, project clients, old clients and number of years of association, average
length of relationship with clients, clients lost in the previous year, etc.
Staff - List and qualifications of staff (full time, freelance, consultants); staff to be assigned for
your assignment - qualifications and service with firms; percentage of their time to be devoted to
your assignment; secretarial and back-up staff available; staff turnover in last two years, etc.
Results and measurement - Does the firm understand your objectives and needs; how the
progress will be reported; how results will be measured; what will be the cost of billing, how
expenses will be billed; approval process; etc.
After gathering the above information, you would have a fairly good idea as to how good the firm is
to get your business and whether you would feel comfortable with them.
Once you have finalized your decision, you may collect some additional information about the
firm from its previous clients, its previous employees, its credit worthiness and the reputation enjoyed
by the firm among professional bodies and among media people.
This kind of checking may not ensure the selection of best consultants by itself, but will
definitely reduce the chances of picking up a bad consultant.
REMUNERATION TO PR CONSULTANCIES:
The type of assignment handled by a consultancy usually determines the payment would be. Normally
any of the following four methods may be adopted for fixation and payment of fee of the consulting
agencies:
By the Day: Consultants charge on per-day basis, which varies from company to company. It may vary
between Rs. 2,000 to even Rs. 15,000 a day.
By Project: This mode of payment is normally agreed upon when the involvement of consultant is for a
specific and well-identified project. He quotes a fee for the whole project irrespective of number of
days he is going to take to complete the project.
By the Hour: This method is adopted when the assignment is very short or and very complicated
requiring the specialized skills of highly experienced consultants. The consultant makes a rough
estimate of the amount of time he is going to charge to complete the project and the degree of
complexity involved, based on which he quotes his hourly rate. In our country, the rate varies from Rs.
200 to Rs. 2,000 per hour whereas in America and the other European countries it varies from $ 50 to $
100.
Retainership: In this system, a token amount is paid to the consultant every month irrespective of the
fact whether his services were availed or not. This is done in order to have his services on preferential
terms as and when company needs his services.
Normally the small telephone advices or consultations are not charged separately by consultants
but for undertaking any assignment, he charges over and above the monthly retainership fee.
The system is more suitable for small companies which do not have sufficient work to establish
their own Public Relations department or who cannot afford the burden of a full-fledged PR consultancy
and yet need the services of a senior PR professional from time to time to guide them.
The concept of retainer fee was introduced with a view to reimburse the consultant partly
towards maintenance of his fixed cost and to ensure availability of his services on a priority basis in
preference to other clients as and when needed by the organization. The idea is to benefit both: the
engaging company as well as the consultant by avoiding unnecessary cost for the company when it does
not require the consultant with liability of payment of his fee and by providing freedom of other
assignments to the consultant.
4.5 SUMMARY
Successful advertising adds perceive value to brands by giving the product a personality,
communicating in a manner or tone liked and understood by the potential customers, and setting
the brand apart from its competitions. Advertisers assign this job of informing the target
audience and creating images to advertising agencies.
Advertising agencies plan; prepare; and place ads in the media.
An advertising agency brings together the expertise and experience of the various sub-
disciplines of advertising including copywriters, visualizers, researchers, photographers,
directors, planners, etc.
4.6 KEYWORDS
Advertising Agencies: An advertising agency brings together the expertise and experience of the
various sub-disciplines of advertising. So we have copywriters, visualizers, researchers, photographers,
directors, planners and people who get business and deal with clients.
Functions of Ad Agencies: Ad agencies basically do three things. These are: Planning the ad
campaign, Preparing or producing ads and Placing the ads in different media.
Account Management: Account Management involves more than just getting business. It involves
acting as a liaison or link between the client and the agency, collecting information and directions form
the client and passing those on to the agency, getting approvals for strategy, creative works, media plans
etc.
Creative Development and Productions: This function involves processing the information collected
from the client and through research and designing communication material in the form of
advertisements (printed, radio or television) and other publicity material. This includes planning
creative strategies, copy or script writing, visualization, designing, layout, shooting of films, editing,
giving music, etc.
Media Planning and Media Buying: This is an important function of any ad agency as reaching the
target audience in an effective manner is of prime importance. On the basis of the media habits (access
and exposures) of the target audience, agency people prepare a media plan. This includes which media
to be used, which part of the media to be used, when to place the ads and for how long to place the ads
etc.
Research Services: Information forms the backbone of all advertising. To prepare ads, one requires
information about the product, its competitors, the market situation and trends; information about the
audience (their likes & dislikes and media habits etc.) also needs to be collected. Also needed is
information regarding the reach and effectiveness of various media?
Other Functions of Ad Agencies: Ad agencies providing the four above-mentioned services are called
full-service agencies. In addition, many agencies also offer a variety of allied services. These include:
Merchandising, Public Relations, Organizing exhibitions and fairs, Preparing all kinds of publicity
material, Organizing special events (Events management), and Direct marketing, etc.
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