Media in Thiruvananthapuram

The Indian city of Thiruvananthapuram has long been a center of media. Kerala Chandrika, the first newspaper of the State, was published from Thiruvananthapuram in 1789. The media also enjoyed the patronage of the Travancore kings. In 1836, Swathi Thirunal, the Travancore king organized a government press in the city.^[1] The first Superintendent of the Press was the Rev. Sperschneider. The press was under Samathanam Maistry, one of the first batch of workmen trained in the Nagercoil Press.

Print

More than 30 dailies are currently published from Thiuruvananthapuram, including prominent dailies The Hindu, The New Indian Express, Desabhimani, Malayala Manorama, Mathrubhumi, Udaya keralam, Kerala Kaumudi, Janayugom, Deepika, Mangalam, Madhyamom, Rashtradeepika, Keralakaumudi Flash and Janmabhoomi. The Hindu tops the chart of high circulation in Thiruvananthapuram.^[2] Readership surveys indicated that there was a decline in the readership of all the major dailies in the first quarter of 2010 when compared to the year 2009.^[3]

Several weeklies, fortnightlies, monthlies, bi-monthlies and quarterlies are published from various parts of the city. Government departments and public sector undertakings also publish fortnightlies and monthlies such as Janapadham, Kerala calling, Vikasana Samanwayam, Kerala Interface, Kerala Karshakan, Punarjani, Vyavasaya Keralam, Grama Deepam, Gramabhoomi, Sahakarana Veedhi, Vidyaarangam, and Panchayat Raj.

The Information & Public Relations Department is the main agency of the government to disseminate information to the public and to provide feedback. At the Government Secretariat, the Department of Information and Public Relations has provided a press room for accredited correspondents. The Tagore Theatre provides both public and private cultural performances and screening of films.

Electronic

Radio

All India Radio
The Thiruvananthapuram station of All India Radio (AIR) broadcasts and relays daily programs from 5:55 a.m. to 11:05 p.m. In addition to news bulletins, programs relate to agriculture; rural development; women and child care; health; sanitation, among other topics. Many of the programs are of a cultural nature, having entertainment and educational value. To bring and keep more listeners AIR has started many film based programmes. Most popular are Poonthenaruvi film song presentation with live participation of listeners, Ormacheppu Old is Gold film song programme, Malayala Cinema Flash Back cinema history serial, Swapnajalakam celebrity programme etc. Commercial broadcasts are also aired. FM broadcasting (101.9 MHz), Ananthapuri FM, started from Thiruvananthapuram in 1999.
Private FM Stations
Apart from the AIR owned FMs, there are many private FM stations on air in the capital city. On 28 jan 2008 Radio Mirchi 98.3 FM ( from The Times Group) started its operation. Mathrubhumi launched its Club FM 94.3 the next day. Big 92.7 FM and Red FM 93.5 are also on air as on 29 Jan 2008.

Television

Thiruvananthapuram Doordarshan (DD) Kendra started functioning from the Tagore theatre with a small transmission unit in the latter half of 1982. Later, a full-fledged centre with a high power transmitter was installed at Kudappanakunnu, eight kilometres from the city. Now it covers the entire state, with channel 4 available across Southeast Asia, Africa, Europe, Australia and the America. The DD studios were also set up at Trichur and Kozhikode.

Asianet is the first and biggest private television channel in the State. It started functioning from Thiruvananthapuram in 1993. Today, it has two more channels namely Asianet News and Asianet Plus and is the private television channel which has an uplinking facility in the city. The Global channel came into being first as a segment catering to the Gulf viewers and grew into a 24-hour channel in 2001. The channel was relaunched as Asianet News on May 1, 2003 signifying an increased stress on news and current affairs in deference to viewers' demands. On July 23, 2005 Asianet launched its third channel - Asianet Plus, a complete entertainment channel for the youth. The signals of Asianet cover the entire Indian sub-continent, Sri Lanka, China, the South East Asia, the entire Persian Gulf, the UK, Europe, USA and the lower half of the former Soviet Union. This is virtually half the Globe, reaching sixty-odd countries.

Surya TV Surya Television started operation from Thiruvananthapuram in 1998 as the second private channel of the State. Though Surya has production facility in Thiruvananthapuram, telecasting is done from Chennai.

