At this juncture when television news is become ‘breakfast and dinner’ of common Indian, something is itching. We see stories running and its so called impact is calling. At a time when the news is vastly becomes commodity and the coverage and reportage is business, what exactly a news watcher expects. Hard and soft, these are two genres. Fact and fiction are also different. And the identity the news channels portray is not what a news portal or newspaper has. How channels are different? They are mostly planned, plain and puerile. They are stick to an image ‘perceived’ by the viewer.
A viewer wants satisfaction from the content. The eyelid he browses on different channels needs a place, where he looks fine and attaching content. News portals are universal in application, so the designer and the content producer know the demand and the design. News papers know the place and target audience, generally families. He caters a bunch of information’s, analysis, stories, and creative inputs for all. This fine amalgamation is like nature and the final creature.
Newspapers are localise with national sense. News portals are internationalise with local sense. This theme is not seen in television news. News channel is a screen where, every nook and corner must get its space. Compare, is the news of North India lure the South Indian. Are the dilemmas of rural India noticed in metropolitan India? How much India is on the television sets? Clearly on cable and satellite channels? Vast and versatile India needs a vision and picture of unanimity. News channels may happy that they are first and second in TRP, but they are lacking in the space of Indian memory. Hope they think and start their journey of history from the roots.
Soochak
soochak@gmail.com
Send your write-ups on any media on "mediayug@gmail.com"
Wednesday, May 31, 2006
New Breed Journalists: Making Nuisance Of The Newssense
Every day and now, I get calls from the people searching for jobs in the electronic media, say categorically TV media. No one seems interested in the radio and forget about print. Almost all of them are the new breed of fresh journalists coming out of the media institutes and universities in bulk who want to be taken in any TV channel as anchor or reporter. The last day I got a same call from a newcomer who did her internship in Aaj Tak and wanted to get absorbed somewhere as Reporter in Delhi. When I directed her to Star News, she asked the address of the channel office and didn't knew about the DLF building in Connaught Place. When I asked her that how she will be going to work as a reporter if she didn't knew the basics of geographical locations. She just said, "Wo sab to ho jata hai Sir!"
Now, as she has spend more than two Lakhs in Amity, she was not ready to work in less than 12k p.m. Now, where is the merit? What is the basis for this huge demand? Huge in the sense that most of the capable print journalists manage to get over 10 k p.m. in three to four years span of their journalistic career. There is a huge imbalance between the pay structure in print and TV. Although, one will be surprised to know that all the TV channels are headed by those people who have basically come from print. But the thing which upsets this scenario is their choice of the candidates. I know that this girl will get through her unemployement in a short span of time and cross me after one year in monetary terms, then never look back to me as if the print people are the most louzy creatures on this earth.
This is not a complaint, neither to cry over the difference between print and TV. Rather, we are more concerned about the output which is being given by these young chaps who spend two Lakhs and get easy entry into the important outlets of social responsibility. Their selection has a huge impact on the content and form of the whole TV media. Let's forget about the structural aberrations, but we as journalists are always accountable for the news items, their selection, their rundown and priority, visuals shown and the images left out. If we are not taken in on the basis of our journalistic understanding and a minimum level of humanistic morality, then the social responsibility theory of the media gets shattered to the finest level. Whenever we talk of the media's responsibility, let's never forget about these new entraints who are the most responsible factors in dilapilating the news.
But, remember, their heads are also equally responsible for this crime. Just to cite some examples. The newcomers are never told by their seniors to understand the difference between naxalite, terrorist and banned outfits. They are never told the difference between CPI, CPI(M), CPI(ML) and other communist parties. They can never know if they are not told that what is the full form and difference of S.H.O. and S.O. Go and ask any crime reporter the hierarchy in the police department. You can easily check this out. Nowadays, reporters covering the reservation issue are now and then using the term Mandal Comission. Just ask, how many of them know who was Mr. Mandal and what he did that put the country on fire? You can easily check this out also.
So, the crux is that, there must be an informal training of the newcomers in the media group which they join by the heads of those organisations. This would firsthand increase the collective responsibility of the media group, secondly clear the common minimum agenda of the the group and last but not the least, help to create loyal journalists. Our senior journalist and writer of daily Hindustaan Mr. Rajendra Dhodapkar was once telling me the story of the golden days of daily Jansatta when Prabhash ji and Banwari ji went abroad for more than a month without handing over the responsibilities to anyone and the newspaper ran smoothly and responsibly without any hurdle. Prabhash ji is a journalist as well as a trainer in the sense that, as Mr. Dhodapkar accepts, " We are all children in front of him because today also, he keeps on teaching us the basic tenets of journalism and most importantly, requirement of the freedom of a journalist."
It's not like setting standards like Jansatta of those days in the news channels, but at least we must help our colleagues and newcomers in keeping them aware of their social responsibility as a journalist. So that next time, when Nepal arises from the shackles of supression and someone comes from news channel to cover the rally at Jantar Mantar, we must not hear the questions like....Sir, please first of all tell me what's happening in Nepal? Yes...a byte carrier(I call TV reporters by this name only) from Sahara samay asked this question exactly the same way and the person who was standing in front of the gunmike got amazed. He was in dilemma...what to say. Not only this, even, a new journalist from Jansatta was heard saying Nepal and North-East are same. He had to take an interview on the insurgency in North-East and the person he chose was the senior journalist Anand Swaroop Verma. When I told him that Verma ji specialises on Nepal issue, I came to hear this nonsense from him. This was the nuisance of the newsense.
Do you also want to keep this nuisance going on? If no, and certainly no, then come out with some suggestions so as to build a pressure on the key people sitting in media groups to keep an eye on these nuisances being played by there subordinates and correct them. Waiting for the same.........
