Prannoy Roy: How Gautam Adani would manage NDTV, India’s premier news channel

• New Delhi Television (NDTV) founders Radhika and Prannoy Roy have resigned from their positions as directors.
• AMG Media Networks Limited, the new business venture of Mr. Adani, acquired a small stake in Quintillion, a provider of digital business news, in March.
• There are worries that Mr. Adani’s acquisition may compromise the publication’s editorial independence.

New Delhi Television (NDTV) founders Radhika and Prannoy Roy have resigned from their positions as directors of a group marketing their business, moving a conglomerate helmed by one of the richest men in the world, Gautam Adani, closer to acquiring the media company.

NDTV was a “happy accident,” according to Radhika Roy, who co-founded the network with her broadcasting husband Prannoy Roy.

With “no great plan” in mind and “definitely no notion,” the Roys began India’s first private 24/7 news network and independent news broadcaster, NDTV, in November 1988 with a single programme called The World This Week on the uninteresting state-run Doordarshan.

After more than three decades, ownership of the couple’s news station is changing. In one of the most volatile media marketplaces in the world, Gautam Adani, the third richest man in the world behind Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, plans to purchase NDTV.

Many people consider Mr. Adani, a 60-year-old millionaire who owns a port-to-energy business, to be a close ally of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his administration. Truth be told, according to RN Bhaskar, the tycoon’s biographer, his “connection with political and social figures, across all types of party lines, have made him acceptable to every government.”

AMG Media Networks Limited, the new business venture of Mr. Adani, acquired a small stake in Quintillion, a provider of digital business news, in March. “The investment made by Quintillion is too small to warrant Mr. Adani’s attention. So does he have more ambitious goals? “Mr. Bhaskar raised a query in his book.

Now we are aware. NDTV may not be a lucrative purchase for Mr. Adani, whose huge firm has a market capitalization of $260 billion, with revenues of roughly $51 million and a meagre profit of $10 million.

However, NDTV is India’s most well-known network and the creator of a number of groundbreaking tech and lifestyle TV series, morning shows, and data-driven vote analysis. It now has a sizable online following of about 35 million users across various platforms.

“The most ideal broadcast and digital platform to deliver on our objective,” according to the Adani group, is NDTV. Mr. Adani has provided some hints as to the nature of the vision. “Why can’t you help one media outlet become independent and have a presence all over the world? There is not a single [outlet] in India that can be compared to Financial Times or Al Jazeera “To the Financial Times, he spoke.

More sceptics are among the sale’s detractors. One of India’s few independent news networks, NDTV is regarded by many as having avoided the shouty nationalism of many of its competitors. 76% of respondents in a research conducted by Oxford University and the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism said they trusted information from NDTV.

There are worries that Mr. Adani’s acquisition may compromise the publication’s editorial independence. Despite the variety of media outlets available, independent journalism in India doesn’t seem to be in good shape; this year, it placed 150 out of 180 nations in Reporters Without Borders’ World Press Freedom Index, which is located in Paris. This is the lowest ranking ever for the nation. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is in power under Mr. Modi, denies the conclusions, claiming that the index uses a methodology that is “questionable and non-transparent.”

According to analysts, the diversity of media also hides the concentration of ownership. According to Reporters Without Borders, four daily publications, for instance, account for three-quarters of Hindi readers. In addition to owning a $220 billion retail-to-refining conglomerate, billionaire Mukesh Ambani also has influence over Network18, one of India’s biggest media organisations. Mr. Adani and Mr. Ambani’s businesses earn income equal to 4% of India’s GDP.

According to media expert Vanita Kohli-Khandekar, the takeover of NDTV is also a representation of the issues affecting the Indian news industry. In a market that is primarily privately held and in regional languages, India has more than 400 news stations. A projected 8% of the $423 million in TV advertising revenue in 2021 went to news stations.

According to Ms. Kohli-Khandekar, “News is one of the hardest businesses to be in, anywhere.” One of the least lucrative, politically risky, and dubious industries in India is television news. Just “two to three enterprises” occasionally turn a profit, she continues.

Since most people are unwilling to pay for news, the majority of the networks’ income comes from advertising. Many people believe that networks’ credibility has diminished since many of them have been accused of political reporting, manipulating ratings, and what one analyst called the “grotesque tabloidization” of news.

When NDTV needed to restructure old obligations, it had to borrow $44 million from a firm under the ownership of Mr. Ambani’s Reliance Industries, which started its own financial troubles more than ten years ago. “NDTV has fought long and hard, but it appears that it is losing the battle. It appears as though the journalism industry has lost “Ms. Kohli-Khandekar remarks.

If the editorial tone and focus of the network alter under the new ownership, only time will tell. In an era when TV news is divisive, Shailesh Kapoor of media consultant Ormax Media notes that NDTV was “more left-of-the-center and did stories critical of the government which most others were not taking up.” Will they now compromise and adopt a more balanced stance due to editing constraints?

Mr. Adani thinks there is nothing to be afraid of. In his words to the Financial Times, “Independence implies if government has done something wrong, you say it’s wrong.” “However, you should also show courage when the government is acting honourably. You must add that, too.”

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