Media in Goa
[1][2] Over the years, the media has changed dramatically from its early 20th century beginnings as a battlefield for influential lobbies within the local Catholic society (including caste-based elites,[3] or politically divided groups) which were largely controlled by influential and educated local elites.
After the end of Portuguese rule in 1961, new newspapers were set up, which were aligned to the influential local mining lobby.
This too has changed in recent years, with some sections of the media becoming more politically aligned, or linked to major business houses both within Goa and its neighbourhood (particularly Maharastra).
[4] Till 1961, and the end of Portuguese-rule in Goa, Portuguese-language newspapers, including dailies and an eveninger, dominated the local market.
English-language newspapers in Goa comprise: O Heraldo (The Herald), Goa's oldest newspaper, formerly a Portuguese language daily owned by the family of Raul Fernandes (Herald Publications Pvt Ltd), a local printing enterprise that grew out of a stationery shop; The Navhind Times, published by the former mining house of the Dempos since 1963; and the Gomantak Times, which changed hands from its earlier owners from the mining house of the Chowgules to the politically linked Pawar family, based in the neighboring state of Maharashtra.
In addition to these, The Times of India and The Indian Express are also distributed to urban areas from nearby Bombay and Bangalore.
Publications in Konkani include Vauraddeancho Ixtt (Workers' Friend), a weekly magazine in Roman script.
In the 1980s, a Roman script Konkani paper called Novem Goem folded in large part due to financial difficulties and alleged mismanagement in spite of being set up with enthusiasm and even a drive to collect funds for it through a 'padyatra' (foot-march) across Goa.
[6][7] The Goan, which is linked to the industrial house of the Timblos, which has interests in mining and the luxury tourism sector, was started in 2013, edited by Sujay Gupta.
On 15 July 2016, a new Devanagari Konkani daily called "Bhaangar Bhuin" (भांगरभूंय) was launched, under the editorship of Pundalik Naik.
[8] In the Marathi language, some of the popular newspapers are: the Tarun Bharat, which was earlier published from the neighbouring city of Belgaum but now has its presses in Porvorim; the Daily Pudhari, which was earlier published from Karaswada, Mapusa; the Gomantak, a sister publication of the Gomantak Times and much more influential in the past; and Navprabha of The Navhind Times/Dempo group.
A nearly three-decade old newspaper, the Marathi daily Rashtramath from the South Goa city of Margao suspended publications at the early part of this decade.
Job losses and newspaper shutdowns were reported during the pandemic in mid-2020 and thereabouts, due to the impact of COVID-19 and consequent governmental policies on the media.
[9] The Gomantak Times had been started in 1986, as part of the Chowgule mining group, and had then been sold to the Pawar family-linked Sakal Publications of Pune (earlier Poona) in 2000.
[9] "From the day the 'Janata Curfew' was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 22nd March [2020], door delivery as well as counter sales of newspapers came to a grinding halt till the second lockdown, which ended on 3rd May [2020]," it was noted.
[4] Its studios are at Altinho, the hill-top state-capital Panjim – also known as Panaji, Pangim or Ponnje – and its transmitters are located at Bambolim, some 5 km away.
Indian policy stipulates that these bids are a One-Time Entry Fee (OTEF), for the license period of 10 years.
India's earlier attempts to privatise its FM channels ran into difficulty, when most private players bid heavily then could not meet their commitments to pay the governments the expected amounts.
All the three winning bidders were to co-site their transmitting infrastructure with All India Radio's tower on the outskirts of Panaji.
AIR's FM Rainbow has a six kW transmitter, and even this is not heard properly in some distant areas of Goa.
Radio Mirchi (of what was the Times FM group, run by one of the biggest newspaper chains in the country) returned to Goa after many years.
DD National broadcasts programmes of short duration in local languages (Konkani, Marathi).
The earlier BJP government, at the start of the first decade of this century, officially acknowledged that it was subsidising the operations of some networks, arguing that this was needed to promote programming in the local language In August 2011, a live internet news webcast was commenced by In Goa News.
Writing in the early 1980s, anthropologist Dr Robert S Newman spoke about the relationship with the media in Goa with the "big families" – mainly comprising "a handful of small-businessmen, traditional landowners, and war profiteers (who) received iron ore mining licenses, and were encouraged to dig and ship the ore to Japan (which needed it for reconstruction after World War II)."
It is not perhaps coincidental that individuals and groups involved in protest issues in Goa have often felt that they have received an unfair deal from the media.