Abhishek Srivastava
09350352421
Now, as she has spend more than two Lakhs in Amity, she was not ready to work in less than 12k p.m. Now, where is the merit? What is the basis for this huge demand? Huge in the sense that most of the capable print journalists manage to get over 10 k p.m. in three to four years span of their journalistic career. There is a huge imbalance between the pay structure in print and TV. Although, one will be surprised to know that all the TV channels are headed by those people who have basically come from print. But the thing which upsets this scenario is their choice of the candidates. I know that this girl will get through her unemployement in a short span of time and cross me after one year in monetary terms, then never look back to me as if the print people are the most louzy creatures on this earth.
This is not a complaint, neither to cry over the difference between print and TV. Rather, we are more concerned about the output which is being given by these young chaps who spend two Lakhs and get easy entry into the important outlets of social responsibility. Their selection has a huge impact on the content and form of the whole TV media. Let's forget about the structural aberrations, but we as journalists are always accountable for the news items, their selection, their rundown and priority, visuals shown and the images left out. If we are not taken in on the basis of our journalistic understanding and a minimum level of humanistic morality, then the social responsibility theory of the media gets shattered to the finest level. Whenever we talk of the media's responsibility, let's never forget about these new entraints who are the most responsible factors in dilapilating the news.
But, remember, their heads are also equally responsible for this crime. Just to cite some examples. The newcomers are never told by their seniors to understand the difference between naxalite, terrorist and banned outfits. They are never told the difference between CPI, CPI(M), CPI(ML) and other communist parties. They can never know if they are not told that what is the full form and difference of S.H.O. and S.O. Go and ask any crime reporter the hierarchy in the police department. You can easily check this out. Nowadays, reporters covering the reservation issue are now and then using the term Mandal Comission. Just ask, how many of them know who was Mr. Mandal and what he did that put the country on fire? You can easily check this out also.
So, the crux is that, there must be an informal training of the newcomers in the media group which they join by the heads of those organisations. This would firsthand increase the collective responsibility of the media group, secondly clear the common minimum agenda of the the group and last but not the least, help to create loyal journalists. Our senior journalist and writer of daily Hindustaan Mr. Rajendra Dhodapkar was once telling me the story of the golden days of daily Jansatta when Prabhash ji and Banwari ji went abroad for more than a month without handing over the responsibilities to anyone and the newspaper ran smoothly and responsibly without any hurdle. Prabhash ji is a journalist as well as a trainer in the sense that, as Mr. Dhodapkar accepts, " We are all children in front of him because today also, he keeps on teaching us the basic tenets of journalism and most importantly, requirement of the freedom of a journalist."
It's not like setting standards like Jansatta of those days in the news channels, but at least we must help our colleagues and newcomers in keeping them aware of their social responsibility as a journalist. So that next time, when Nepal arises from the shackles of supression and someone comes from news channel to cover the rally at Jantar Mantar, we must not hear the questions like....Sir, please first of all tell me what's happening in Nepal? Yes...a byte carrier(I call TV reporters by this name only) from Sahara samay asked this question exactly the same way and the person who was standing in front of the gunmike got amazed. He was in dilemma...what to say. Not only this, even, a new journalist from Jansatta was heard saying Nepal and North-East are same. He had to take an interview on the insurgency in North-East and the person he chose was the senior journalist Anand Swaroop Verma. When I told him that Verma ji specialises on Nepal issue, I came to hear this nonsense from him. This was the nuisance of the newsense.
Do you also want to keep this nuisance going on? If no, and certainly no, then come out with some suggestions so as to build a pressure on the key people sitting in media groups to keep an eye on these nuisances being played by there subordinates and correct them. Waiting for the same.........
Abhishek Srivastava
09350352421
Tuesday, May 30, 2006
The RIGHT Story..
What do you want to see or read in your media. Surely some intrigiung politics and tangled geographical issues. What makes your day fine and senseful. Information and facts change the look of news. Is the media you endorse provide you the truth, you must know. Like every year this time the United Nations enlisted ten stories which must be unleashed, desperately. Ten stories of humanity,compassion and the underlining truth.
Have a look and keep yuor eyes on media, is they covering it :
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=33243
Send your write-ups on any media on "mediayug@gmail.com"
Have a look and keep yuor eyes on media, is they covering it :
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=33243
Send your write-ups on any media on "mediayug@gmail.com"
What’s “Larger Than Life”?
"Larger than life" is a very common phrase in the English literature; we have got a music album also with this name and whenever there arises a discourse regarding any commited goal, the phrase strikes the mind. Let me ask, what is larger than life? A very individual question, but may be answered in a general framework of the dialectics between life and death. Last day, 22 medicos asked for mercy death from the President of India just for the sake of their protest against quota.There seems no discourse on this incident in our culturally great society.
Is reservation such a matter, say "larger than life" that one can ask for mercy death? There are many aspects of this nuisance. Don't forget our rebellions and independence warriors like Bhagat Singh. They never asked mercy death rather sacrificed themselves for the noble cause. Asking mercy death for the cause which can be, say the most important in the lives of the Indian students, is a cowardice in this respect. Protest and demonstrations are alright and there must be a conscious solidarity of the people against/for the issue, depending on the personal stand. But this is the height of escapism and cowardice which is is being rapped in the hypocrit colors of Rang De Basanti.
It's as simple as anything to understand that life may be experimented in many ways but you can't experiment with death. It never gives a second chance if the experiment succeeds. And after all, knowing that the provision of mercy killing has not yet been a part of the Indian social, political and cultural process, it is being asked for. The simple reason being publicity and the greater reason being the increasing alienation in our culturally tolerant society due to the consumer culture pervading all over.
India is not Japan or U.S. If a bunch of young people have asked for mercy deaths, this shows that the new era of civil protests is rather going to be more defensive and the leading middle class is blunting the whole youth spirit. If there is a disagreement with my views, let's wash it out. A simple recipe. See.
Let the reservation question be a launching pad for the civil protests in India on a much broader scale. Mass needs a slogan, so let this only be the starting point. Forget about poverty, unemployement, eviction, displacement, tribal killings, imperialist suppression and many more. (Let it does not depend on any personal agreements/disagreements including me) But then, two questions will always remain unanswered.
