By IANS,
New Delhi: The Financial Times (FT), among the world’s leading business newspapers, is looking for opportunities in the Indian market as the country holds a “great potential” for print and other news media.
“India holds great potential for print and news media,” said John Ridding, FT chief executive officer, adding that his organisation is trying to breach into the Indian market as well as the other emerging markets of the world.
Addressing a session on ‘The Internet and the Crisis Confronting the News Media’, organised by the Aspen Institute India and the FT here Monday, Ridding said the potential for India in terms of print, television and internet media is immense.
“The amalgamation of the three can not only regain the readership that is being lost to the new forms of digital media, but it could also be the next big innovation since the printing press,” he said.
He emphasised that the internet can bring back the era of true journalism as it is hardly affected by the external pressures such as advertising and corporate partnerships.
Internet journalism can help achieve transparency in issues such as elections, governance and corruption, three of the major issues affecting the interaction between media and the people of India, he said.
“Internet does not hold to any national boundary which allows it to be one of the greatest mediums of information sharing. Businesses should change their models and tweak their strategies in order to achieve a better market share. What publication corporations could not provide, the internet could. The cost of news and information on the Internet has always been free and thus more appealing to a majority of readers. In recent years, the internet has become the primary choice as it provides a platform for direct engagement between the readers and the journalists unlike in the print media,” he said.
According to him, the internet is a tool that corporations need to harness rather than shun.