Kairali Television which went on air in 2000, also has its studio and production facilities in Thiruvananthapuram. The telecasting is from Ernakulam. This channel is known for its support to a major political party in Kerala- Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)). Currently, Mammootty, a major actor in Malayalam, holds the post of MD at Kairali. They are planning to build a new state-of-art building as their headquarters^[4]
Now Kairali launched two more channels : Kairali WE (Youth Channel) and Kairali People (News Channel).

Amrita TV
Amrita Television launched in 2005 as a 24-hour Malayalam, general entertainment & news satellite channel with a global footprint. Amrita TV has received 26 State Awards for Excellence in Television.

Amrita TV has a global footprint covering India, Middle East, USA, Canada, Europe, Australia and parts of South Africa; it is also accessible on internet and other platforms.^[5]
JaiHind TV
JaiHind TVl is based on Thiruvananthapuram. Program's in the channel is a mix of news and entertainment. The channel is backed by the Congress Party of Kerala.^[6] The channel is headed by prominent personalities in the field of journalism.

Mathrubumi Television launched in 2012 as a 24-hour News, general entertainment & news satellite channel with a global footprint. FUNTV
FUNTV the first interactive gaming channel in India started operating in Trivandrum from May 2006 through the major cable TV networks SITI Cable & TCN.

Other channels
Kiran TV (Youth channel of Surya TV) Asianet Plus (Youth channel of Asianet) and People TV(News and current affairs channel of Kairali TV) also have production facilities and studios in the city.

Jeevan TV, India Vision, Yes Indiavision, ZeeTV, NDTV, ANI, ETV, JAYA TV etc. have their bureaus in Thiruvananthapuram. ACV & SITI Cable are cable channels which operate from the city.

Internet

Film

Kerala State Chalachitra Academy was founded in 1998 for the promotion of Cinema as a cultural expression. The Academy is guided by the motto that Cinema should contribute to the total development of man, both as an individual and as a social being. Besides organising the annual International Film Festival of Kerala in Trivandrum city, the Academy is engaged in a programme of spreading film literacy among the people through the promotion of Film Socieites, publication of books and periodicals, conduct of film appreciation courses, seminars and workshops for students as well as professionals. Work on establishing a Film Archive with the aim of preserving world classics and important films in Malayalam has been started. The annual Kerala State Awards for Film and TV are also conducted by the Academy.

Kerala State Film Development Corporation
Established in 1975 with the objective of giving a thrust to the Malayalam film industry and for nurturing it in the State, the Kerala State Film Development Corporation (KSFDC) has succeeded in uprooting the Malayalam film industry from Kodambakkam in Chennai and planting it here. The Chitranjali studio complex, inaugurated in 1980 was the first step towards facilitating the growth of good cinema. Facilities are available for 39 processing and printing 35 mm and 16 mm colour and black-and-white films. Reduction and blowing up equipments are also available. Nagra recorders, latest technology to transfer sound from 16 mm to 35 mm, optical tone magnetic recorders, state-of-the-art video production facilities for non linear editing, six-track DTS mixing facility etc. are special facilities of the complex. The recording theatre is equipped with ‘soundscape’ pro-tool work station and Tas cam-D 8000 digital, 24 channel mixing facility. There are four outdoor units. A super mini theatre and Centre for Development of Imaging Technology (C-DIT) are also functioning under the corporation. Their official website for the Kerala State Film Development Corporation is www.ksfdc.in

C-DIT Campus

The Centre for Development of Imaging Technology (C-DIT), is a Total Solution Provider in information technology for the Government of Kerala. C-DIT also functions as the southern regional video software production facility of the National Council for Science and Technology Communication (NCSTC), New Delhi. Web Services, GIS, Video Communication, Animation, Educational Informatics and Optical Image Processing are some exclusive teams that C-DIT offers. Post Graduate Diploma in Science and Development Communication, Post Graduate Diploma in Educational Informatics, Post Graduate Diploma in Multi Media Development, Animation Film Development Course and Short term courses in Digital Still Photography, Digital Sound Recording and Non Linear Editing are the courses conducted by C-DIT.

References