Firstly, the demand of mercy deaths is being asked in the same political system which is going to implement quota. This is a major contradiction. If the system has become corrupt and the whole political scenario needs a revamp, then why to seek mercy from the ruler class? Is the President of India working in an isolated system? Is he not a part of the ruler class?
Secondly, hope that some student from the medical community gets a decisive place in between the rulers, say becomes the HRD Minister. Let's assume that he can curb all the reservations and quotas on his own. But then how will he tackle the upheaval arising from the SC, ST and OBC protest? The argument seems circular, and definitely this is a viscious circle from which mercy death could not provide an exit.
Basically, as far as I have my own understanding of the protests and issues, the doctors are losing the grip against their own interest only by doing these type of populist activities. They will never appeal to the masses because the hospitals are closed and people are suffering. No propoganda will work out, although they have largely circulated a news of the death of a doctor, some Srivastava of AIIMS. No one believes, and the media is not such a fool's foul play at least that it will ignore and not cover a big news like this, if it is true.
We need a right direction and framework to analyse things around us. Don't let the whole issue break up into pro and anti. Rather thinking rationally from a social stratification point of view will sort out the ways. And please, my dear Doctors, don't let your lives wasted to the mercy of the ruling class. Understand the class politics and decide your stand at a macro level, if you are really a rebel. Otherwise, you will be solely responsible for spoiling the whole possibility of any left out and much awaited social revolution in your country, India. Let's care of the revolutionary future. You are our comrade in arms!
Abhishek Srivastava
09350352421
Send you write-ups on any media on mediayug@gmail.com
Is reservation such a matter, say "larger than life" that one can ask for mercy death? There are many aspects of this nuisance. Don't forget our rebellions and independence warriors like Bhagat Singh. They never asked mercy death rather sacrificed themselves for the noble cause. Asking mercy death for the cause which can be, say the most important in the lives of the Indian students, is a cowardice in this respect. Protest and demonstrations are alright and there must be a conscious solidarity of the people against/for the issue, depending on the personal stand. But this is the height of escapism and cowardice which is is being rapped in the hypocrit colors of Rang De Basanti.
It's as simple as anything to understand that life may be experimented in many ways but you can't experiment with death. It never gives a second chance if the experiment succeeds. And after all, knowing that the provision of mercy killing has not yet been a part of the Indian social, political and cultural process, it is being asked for. The simple reason being publicity and the greater reason being the increasing alienation in our culturally tolerant society due to the consumer culture pervading all over.
India is not Japan or U.S. If a bunch of young people have asked for mercy deaths, this shows that the new era of civil protests is rather going to be more defensive and the leading middle class is blunting the whole youth spirit. If there is a disagreement with my views, let's wash it out. A simple recipe. See.
Let the reservation question be a launching pad for the civil protests in India on a much broader scale. Mass needs a slogan, so let this only be the starting point. Forget about poverty, unemployement, eviction, displacement, tribal killings, imperialist suppression and many more. (Let it does not depend on any personal agreements/disagreements including me) But then, two questions will always remain unanswered.
Firstly, the demand of mercy deaths is being asked in the same political system which is going to implement quota. This is a major contradiction. If the system has become corrupt and the whole political scenario needs a revamp, then why to seek mercy from the ruler class? Is the President of India working in an isolated system? Is he not a part of the ruler class?
Secondly, hope that some student from the medical community gets a decisive place in between the rulers, say becomes the HRD Minister. Let's assume that he can curb all the reservations and quotas on his own. But then how will he tackle the upheaval arising from the SC, ST and OBC protest? The argument seems circular, and definitely this is a viscious circle from which mercy death could not provide an exit.
Basically, as far as I have my own understanding of the protests and issues, the doctors are losing the grip against their own interest only by doing these type of populist activities. They will never appeal to the masses because the hospitals are closed and people are suffering. No propoganda will work out, although they have largely circulated a news of the death of a doctor, some Srivastava of AIIMS. No one believes, and the media is not such a fool's foul play at least that it will ignore and not cover a big news like this, if it is true.
We need a right direction and framework to analyse things around us. Don't let the whole issue break up into pro and anti. Rather thinking rationally from a social stratification point of view will sort out the ways. And please, my dear Doctors, don't let your lives wasted to the mercy of the ruling class. Understand the class politics and decide your stand at a macro level, if you are really a rebel. Otherwise, you will be solely responsible for spoiling the whole possibility of any left out and much awaited social revolution in your country, India. Let's care of the revolutionary future. You are our comrade in arms!
Abhishek Srivastava
09350352421
Send you write-ups on any media on mediayug@gmail.com
Monday, May 29, 2006
Sonia Gandhi: Tyaag ki baat!
Sonia Gandhi won the by-poll in Rae Bareli. This was not exactly a surprise. Everyone knew what was coming, long before the results were announced. But the victory was Sonia’ s Gandhi’s, the lady Time Magazine called among the most powerful women in the world.
Glory such as this had come to Mrs. Gandhi before- when she declined to be Prime Minister of the world’s largest democracy. She had paid the price for that during the office of profit controversy. The ugly politics between Congress and Samajwadi Party left her with little choice but to resign and thereby preserve the sanctity of the first sacrifice.
Sonia Gandhi now had to go to the dusty old battlefield of Rae Bareli to win back her political authority. The district was a traditional Congress bastion where non- Congress leaders had been elected only thrice before.
As it turned out the emphatic Congress victory in Rae Bareli was something of a disaster for Mulayam Singh. Both Amar Singh and Mulayam’s son Akhilesh Yadav had been engaged in a marathon campaign against Sonia. They even resorted to mocking her Hindi. It was to no avail. The opposition was annihilated. The sense of disgrace in the big parties- the SP, BJP and the BSP was palpable. Mr.Chaudhary, the SP candidate got all of 57000 votes- less than the one-sixth share needed to reclaim a deposit.
