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    NORTH AMERICAN Newsline                                                   JULY 17, 2026    |  The Indian Eye 21

            news presenter Sheila Chaman, who                                                                     man and Damodaran were newsread-
            spoke about her recently published                                                                    ers it was a very different atmosphere.
            book, Doordarshan Diaries: The                                                                            Amb. Sreenivasn pointed that
            Golden Era of Television. The book,                                                                   while Kerala networks aren’t immune
            co-authored by ten former Doordar-                                                                    from the trends of the north, they are,
            shan colleagues from different de-                                                                    on the whole, not filled with shouting
            partments, chronicles the evolution                                                                   matches. He also spoke of the rise of
            of Indian television through the ex-                                                                  individual news creators whose You-
            periences of those who helped shape                                                                   Tube channels are huge hits.
            its formative years. Chaman described                                                                     “To have a chance to talk about
            it as both a nostalgic memoir and an                                                                  the past, present and future of the rich-
            important historical record of India’s                                                                est, most diverse TV landscape in the
            pioneering television era.                                                                            world was exciting. Only GOPIO and
                Recalling the early years of broad-                                                               Dr Thomas Abraham could conceive
            casting, Chaman explained that news   ushered in an era of multi-channel   shop stations”—several have grown   of and convene such an unusual dis-
            presenters wrote or edited much of   broadcasting  and  unprecedented  into  influential  media  organizations,   cussion,” concluded Sree Sreenivasan,
            their own scripts and delivered them   viewer choice. Today, India has more   demonstrating that innovation and   co-founder of Digimentors, who earli-
            entirely from memory, as teleprompt-  than 900 satellite television channels,   quality  journalism  can  flourish  even   er in the day, hosted the 400th episode
            ers and autocue systems did not yet ex-  while Doordarshan itself operates   outside the large broadcast networks.  of his NYT Readalong show.
            ist. The demanding process required   around 50 channels serving diverse re-  Concluding his remarks, Ambas-  As a token of appreciation, the
            exceptional preparation, discipline,   gional and national audiences. Citing   sador Sreenivasan drew an interest-  speakers were presented with a rare
            and  memory—qualities  that  defined   a study by the Indian Institute of Man-  ing parallel between diplomacy and   First Day Covers, canceled and re-
            the professionalism of Doordarshan’s   agement Ahmedabad, Chaman noted   journalism. “Both professions,” he   leased by the US Postal Service during
            early broadcasters.               that India’s television audience is pro-  said, “share a common purpose—to   the First Global Convention of People
                She also presented a PowerPoint   jected to grow to nearly 1.03 billion   educate and inform the public. Diplo-  of Indian Origin in New York City in
            featuring photographs and archival   viewers by 2029, underscoring tele-  mats do it discreetly; journalists do it   1989, where GOPIO was founded.
            material from the book, tracing the   vision’s continuing relevance despite   publicly.”              These collector’s item of US Postal
            journey of Indian television from its   the rapid growth of digital media.  On the symposium topic, Da-  Service’s First Day  Cover  featuring
            experimental launch in 1959 to the in-  Former Ambassador T. P. Sreeni-  modaran said, “If there is one element   Mahatma Gandhi stamps, honored
            troduction of color broadcasts during   vasan reflected on his own unexpect-  which has transformed television in   the Indian diaspora and the historic
            the 1982 Asian Games. Interwoven   ed journey into television after retir-  the last 35 years, it is the emergence   global meet.
            with this history was her own career   ing from the Indian Foreign Service.   of accountability and that anyone who   The symposium attracted a large
            at Doordarshan, where  she had  the   “It is ironic,” he remarked, “that the   appears on television needs to be pre-  audience of community leaders,
            opportunity to interview national   oldest member of this panel is speak-  pared to justify actions taken, or not   media professionals, scholars, and
            leaders,  interact  with  renowned  film   ing about the newest trends in televi-  taken, and place that justification be-  members of the Indian American
            personalities, and serve as a master of   sion.” He explained that he became   fore the people of India.”  community, generating an engaging
            ceremonies at numerous national and   an “accidental television journalist” at    “It is clear that audiences should   discussion on the  remarkable evolu-
            international events.             a time when regional news channels   demand better coverage as democra-  tion of Indian television and its fu-
                Inviting the panelists to reflect on   were expanding rapidly and creating   cy in India and abroad depends on it,”   ture in the digital age. Among those
            the symposium’s theme, “Indian Tele-  new opportunities for informed pub-  Damodaran added.           in attendance were GOPIO Interna-
            vision – Yesterday, Today and Tomor-  lic discourse.                    During the open discussion, the   tional Chairman Dr. Thomas Abra-
            row,” moderator Sree Sreenivasan led   He observed that one of the most   speakers lamented the way Indian TV   ham, GOPIO International Council
            a lively discussion on the remarkable   significant  developments  in  recent   news has become all about sensation-  Chair for Seniors Mukund Mehta,
            transformation of the Indian televi-  years has been the emergence of small,   alism with competing, exaggerated   Kerala Center Founder and GOPIO
            sion industry.                    regional news  channels.  Although   headlines and news items. The shout-  Life Member E. M. Stephen, GOPIO
                Chaman noted that Doordar-    many began with modest resources—  ing matches are a disservice to the   Chamber of Commerce and Industry
            shan, India’s pioneering public broad-  what he humorously described as “tea   audience. In the early days when Cha-  Secretary Ganesh Pager, Kerala Cen-
            caster, began modestly on September                                                                   ter Secretary Raju Thomas, along with
            15, 1959, with a small transmitter                                                                    numerous Life Members of GOPIO,
            and a makeshift studio, broadcasting                                                                  the GOPIO-Manhattan Chapter, and
            only a few hours a day. Programming                                                                   the Indian American Kerala Cultural
            initially focused on education, agri-                                                                 and Civic Center.
            culture, literacy, and national devel-                                                                    The event was jointly coordinat-
            opment. A major milestone came on                                                                     ed by Kerala Center President Alex
            August 15, 1982, when color television                                                                Esthappan and GOPIO Internation-
            was introduced in time for the Asian                                                                  al Chairman Dr. Thomas Abraham.
            Games, ushering in a new era of tech-                                                                 Kerala Center Vice President Daisy
            nological advancement and dramat-                                                                     Stephen delivered the vote of thanks,
            ically expanding television’s reach                                                                   expressing appreciation to the dis-
            across the country.                                                                                   tinguished speakers for sharing their
                She explained that India’s tele-                                                                  experiences and insights, and to the
            vision landscape underwent a fun-                                                                     audience for their enthusiastic partic-
            damental transformation after the                                                                     ipation despite a warm summer Sun-
            economic reforms of the early 1990s.                                                                  day afternoon. She noted that the live-
            The arrival of CNN during the Gulf                                                                    ly interaction between the panelists
            War, followed by private broadcasters                                                                 and  attendees  reflected  the  continu-
            such as Star TV, Zee TV, and Sony,                                                                    ing interest in the history, growth, and
            ended Doordarshan’s monopoly and                                                                      future of Indian television and media.

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