The Bane of 24/7 News Channels
The news channels today pretty much occupy half the telecast bandwidth. What keeps them running for 24 hrs a day are rumoring, scandalizing and drivelling that come very naturally and easily to these people. Since it is not possible to invent the "real genuine news" with that frequency, there is not much the news channels can do. And besides, they have to compete with music and drama channels too along with a dozen other news channels. So a typical news channel ( which should be appositely called "Miscellaneous Today") offers the following items on the platter : dumb news for dumb people, scandals for scandalmongers, fashion news for fashion-savvy, recipes for cooks-manque, puppet shows for children, bollywood songs/gossip for movie-buffs , etc etc. In case you are wondering what's for "sharp people" , it is yawns and frowns. And if you love to type SMSs but can't figure whom to send them to, they provide you the best platform (imagine your lousy message scrolling at the bottom of the TV screen).
The latest trend is the "breaking news" wherein the news channels discuss in elaboration e-mails/phone calls/handwritten letters sent by miscreants claiming responsibilities for events ranging from bomb blasts to mobbing. It is indeed a proud moment for a news channel receiving exclusively such confessions since it goes on to prove how much faith the criminals have in them and how much effort they are willing to put in to promote the channel. They purport to set up enquiries results of which are never shown since it would be embarrassing to show the sender traced down to their own office.
The "sting operations" are also catching up. But since they are not as simple as getting an e-mail sent to yourself and involve a lot of acting/ active involvement by a lot of people, they are telecast only once in a while. Each channel has its own breaking news for the day and sting operation for the month (originality is important).
We are also shown frequent opinion polls. A news channel ABC asks its viewers to vote which news channel they prefer to watch. Since most normal people would be watching what they prefer to watch unless they are switching channels at the moment , they would be voting for this ABC channel. The channel however proudly declares itself the clear viewership winner (for the 4th consecutive year).
Live debates shown are farces (The topics given to school children are more thought-provoking than the ones picked by news channels ) . When the host enters, you wonder if some gaffe (like a taxi-driver being interviewed instead of a celebrity) is going to happen. Soon you are shocked to realize that you mistook the interviewer for a potential taxi-driver. Then the panelists are invited. The panel would comprise a politician , a lyricist, a professor, a student, a filmmaker, a film actor, a TV actor etc. Together they would discuss a very relevant topic ( such as "Is Lord Krishna important in our lives?? " on the occasion of Janmashtmi ). The film actor says he is like the modern Krishna since he plays a lover boy in his latest film. The lyricist claims to have written many songs with "kanha" words. The politician would have constructed a Krishna temple. A part of the audience sends SMSs that are shown on the screen ( e.g. "I love you Lord Krishna" -meerabai , " I read Geeta everyday" - seeta devi, etc etc). And you watch and yawn because you have nothing better to do (the other news channel is conducting the debate "Are students becoming gundas ?" ).
However, not all is bleak and there are a few plus points too. For instance, the news channels had an important role to play recently in the rescue of the little boy Prince and his meetings with Sunny Deol etc. (the boy would have liked Shah Rukh Khan better). But then there are so many princes/princesses in India who need to be rescued as urgently. Perhaps, the news channels will have a better meaning if they venture into social activism. They could then advertise "News with a purpose". We would not miss the masala that is already in the menu on MTV etc .
The latest trend is the "breaking news" wherein the news channels discuss in elaboration e-mails/phone calls/handwritten letters sent by miscreants claiming responsibilities for events ranging from bomb blasts to mobbing. It is indeed a proud moment for a news channel receiving exclusively such confessions since it goes on to prove how much faith the criminals have in them and how much effort they are willing to put in to promote the channel. They purport to set up enquiries results of which are never shown since it would be embarrassing to show the sender traced down to their own office.
The "sting operations" are also catching up. But since they are not as simple as getting an e-mail sent to yourself and involve a lot of acting/ active involvement by a lot of people, they are telecast only once in a while. Each channel has its own breaking news for the day and sting operation for the month (originality is important).
We are also shown frequent opinion polls. A news channel ABC asks its viewers to vote which news channel they prefer to watch. Since most normal people would be watching what they prefer to watch unless they are switching channels at the moment , they would be voting for this ABC channel. The channel however proudly declares itself the clear viewership winner (for the 4th consecutive year).
Live debates shown are farces (The topics given to school children are more thought-provoking than the ones picked by news channels ) . When the host enters, you wonder if some gaffe (like a taxi-driver being interviewed instead of a celebrity) is going to happen. Soon you are shocked to realize that you mistook the interviewer for a potential taxi-driver. Then the panelists are invited. The panel would comprise a politician , a lyricist, a professor, a student, a filmmaker, a film actor, a TV actor etc. Together they would discuss a very relevant topic ( such as "Is Lord Krishna important in our lives?? " on the occasion of Janmashtmi ). The film actor says he is like the modern Krishna since he plays a lover boy in his latest film. The lyricist claims to have written many songs with "kanha" words. The politician would have constructed a Krishna temple. A part of the audience sends SMSs that are shown on the screen ( e.g. "I love you Lord Krishna" -meerabai , " I read Geeta everyday" - seeta devi, etc etc). And you watch and yawn because you have nothing better to do (the other news channel is conducting the debate "Are students becoming gundas ?" ).