Perhaps the greatest loss of face however, was for the BJP. Hindutva icon and hardliner Vinay Katiyar lost his deposit of course; but he also took his career to a new low by winning a truly paltry 19, 000 votes. The word is that Katiyar had been made the bali-ka bakra -the sacrificial lamb of the party. He was after all made to campaign himself with heavyweights like Adavni and Rajnath were busy with their ‘ Bharat Surksha Yatra’ and other prominent leaders were busy dealing with the aftermath of Pramod Mahajan’s shooting.
But the story does not end there. For while the political arithmetic was largely along expected lines, the electoral and political theatrics played out on television screens still held some surprises. There was a new holy trinity of words, the three S-words: Sonia, Sacrifice and Son (Rahul Gandhi). The Congress was torn about whether to present the victory in Rae Bareli has a ‘sun rise’ for the Congress or a ‘son rise’ as one prominent newspaper put it for Rahul Gandhi.
Either way it was the Media that took the lead and Rahul Gandhi became the next big thing. News outlets propagated views that suited them rather than news. The same story was colored in different ways to suit every kind of political agenda.
The woods were lost for the trees. Facts were ignored for trivia. The electoral battle became a political soap opera. Despite hours and hours of TV coverage, one was hard pressed to find anyone on TV giving us the scorecard for the Rae Bareli elections: who won, by how many votes and who lost their deposits in the election. But what can we expect from say, a news channel editor who does not know the numbers of seats in the Lok Sabha.
Apparently presenting facts for the viewers to make up their own minds is not enough anymore. News channels and newspapers with agendas simply overlook inconvenient facts or even manipulate them. What are, after all headlines like ‘Victory for Sacrifice’ and ‘Son Rises”? Sonia’s resignation over the office of profit issue controversy is presented as a sacrifice, and the notion that it was a sacrifice in turn is presented as incontrovertible truth. Why not instead just give people the facts and let them decide?
Many in the media as historic also described Sonia’s victory. But was it really? The late Prime Mimister P.V. Narsihmaha Rao had a victory margin of more than 5.8 lakhs in the Nandayal seat in Andhra Pradesh.. But the record for highest margin of victory is held by MP Anil Basu of the CPI (M) , who won by over 5.92 lakh votes in 2004 in West Bengal.
Ram Vilas Paswan won an election by a margin of 5.5 lakh votes in 1989 in Hajipur, Bihar. By contrast, Sonia Gandhi won in Rae Bareli by a margin of 4 lakh votes- no small margin but not ‘historic’ either.
Also, what was it that caused all those opponents of Sonia to lose their deposits? We were never told. Instead Rahul was made hero and there were discussions on the future of the Congres in UP .The Conress choose Rae Bareli as a launching pad for Rahul Gandhi but it was news channels that actually launched him .
By promoting Rahul and initiating the debate over whether he could bring back the glorious old days of Congress-raj in UP the media have helped shape an agenda. Remember, India Shining campaign? All major media outlets confidently predicted the continuation of NDA power in 2004. Such was the hype that the surprise verdict left Atal Bihari Vajpayee flummoxed and prompted him to declare,“ We don’t know how we lost, and they don’t know how they won”.
If only the Media would put the facts first instead of jumping to the conclusions. If only
they put news first and let the truth prevail.
In the most famous of these upsets, the Iron Lady herself, Indira Gandhi was swept away in 1977 by what was called a janta lahar. The victory was so unexpected that the winner Raj Narayan of the Janta Party actually went quite mad. Indira fought the 1980 elections from Medak in Andhra Pradesh but also tried to win back her old bastion in UP at the same time.
Cut to 2006. The lady in question was now Sonia Gandhi and there was no Janta lahar but the battlefield was still old Rae Bareli. This time, there was no doubt about the victory of the Nehru-Gandhi scion. The only question was the margin by which Sonia would win.
Prabhakar
prabhakarksingh@gmail.com
Send you write-ups on any media on mediayug@gmail.com
Glory such as this had come to Mrs. Gandhi before- when she declined to be Prime Minister of the world’s largest democracy. She had paid the price for that during the office of profit controversy. The ugly politics between Congress and Samajwadi Party left her with little choice but to resign and thereby preserve the sanctity of the first sacrifice.
Sonia Gandhi now had to go to the dusty old battlefield of Rae Bareli to win back her political authority. The district was a traditional Congress bastion where non- Congress leaders had been elected only thrice before.
As it turned out the emphatic Congress victory in Rae Bareli was something of a disaster for Mulayam Singh. Both Amar Singh and Mulayam’s son Akhilesh Yadav had been engaged in a marathon campaign against Sonia. They even resorted to mocking her Hindi. It was to no avail. The opposition was annihilated. The sense of disgrace in the big parties- the SP, BJP and the BSP was palpable. Mr.Chaudhary, the SP candidate got all of 57000 votes- less than the one-sixth share needed to reclaim a deposit.
Perhaps the greatest loss of face however, was for the BJP. Hindutva icon and hardliner Vinay Katiyar lost his deposit of course; but he also took his career to a new low by winning a truly paltry 19, 000 votes. The word is that Katiyar had been made the bali-ka bakra -the sacrificial lamb of the party. He was after all made to campaign himself with heavyweights like Adavni and Rajnath were busy with their ‘ Bharat Surksha Yatra’ and other prominent leaders were busy dealing with the aftermath of Pramod Mahajan’s shooting.
But the story does not end there. For while the political arithmetic was largely along expected lines, the electoral and political theatrics played out on television screens still held some surprises. There was a new holy trinity of words, the three S-words: Sonia, Sacrifice and Son (Rahul Gandhi). The Congress was torn about whether to present the victory in Rae Bareli has a ‘sun rise’ for the Congress or a ‘son rise’ as one prominent newspaper put it for Rahul Gandhi.
