Asian News International

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Asian News International
IndustryMedia, news media
FoundedDecember 9, 1971; 53 years ago (1971-12-09) in New Delhi, India[1]
Founder(s)Prem Prakash
Headquarters
New Delhi
Area served
India, South Asia
Key people
OwnerANI Media Private Limited[2]
Websiteaninews.in

Asian News International (ANI) is an Indian news agency that offers syndicated multimedia news feed to news-bureaus in India and elsewhere.[3][4][5] Established by Prem Prakash in 1971, it was the first agency in India to syndicate video news[6] and as of 2019, is the biggest television news agency in India.

History[edit]

Establishment and early years (1971–2000)[edit]

Prem had started his career in the field of photography before being employed by Visnews (and Reuters) as a photojournalist, where he went on to cover some of the most significant historical events in post-independence India.[7][8] A significant figure in the domain of news and documentary film-making in the 1970s, he commanded considerable respect among foreign journalists and film-makers, and were conferred with the MBE.[7][8]

In 1971, Prem established ANI (initially TVNF, India's first television news feature agency) which gained extraordinary influence within the Congress Government.[7] TVNF played a key role in fulfilling Indira Gandhi's wishes of showcasing a positive image of India, having produced numerous films for Doordarshan, and went on to gain a monopoly in the sector.[7]

Smita Prakash, an alumna of Indian Institute of Mass Communication, joined ANI in around 1986 as an intern and was later inducted as a full-time employee.[7] Daughter of Inna Ramamohan Rao, former director of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, she married Prem's son Sanjiv in 1988 which furthered ANI's access within the government.[7][8] In 1993, Reuters purchased a stake in ANI, and it was allowed to exert a complete monopoly over their India feed.[7]

Later years (2000–present)[edit]

By 2000, India had seen a boom of private 24x7 news channels; however, unsustainable revenue models meant that they did not have the capacity to hire video-reporters across the country.[7] This provided scope for massive expansion of ANI's domestic video-production capacities at the behest of Sanjiv, who had a meteoric rise through the ranks (along with Smita) courtesy his shrewd managerial instincts.[7] Asian Films TV was incorporated in 2000 to provide feed for newspapers and periodicals.[8] The Caravan though notes that most of its foot-soldiers were low-cost recruits, who had little to do with journalism.[7]

In 2000, the NDA government launched a Kashmir-based regional channel—DD Kashir, and ANI was allowed to produce its programs.[7][8] By the end of 2005, ANI's business-model was faring impressively on a consistent basis and it shifted its office out of Gole Market, to a new five-storey building in R.K. Puram.[7] ANI continued to be trusted by the upcoming UPA governments, to the extent of MEA choosing Smita to be a part of the two-member-strong contingent of Indian journalists at both of the joint press conferences between the incumbent prime ministers of India and USA.[7]

In later 2000s, increasing charges of ANI feed and low quality of journalism coupled with the introduction of broadcast vans led to several national and regional channels unsubscribing them.[7] The launch of UNI TV in 2010 by Yashwant Deshmukh gave stiff competition as well.[7] However, Ishan Prakash, Smita's son who joined the company in 2011, procured multiple units of LiveU, expanded ANI's overseas bureaus and enlisted into contracts with multiple state governments and multiple union ministries.[7][8] A monopoly was again re-created and most of its competitors shut down, eventually.[7]

By late 2011, ANI accounted for about 99% of the Reuters feed and in FY 2017–18, they were paid ₹ 2.54 crore for the services.[8] Archive videos were sold at rates as high as ₹ 1000 per second; in FY 2017–18, the firm reported revenues of ₹ 68.23 crore and a net profit of ₹ 9.91 crore.[8]

Lawsuit against Wikipedia[edit]

In July 2024, ANI Media Private Limited filed a lawsuit against the Wikimedia Foundation and others in the Delhi High Court, claiming that the news agency was defamed in a description on the website. ANI is seeking ₹2 crore (US$230,000) in damages from Wikipedia.[9][10][11] The case is scheduled for a hearing on August 20. On 5th September, the Delhi High Court sent a contempt of court notice to Wikipedia for failing to disclose information about the editors who made changes to the article.[12]

"I will impose contempt... It is not a question of Defendant No 1 (Wikipedia) not being an entity in India. We will close your business transactions here. We will ask the government to block Wikipedia... Earlier also you people have taken this argument. If you don’t like India, please don’t work in India," the judge said to the Wikipedia counsel." Justice Navin Chawla said.

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ↑ "ANI MEDIA PRIVATE LIMITED - Company, directors and contact details". zaubacorp.com. Retrieved 22 June 2018.
  2. ↑ "Terms & Conditions". aninews.in.
  3. ↑ Shrivastava, K. M. (2007). News Agencies from Pigeon to Internet. Sterling Publishers Pvt. Ltd. ISBN 9781932705676.
  4. ↑ Paterson, Chris A.; Sreberny, Annabelle (2004). International News in the 21st Century. Georgetown University Press. p. 122. ISBN 9781860205965.
  5. ↑ "Footaging It Fleetly". Outlook India Magazine. Retrieved 2019-12-29.
  6. ↑ Saxena, Sunil. Web Journalism-The Craft & Technology. Tata McGraw-Hill Education. p. 16. ISBN 9780070680838.
  7. ↑ 7.00 7.01 7.02 7.03 7.04 7.05 7.06 7.07 7.08 7.09 7.10 7.11 7.12 7.13 7.14 7.15 7.16 Donthi, Praveen (1 March 2019). "The Image Makers : How ANI Reports The Government's Version Of Truth". The Caravan. Retrieved 2019-12-07.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 8.6 8.7 Ahluwalia, Harveen; Srivilasan, Pranav (2018-10-21). "How ANI quietly built a monopoly". The Ken. Retrieved 2019-12-28.
  9. ↑ Khan, Khadija (10 July 2024). "Why has ANI slapped a defamation case against Wikipedia?". The Indian Express. Archived from the original on 14 July 2024. Retrieved 11 July 2024.
  10. ↑ News Desk (9 July 2024). "ANI files defamation suit against Wikipedia, seeks Rs 2 cr in damages". The Siasat Daily. Archived from the original on 9 July 2024. Retrieved 9 July 2024.
  11. ↑ DH Web Desk (9 July 2024). "News agency ANI files Rs 2 crore defamation suit against Wikipedia in Delhi High Court". Deccan Herald. Archived from the original on 9 July 2024. Retrieved 9 July 2024.
  12. ↑ DH Web Desk. "Will ask government to block Wikipedia: Delhi High Court issues contempt order in ANI case". Retrieved 2024-09-05.

External links[edit]

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