However, not all is bleak and there are a few plus points too. For instance, the news channels had an important role to play recently in the rescue of the little boy Prince and his meetings with Sunny Deol etc. (the boy would have liked Shah Rukh Khan better). But then there are so many princes/princesses in India who need to be rescued as urgently. Perhaps, the news channels will have a better meaning if they venture into social activism. They could then advertise "News with a purpose". We would not miss the masala that is already in the menu on MTV etc .
posted by Sindhu Verma | Tuesday, September 05, 2006
9 Comments:
As Usual ..a GREAT piece of writingg..I couldnt control my laughter at several pointss..But this breaking news is gettin a bit TOO much..ughh..Manmohan Singh Having a COLD is probably breaking news tooo!! And that coverage of Rakhi Sawant?? yuckk..irritates me!!
It is a truism that media is as important as the legislature or the executive. As you eloquently explained, many news channels engage in banal platitudes. These lousy productions harm the society by disengaging the serious viewer. However, there is another way in which media is hurting our nation.
Bias and prejudice aren’t uncommon is 24/7 channels. Turns out most of the journalists are partisan hacks who are least concerned about journalistic ethos. It isn’t surprising to find them engaged in false propaganda and suck up to disingenuous politicians. Accountability isn’t in vogue and we haven’t seen a person with the guts and guile to hold a politician’s feet to fire in a long time. Interviews are farce and scripted.
How do we fix the system? There are no easy answers. Education isn’t the panacea because the civil services stink. I think it boils down to our values. India has an embarrassing corruption index. We must realize that values like honesty and integrity are indispensable. It is more difficult than it sounds because we are unlikely to dispense with our convenient frailties. Penury and desperation are correlated so let us ignore the low income group for a while. But why shouldn’t we hang corrupt middle/upper class citizens?
I remember Gail Wynand's empire in "The Fountainhead" by Ayn Rand.
well-written blog, as usual. but, why do you expect news channels to take part in social activism? (ref. last para) they are doing business, like you and me and unfortunately, their nature of business requires them to attract viewership toward their channel. if puppeteering and mindless political debates are the things people like to lap up the most, then those things WILL be shown and it's time we realize that! would like to know your counterpoint and will be back to this comment page after a few days. enjoy!
Media has an obligation towards the society. It is required to deliver on that.
By the way, social activism isn't unpopular. People watch crappy shows because they do not have alternatives. Free market and capitalism do not discourage altruism. The success of movies like "Rang de Basanti" is a case in point.
sorry, but i still differ! while i readily admit that the media has a social responsibility, maybe more than anyone else since they are capable of influencing the public view on any subject, i think their "responsibility" begins and ends with presenting the news undistorted! calling on them to do social service is unjustified and rather "romantic".
i have never claimed social activism is unpopular. patriotism/activism, apart from being the last resort of scoundrels, can generate some serious cash, if rubbed the right way! rdb proves that. however, if we accept that the responsibiliy of the media ends with presenting undistorted news and nothing more, then it's best left to them to decide what's "popular".
"crappy" is a very relative term. political debates (however silly ) can be crappy to you and comparison between nietzsche and schopenhauer might sound like utter trash to me! those "alternatives" that are crappy to you are running because they have high trp, otherwise the channels would have taken them off air. and that means there ARE people watching them. maybe a little less complacency would do us good.
thanks charu and abhishek for your thoughts.
hi anonymous!I never claim that social activism is a responsibility of the media (news channels). I would really appreciate it if they stuck to their job of presenting news undistorted. I suggested some alternatives for them just because they are so much interested in doing out of the world things...such as news top ten (local news abt murders/thefts) and coverage of what's happening in tv serials. I don't think they should disguise as "news channels" if gossip and entertainment (as u say such programmes have high TRP) is what they purport to dish out. I have nothing against star plus and the likes for airing identical saas-bahu serials, but it definitely is irksome if star news airs programs with made-up news about sushmita sen chanting mantras to dispel snakes. Even newspaper headlines are formed by break-ups and hook-ups. If that is what is popular, I think ppl need to have a better taste and perception of what "news" is :). Popular and crappy aren't antonymous. Being able to peep into the recesses of the lives of bollywood actors is not my idea of being well-informed. Besides in the recent past, I haven't heard one sane person lauding the job the news ppl are doing. So I really wonder who like all these supplemetary entertainment programmes and ebates on the news channels. We are all free to have our own opinions in any case. thanks for your comments.
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Damn cool stuff :).. made a real good read... And seriously the quality of news channels today is getting ridiculous, to say the least. Specially with the Hindi ones.. Sometimes you wonder if the basis of the problem lies in having a 24 hour news channel. Ab kahan se laayengey itne saare taaza khabar :)..
I remember everybody in my family looking forward to the 8:40 news in those good old Doordarshan days :).. Very bland show it was.. but Abhishek Aishwarya gossip was never Breaking News for them! And that does make sense to me.
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