Either way it was the Media that took the lead and Rahul Gandhi became the next big thing. News outlets propagated views that suited them rather than news. The same story was colored in different ways to suit every kind of political agenda.
The woods were lost for the trees. Facts were ignored for trivia. The electoral battle became a political soap opera. Despite hours and hours of TV coverage, one was hard pressed to find anyone on TV giving us the scorecard for the Rae Bareli elections: who won, by how many votes and who lost their deposits in the election. But what can we expect from say, a news channel editor who does not know the numbers of seats in the Lok Sabha.
Apparently presenting facts for the viewers to make up their own minds is not enough anymore. News channels and newspapers with agendas simply overlook inconvenient facts or even manipulate them. What are, after all headlines like ‘Victory for Sacrifice’ and ‘Son Rises”? Sonia’s resignation over the office of profit issue controversy is presented as a sacrifice, and the notion that it was a sacrifice in turn is presented as incontrovertible truth. Why not instead just give people the facts and let them decide?
Many in the media as historic also described Sonia’s victory. But was it really? The late Prime Mimister P.V. Narsihmaha Rao had a victory margin of more than 5.8 lakhs in the Nandayal seat in Andhra Pradesh.. But the record for highest margin of victory is held by MP Anil Basu of the CPI (M) , who won by over 5.92 lakh votes in 2004 in West Bengal.
Ram Vilas Paswan won an election by a margin of 5.5 lakh votes in 1989 in Hajipur, Bihar. By contrast, Sonia Gandhi won in Rae Bareli by a margin of 4 lakh votes- no small margin but not ‘historic’ either.
Also, what was it that caused all those opponents of Sonia to lose their deposits? We were never told. Instead Rahul was made hero and there were discussions on the future of the Congres in UP .The Conress choose Rae Bareli as a launching pad for Rahul Gandhi but it was news channels that actually launched him .
By promoting Rahul and initiating the debate over whether he could bring back the glorious old days of Congress-raj in UP the media have helped shape an agenda. Remember, India Shining campaign? All major media outlets confidently predicted the continuation of NDA power in 2004. Such was the hype that the surprise verdict left Atal Bihari Vajpayee flummoxed and prompted him to declare,“ We don’t know how we lost, and they don’t know how they won”.
If only the Media would put the facts first instead of jumping to the conclusions. If only
they put news first and let the truth prevail.
In the most famous of these upsets, the Iron Lady herself, Indira Gandhi was swept away in 1977 by what was called a janta lahar. The victory was so unexpected that the winner Raj Narayan of the Janta Party actually went quite mad. Indira fought the 1980 elections from Medak in Andhra Pradesh but also tried to win back her old bastion in UP at the same time.
Cut to 2006. The lady in question was now Sonia Gandhi and there was no Janta lahar but the battlefield was still old Rae Bareli. This time, there was no doubt about the victory of the Nehru-Gandhi scion. The only question was the margin by which Sonia would win.
Prabhakar
prabhakarksingh@gmail.com
Send you write-ups on any media on mediayug@gmail.com
Mandal and Media
The conception of reservation or process ofreservation was thought about tool of socialengineering.Media is also a tool of democracy to takestock of the situation, happenings and dessiminateinformation according the soul and principle ofdemocracy. But is it behaving as it should be?To some extentit is delivering its duty but probable not in awhole-hearted way. Today Indian media is pursuing its own agendarather than for the common welfare of the people. Itis secretly, conspiringly pursuing the interest ofparticular section of the society. Reservation is a dynamic concept adopted andimplemented by many a countries across the world ontune with religion, cast, creed race economicbackwardness,colour etc and it have been fruitful infilling the big gap between rich and poor.And media inthese countries have delivered a very constructiverole, be it the case of US,Argentina or UK,everywheremedia has kept a balance view and worked in thebenefit of common good for the society. In our country media is organised and maintained bya particular group of people and it has showed itsobligation and obedience to that particular faction ofsociety.Although it is true that it is very muchawafre of the marginalised,half naked totallyillitrate,people lliving in unhuman condition acrossthe country.But since it does not got its share ofprofit money from this section, therefore fulfils itsduty by only ackonowldging their pathetic condition ofand on in the ways of reportage and panel discussion,but no serious effor. Indian media will take few years to come of age andfunction in an impartial manner.
Abhay Narain
abhay_narain@yahoo.com
Send you write-ups on any media on mediayug@gmail.com
Abhay Narain
abhay_narain@yahoo.com
Send you write-ups on any media on mediayug@gmail.com
A Question reserved!
Much fuss is going on in media for the last few days regarding reservation of OBC’s in Medical colleges. Arjun Singh just threw out a lollypop for the people to lick for some days so that the attention from the basic issues gets diverted and the whole question of Women’s reservation got succumbed to the pressure build up by the current issue. Is this our media which has created a hype of the medical professionals’s protest against reservation?
A Question must be certainly asked to the people, toi the doctors and the intellectuals who are opposing the reservation. And certainly, it must be asked to the media as well that why it is not putting up this question. Assume that the government is already corrupt and anti-people and you cannot mould its decisions just by lighting the candles and shouting “Rang De Basanti”. But then, are the medical students and doctors ready to work on the countryside for one and a half decade if it’s made compulsory?
Let’s give them a chance. Say, the reservation will be taken back on condition that there must be introduced a conditional column in the medical exams application forms that the people who will qualify will compulsarily work in the Indian villages for say at least one decade. Then who will get ready for that?
These are the “Youth For Equality”, so called, who are protesting on the roads and as soon as they get a chance to go abroad, they will never come back to their motherland complaining that India has a corrupt system where everything is decided by caste politics. It is true, but it must be asked that why the responsible mediamen like Rajdeep and Co. have not raised this issue? Has someone asked thet self-proclaimed medical leader Aniruddha that how much time it has been since he is on the roads? Has he ever protested for any other issue in his lifetime?
