For the first half of the century after independence media control by the state in India had huge restraint over the press freedom. However 1990’s liberalization in the economy, private control over media increased which resulted into increase in greater independence. At the same time, self-proclaimed media barons have emerged who have control over the media outlets because they own them.

Indian media follows the concept of “free press”, although in reality it is considered as a myth. Indian media, in today’s scenario is owned by many political parties and corporate organizations.

In 2014, deal between one of the biggest corporations in India which is owned by richest man Mukesh Ambani taking over Netwok 18 (owns TV channels including CNBC TV18, CNN-IBN, CNN Awaz, websites firstpost.com, moneycontrol.com and magazines including the license for Forbes India, entertainment channel (Colors, MTV and Homeshop Entertainment) raised major cause of worry.

Advantages:

Having corporate control of media has undeniable advantages. It allows for economies of scale, which enable media companies to absorb the costs of content and distribution over a large volume of revenue. This in turn allows companies to invest in better resources such as talent or technical equipment.

In this competitive market, small media companies have extremely tough time surviving and maintaining their position. Such control also makes a lot of economic sense and can even, to some extent, translate into improvements in quality which ultimately profits positive economically and socially.

Disadvantages:

One of the major problems associated with such over such control is media independence. Media was the adversary. It would take on those in positions of power, whether in government or the corporate sector. Corporations influence what comes out into the public, what is heard and read. They have their large business group, conglomerates determining what should read, hear and watch. They own power to control the content of what the media produces which is a major concern.

Another disadvantage is when capitalist corporations make money almost entirely because of advertising. The central profit-making goal of owners, therefore, is to attract advertisers.
Actually selling newspapers or attracting viewers matters mainly to the extent that this is translated into attracting advertisers. Such dependency has significant consequences on the production and quality of news produced for the public. The main objective of media of providing quality of news to the public shifts to the quality and quantity of advertising sold. Also, because the media depends on advertising, news that might be offensive to important advertisers is unlikely to be broadcast.

When someone speaks of media manipulation, they can mean both manipulation by the media and manipulation of the media. Manipulation of the media does not require that every last media source goes along with it. It comes down to which media outlets are given cultural authority, and by whom and for what reason. The big media organizations end up being a public relation mechanism for the big Corporations and their boards of directors are connected with a excessive amount of other major global corporations and elite interests.

TRAI (The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India ) in 2013 had set out rules for media owners in order to protect the interest of the norms of Indian media. The absence of cross-media restrictions and with government policies contributing to further corporatization, especially with respect to the television medium, diversity of news flows could be adversely affected contributing to the continuing privatization and commodification of information instead of making it more of a “public good”.