Saturday, August 27 2005 12:20 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Hyderabad: Making out a strong case for entry of foreign media into the country, Sanjay Baru, Media Advisor to the Prime Minister, yesterday (August 26, 2005) said the opposition to such a move was coming from publishers who did not want to lose control over their business.

"Allowing foreign players into the media industry will benefit the professionals and create more opportunities for them. The opposition is always coming from owners who are making completely fictitious arguments," Baru said after delivering the 6th Prof S Bashiruddin Memorial Lecture organised by Osmania Journalism Alumni Association here.

Pointing out that the satellite television channels were bringing the world into our drawing rooms, he said, "Every home now has access to satellite channels. Have they hurt the country's interests in the last 12 years?"

In the same breath, Baru called upon media houses to tap the vast potential in the international market and launch international editions to articulate India's worldview.

There was a vast potential for an Indian financial daily in Singapore and Dubai, he said.

"Time has come for us to go global. India is already a global power in intellectual and cultural terms. Why then has Indian media remained so obsessively local, borrowing images and news from western agencies and networks and allowing others to shape our thinking about the rest of the world?" he asked.

Favouring a global editorial strategy for the Indian media, he said, "Every global media organisation has an editorial agenda. I believe India has a message for the world. We are the only developing post-colonial nation that has sought economic progress through the institutions of an open society and open economy."

"Our focus has been so obsessively centered around keeping foreigners out of the country that we have not looked at the opportunities outside," Baru said.

Lamenting that very few Indian media had invested abroad in either print or television, he said, "To be a bridge to the world, Indian media must have a worldview, an Indian view of the world and a view of India that would be of interest to the world. This is an element of soft power that we have yet to develop."