This is a question reserved for media, Aniruddha, Arjun Singh and others. It is certain that Arjun Singh has hit an axe on his front foot and he will also meet the fate of Raja Manda V.P. Singh. There is no doubt in this. But how will you react if at this point of the article, I tell you that the whole protest in delhi and the rest of the country is being managed by some event management companies? Yes...this is truth and harsh truth.
So, when you get a message next time which reads like...Support the anti reservation movement...96 hours of Dharna...94 medical students collapsed...circulate this news like fire...(the same as I got twice in a day from some unknown numbers), just think before you act. Just ask this reserved question from the people around you and the message senders. And you will see the magic...your call will be get unusually aborted and disconnected. Then you will understand the reason why media is avoiding this question. After all, it has to take into account the popular sentiment also.
Abhishek Srivastava
09350352421
Send you write-ups on any media on mediayug@gmail.com
A Question must be certainly asked to the people, toi the doctors and the intellectuals who are opposing the reservation. And certainly, it must be asked to the media as well that why it is not putting up this question. Assume that the government is already corrupt and anti-people and you cannot mould its decisions just by lighting the candles and shouting “Rang De Basanti”. But then, are the medical students and doctors ready to work on the countryside for one and a half decade if it’s made compulsory?
Let’s give them a chance. Say, the reservation will be taken back on condition that there must be introduced a conditional column in the medical exams application forms that the people who will qualify will compulsarily work in the Indian villages for say at least one decade. Then who will get ready for that?
These are the “Youth For Equality”, so called, who are protesting on the roads and as soon as they get a chance to go abroad, they will never come back to their motherland complaining that India has a corrupt system where everything is decided by caste politics. It is true, but it must be asked that why the responsible mediamen like Rajdeep and Co. have not raised this issue? Has someone asked thet self-proclaimed medical leader Aniruddha that how much time it has been since he is on the roads? Has he ever protested for any other issue in his lifetime?
This is a question reserved for media, Aniruddha, Arjun Singh and others. It is certain that Arjun Singh has hit an axe on his front foot and he will also meet the fate of Raja Manda V.P. Singh. There is no doubt in this. But how will you react if at this point of the article, I tell you that the whole protest in delhi and the rest of the country is being managed by some event management companies? Yes...this is truth and harsh truth.
So, when you get a message next time which reads like...Support the anti reservation movement...96 hours of Dharna...94 medical students collapsed...circulate this news like fire...(the same as I got twice in a day from some unknown numbers), just think before you act. Just ask this reserved question from the people around you and the message senders. And you will see the magic...your call will be get unusually aborted and disconnected. Then you will understand the reason why media is avoiding this question. After all, it has to take into account the popular sentiment also.
Abhishek Srivastava
09350352421
Send you write-ups on any media on mediayug@gmail.com
Saturday, May 13, 2006
Shrinking from responsiblity
Indian media is shunning from its duty of putting thesurreal matter before the society in an impartialmanner. Today if we watch carefully into the reportingparticularly international reporting it appears thatit is simply imitating the overseas news channels andnewspapers.
This phenomenon is not new for the Indian media.Previously some newspapers statred to print thewholesome article or news reports from foreignnewspapers. Then it took a stepforward and prints thewhole page or pages as it is.
With the advent of news channels and market forcesplaying big role in the media industry too,newschannels started to shows the reporting of foreignchannels particularly war reporting in the Iraq andAfganistan war, without any censoring or editing.Everyone knows that foreign services of channelslike CNN,Algageria,BBC has a particular motive andthey are supplosed to advance their own hidden policyand interests in the new market.
These trends can be seen in the news coverage ofvarious news channels and newspapers and even tabloidsand weekly magazine.
All, I can say is that, what media is supposed todo, raising the voice of the common man for the commonbenefits of the nation in the larger perspective, isshrindking from its duty and playing in the hands ofbig media moghuls of global market.
Abhay Narain
abhaynarain@rediffmail.com
This phenomenon is not new for the Indian media.Previously some newspapers statred to print thewholesome article or news reports from foreignnewspapers. Then it took a stepforward and prints thewhole page or pages as it is.
With the advent of news channels and market forcesplaying big role in the media industry too,newschannels started to shows the reporting of foreignchannels particularly war reporting in the Iraq andAfganistan war, without any censoring or editing.Everyone knows that foreign services of channelslike CNN,Algageria,BBC has a particular motive andthey are supplosed to advance their own hidden policyand interests in the new market.
These trends can be seen in the news coverage ofvarious news channels and newspapers and even tabloidsand weekly magazine.
All, I can say is that, what media is supposed todo, raising the voice of the common man for the commonbenefits of the nation in the larger perspective, isshrindking from its duty and playing in the hands ofbig media moghuls of global market.
Abhay Narain
abhaynarain@rediffmail.com
Thursday, May 11, 2006
Is this journalism?
Anybody can say anything about anyone. And past experience seems to tell us no questions will be asked. So no need to be careful anymore, even when you’re commenting on even serious issues. We know perfectly well that even the ostensible representatives of the masses, those ‘leaders’ of ours, think only in terms of narrow political gain while commenting on issues that really matter. The examples are legion; they do not begin or not with Yaqub Quershi, but he is a prime example. Quereshi, an elected representative of Uttar Pradesh, vitiated the communal atmosphere of the country by announcing a reward for beheading a Danish cartoonist. Few politicians made any serious attempt at questioning him.
But let’s leave these political leaders aside. We the citizens hardly place any faith in them anyway and suffer from few illusions about who they are, what they do and for what purpose.
But our faith often gets shattered when our own media starts playing with truth.
This problem is not limited to one channel or newspaper or any particular news outlet. It is difficult to find a news organization that doesn’t engage in distortion. We are compelled to ask: are news outlets working for themselves or for society? No, wait, don’t tell us. Often enough, we learn the real answer when we that flimsily attached mask suffers a wardrobe malfunction, revealing the real face.
