Have the news channels become entertainment channels?.
I am not the only person to ask that.
In fact, TV News anchor Rajdeep Sardesai himself told us
at our Mumbai conclave in February 2014 that one could turn to News Channels
for entertainment!
The news channels seem to be losing their seriousness. In
fact, BJP boycotted NDTV during the poll campaign on the pretext that the
channel was not fair to them. Today, we hear some spokespersons threatening
Times Now that they will not come to the channel as they are not allowed to
speak.
Even a student of mass communication feels that the news
channels are not doing the right thing.
My daughter, then doing her masters in mass
communication, had this experience during a guest talk by Rajdeep. At the end
of the talk and the Q & A, she musters enough courage and ask Rajdeep: Sir, why
do some of you anchors do not allow your panelists to respond.
Rajdeep passes this question to Sagarika.
My daughter says: She is even worse!
Let me narrate another anecdote.
We had this interesting debate during the Press Club
Mumbai’s Red Ink Awards for excellence in journalism last year.
Arnab, Rajdeep, Kumar Ketkar were the panelists and
Piyush Pande, Chairman of Ogilvy, and Uday Shankar, Star TV CEO, were the moderators
or anchors.
Uday began by saying: Arnab, Rajdeep and Kumar. The rules
of this debate are: I will ask you a question. I will not allow you to answer
and I will ask you more questions.
Arnab: Uday, you have begun it well. But you forgot one
more rule of the game. You will ask a question. Answer it yourself. And ask
more questions….
The topic was: ‘Elections 2014: Were We Fair, Or Did We
Stoke the NaMo Wave?’
While Arnab and Rajdeep went about discussing the media’s
role on propelling the wave, Piyush interrupted ….you may remember that it was
Piyush’s Ogilvy that coined the catch phrase: Achhay Din Aanay Walay Hain.
Piyush said: Arnab and Rajdeep, please don’t credit
yourselves for the wave. None of us created or stoked it. WE JUST RODE THE
WAVE!
So much for credit snatchers and those who claim the
highest TRPs.
It was interesting to see that all channels were claiming
the Number 1 viewership position after the election results.
It is equally interesting to watch anchors like Rajdeep
Sardesai attacking the race for TRPs among news channels?
We have called them the noise channels long ago.
Here is how it will look if we have a debate among news
anchors and political party spokespersons.
Let me present an imaginary debate and let me start with
a disclaimer: This debate that I am going to narrate is purely imaginary and fictitious
and not to be taken seriously at all.
Don’t
blame me if you find it real!
Now, the debate begins something like this.
Rajdeep: My son does not watch news channels.
Arnab Goswami: The nation wants to know why!
Barkha Dutt: It is quite sad. Don’t you feel terrible
about it? It must be really disturbing.
Rajdeep: In this race for TRPs, we seem to be losing out.
We are losing sense in sensationalizing the news.
Print journalist Kumar Ketkar: For you, everything is
breaking news.
Rajdeep: Yes, Arvind Kejriwal leaves home…breaking
news….Kejriwal reaches Jantar Mantar….breaking news
Arnab: I will not take this. You cannot pass judgement
against me on my channel. My viewers know me well.
Barkha: We have different standards. But we can’t live in
isolation.
Rajdeep: Breaking news is breaking down.
Karan Thapar: It is particularly disturbing to see all
kinds of nonsense. You must explain.
Prannoy Roy: We have spent 25 years in reporting the news…they
say the dot makes all the difference….Now let me ask my young friends on what
they think of the news.
Rajdeep: My so does not watch news channels.
Arnab: Never ever. Never. Ever. Never Ever. Say such
things. My viewers know me well. Now, let me open up this debate and….let me take
this call from Chikamagalur.
Manish Tewari: With regards to your call, how many people
watch English news channels? My information is that people in places like Eluru
or Chakimagalur or Jumri Talayya do not even get to see English or Hindi news
channels.
Rajdeep: Yes, regional media is exploding. But does this
TRP race is spreading among them as well.
Barkha: I was in Kashmir. I could freely speak in English.
Arnab: Everyone on my channel speaks English. My Hindi
isn’t all that good.
Mayank Gandhi (of AAP): The nation need not know this.
Karan Thapar (tightening his teeth): But, but….dont you
think it is highly irresponsible on part of some viewers not to watch TV
channels?
Arnab: This is undemocratic. The nation wants to know why
this selective black out is happening.
Prannoy (holding his chin with his right palm): Let them
have the freedom to chose what they want.
Rajdeep: Only in my newsroom, do we watch 20 news
channels. And we have some 483 channels airing the news 24x7.
Subramaniam Swamy: Don’t say it so loud. Some parties
will give multiple TV sets as freebies during the poll campaign.
Raghav Behl: That will be good for the economy. The FMCG
industry may see growth. Dalal Street will look up.
Arnab, Barkha, Karan and Rajdeep try to say something and
all that we could hear is noise. Swamy, Tewari and Gandhi just smile away.
-BNK