So why are the media pretending they are working for society? To make fools of us. Everyone knows they are setting an agenda - largely independent of the society they are a part of - be it of their political masters or of corporate world. Ordinary mortals are nowhere in the agenda. Keeping society in dark on important issues hardly bothers them.
You and I have to accept the new face of the media that says playing with the truth is its business. Face the reality, the media says…
We are not the face of the society or so-called mirror of the society. We are the mirrors of our own priorities. So we see the Godhra riots through our own looking glass and we see the Vadodra riots according to our own political interests. So we present the side of the story that suits us so we can interpret the truth, as we wish. We say –see the police are opening the fire on a mob even if our visuals do not show that. We say it loudly enough so you believe it. We say, they (Police) had several other options to deal with the crowd but do not present their views. Because we have to serve our political masters, not society. We do not care what the effects of our deeds would have on society .We are not responsible for it.
The reality is that, that mirror the media holds up doesn’t reflect reality. Either learn to live with it or try to change the face of the media itself.
Prabhakar Singh
prabhakarksingh@gmail.com
Send you write-ups on any media on mediayug@gmail.com
Media - Whether distracted from its path of Journalism of Courage to Black hole
Few days back in an evening when, I was watching the news channels, I came across news that though irrelevent in Indian scenarios but all the news channels were showing as such they are very important from an Indian point of view. You didn't understood about what I am talking.
Let me open my words and be more clear. I am talking about the hot shot news about Australian bowler Shane Warne. Throughout the evening the news channels portrayed Shane warne as like a culprit and made him a villain, much bigger than ours Shakti Kapur and Aman Varma(that were portrayed as more villainous in their real life than the reel one by the news channels).
It looks as if these days our channels dont have much to show. That is why somehow they get the news of celebrities and present it in their 'Vishesh' episode to lure the Indian viewer. Can they answer few simple questions----Is it not a outsiders indulgence in some person's private life? What he does or did that is much concerned to him. Why it should bother others. That should not mean that as he is a celebrity the portrayal of his private life would be easy for them that would bring some more TRP's. These and some other are ethical questions. But if we look on other aspects we will find more anomolies in media's behaviour in dealing with such stories.
Shane Warne is not an Indian personality, whether his 'immoral' act as portrayed would be able to somehow effect Indian cricket? Or that would be able to decrease his fans in India? I think the answer to these questions is big 'NO'.
His fans in India and other countries praise for his bowling and his performance as a cricketer. And his 'act' will not going to eclipse the performance by Indians on pitch. Than why to make such news and ;lead the viewer to live in the virtual world of assumptions and presumptions. And why to waste time of the special segments as like Saas Bahu series. What ever any personality in other part of the world does in his non performing life that is upto him and should not be made a point of discussion in countries like us that is miles apart from mainland.
From Australia now back to India. On one hand media caught Shane Warne than they also searched our Master blaster who was searching a little solace in a temple in Southern state. Why not media poeple leave these people to live the life that they want for some time. Everytime they bring laurals and appreciation to our country and theirs than why not they are liberal enough to please and praise God as they like.
Let them live as they want and why not our reporters search the real stories from the deserts and ofcourse the Nrmada valley where these days people are protesting for their basic right of living. Why not media channels bring stories that could inspire people and fill them with a spirit to work for our country, to be like Sachin Tendulkar, our president Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, Dr Manmohan Singh and leaders like Pramod Mahajan.
Shanu, a viewer
shanu.02800@gmail.com
Few days back in an evening when, I was watching the news channels, I came across news that though irrelevent in Indian scenarios but all the news channels were showing as such they are very important from an Indian point of view. You didn't understood about what I am talking.
Let me open my words and be more clear. I am talking about the hot shot news about Australian bowler Shane Warne. Throughout the evening the news channels portrayed Shane warne as like a culprit and made him a villain, much bigger than ours Shakti Kapur and Aman Varma(that were portrayed as more villainous in their real life than the reel one by the news channels).
It looks as if these days our channels dont have much to show. That is why somehow they get the news of celebrities and present it in their 'Vishesh' episode to lure the Indian viewer. Can they answer few simple questions----Is it not a outsiders indulgence in some person's private life? What he does or did that is much concerned to him. Why it should bother others. That should not mean that as he is a celebrity the portrayal of his private life would be easy for them that would bring some more TRP's. These and some other are ethical questions. But if we look on other aspects we will find more anomolies in media's behaviour in dealing with such stories.
Shane Warne is not an Indian personality, whether his 'immoral' act as portrayed would be able to somehow effect Indian cricket? Or that would be able to decrease his fans in India? I think the answer to these questions is big 'NO'.
His fans in India and other countries praise for his bowling and his performance as a cricketer. And his 'act' will not going to eclipse the performance by Indians on pitch. Than why to make such news and ;lead the viewer to live in the virtual world of assumptions and presumptions. And why to waste time of the special segments as like Saas Bahu series. What ever any personality in other part of the world does in his non performing life that is upto him and should not be made a point of discussion in countries like us that is miles apart from mainland.
From Australia now back to India. On one hand media caught Shane Warne than they also searched our Master blaster who was searching a little solace in a temple in Southern state. Why not media poeple leave these people to live the life that they want for some time. Everytime they bring laurals and appreciation to our country and theirs than why not they are liberal enough to please and praise God as they like.
Let them live as they want and why not our reporters search the real stories from the deserts and ofcourse the Nrmada valley where these days people are protesting for their basic right of living. Why not media channels bring stories that could inspire people and fill them with a spirit to work for our country, to be like Sachin Tendulkar, our president Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, Dr Manmohan Singh and leaders like Pramod Mahajan.
Shanu, a viewer
shanu.02800@gmail.com
A Preliminary Recipe for TV News
I was going through a research published somewhere regarding the impact and viewership of TV in the rural India. It said that more than ninety percent of the population watches TV not for news (forget about views i.e. JANMAT, it must be renamed as SAHMAT where you can see everybody nodding his or her head in the anchor's i.e. Alka ji's consent) but only for entertainment. Ten percent or so who watch TV News prefer Sansani and Dial 100 type melodramatic nuisance and others wait for their chance to be selected in the Indian Idol. Is this the TV News foeticide?
Remember, whenever we talk about electronic media and its impact, we must always draw a dividing line between news (and views together) and non-news. The reason is obvious. You start with the term Electronic media and end up in a mess because you found that you were talking only in terms of news as you are a journalist. This mindset has to be broken because as and when you say that the electronic media in India is in a very immature and nascent stage, you always keep in your mind's core the fate of TV News, not the POGO cartoon and MTV Bakra. This creates a viscious circle and we start indulging in a that discourse about which no one is sure what the fuss is all about.
The fate of Electronic media i.e news media in TV must always be talked about in terms of content, keeping in mind the dialectical relationship between it and the form i.e visuals. If someone is very keen in creating the pressure points for the electronic media; again the same mistake...electronic news media...then the best way to do this is to scan the daily news items and their relationship with the visuals. This can create a perfect balance between what we think and what we speak.
Firstly, to make a corresponding relationship between our thought process and the the spelt words. Don't use Electronic media. Instead use TV News Media or anything of that sort where news comes in. We can't create pressures on the video of Shakira running day and night on MTV but it is possible to make a justifiable balance between the news items and their relationship with the visuals.
The second step in this whole exercise must be to prepare a lexicon or say style sheet which we can usually find in a good newspaper's office. Lexicon must contain the strict rules and regulations categorically of how to select and use a visual according to the story on the run. All types of news must be dealt with in this manual. As and when it needs to be amended, it must be. This can be done in the first phase through the critical analysis of responses to a questionnaire which can be send to the respective news channel heads and chief functionaries.
When you get the lexicon in place, it must be shared with the Press Council of India or the analogous governmental regulatory body like Information and Broadcasting Ministry. Pressure must be build up through the journalist unions to strictly impose this kind of thing on the news channels. Let the government think on the proposal so as to take out any ordinance of this type or anything of this sort.
Virtually talking about the media musings is not going to pay anything, as I have stressed time and again. We will have to enter the physical realities and fight for the people's demands. Otherwise, the ten percent will get down to two percent or so and the media persons will just get amused by watching their PTC's on the screen. Then no one will be left to watch them leaving themselves only. Why to dig our own graves knowing that people don't want information only, they need correct information. And for that, conscious media persons need to assert themselves. Blogging is good, but watch that it doesn't turn into begging.
Abhishek Srivastava
9350352421
I was going through a research published somewhere regarding the impact and viewership of TV in the rural India. It said that more than ninety percent of the population watches TV not for news (forget about views i.e. JANMAT, it must be renamed as SAHMAT where you can see everybody nodding his or her head in the anchor's i.e. Alka ji's consent) but only for entertainment. Ten percent or so who watch TV News prefer Sansani and Dial 100 type melodramatic nuisance and others wait for their chance to be selected in the Indian Idol. Is this the TV News foeticide?
Remember, whenever we talk about electronic media and its impact, we must always draw a dividing line between news (and views together) and non-news. The reason is obvious. You start with the term Electronic media and end up in a mess because you found that you were talking only in terms of news as you are a journalist. This mindset has to be broken because as and when you say that the electronic media in India is in a very immature and nascent stage, you always keep in your mind's core the fate of TV News, not the POGO cartoon and MTV Bakra. This creates a viscious circle and we start indulging in a that discourse about which no one is sure what the fuss is all about.
The fate of Electronic media i.e news media in TV must always be talked about in terms of content, keeping in mind the dialectical relationship between it and the form i.e visuals. If someone is very keen in creating the pressure points for the electronic media; again the same mistake...electronic news media...then the best way to do this is to scan the daily news items and their relationship with the visuals. This can create a perfect balance between what we think and what we speak.
Firstly, to make a corresponding relationship between our thought process and the the spelt words. Don't use Electronic media. Instead use TV News Media or anything of that sort where news comes in. We can't create pressures on the video of Shakira running day and night on MTV but it is possible to make a justifiable balance between the news items and their relationship with the visuals.
The second step in this whole exercise must be to prepare a lexicon or say style sheet which we can usually find in a good newspaper's office. Lexicon must contain the strict rules and regulations categorically of how to select and use a visual according to the story on the run. All types of news must be dealt with in this manual. As and when it needs to be amended, it must be. This can be done in the first phase through the critical analysis of responses to a questionnaire which can be send to the respective news channel heads and chief functionaries.
When you get the lexicon in place, it must be shared with the Press Council of India or the analogous governmental regulatory body like Information and Broadcasting Ministry. Pressure must be build up through the journalist unions to strictly impose this kind of thing on the news channels. Let the government think on the proposal so as to take out any ordinance of this type or anything of this sort.
Virtually talking about the media musings is not going to pay anything, as I have stressed time and again. We will have to enter the physical realities and fight for the people's demands. Otherwise, the ten percent will get down to two percent or so and the media persons will just get amused by watching their PTC's on the screen. Then no one will be left to watch them leaving themselves only. Why to dig our own graves knowing that people don't want information only, they need correct information. And for that, conscious media persons need to assert themselves. Blogging is good, but watch that it doesn't turn into begging.
Abhishek Srivastava
9350352421
Saturday, May 06, 2006
TRP and Beyond
What is media! A question, which is a simple answer. A tool which gives us information, a source which feels us recognised, by the haves. The have-not's of India has always on the verge of identity crisis, thanks to a birth goal that India achieved through sheer dedication-FREEDOM. From the hands and clutches of English Sun.
Media is communication and dissemination of ideas and problems, which needs implementation of solution. The solution that media never quote directly, is the the Laxmanarekha.
From Udant Martand to Bengal Gazetteer to Grama Swarajya, every time it portrays an ideology. An ideology which is prospers in democracy.
Ethics, morals, objectiveness, questioning, credibility, and 5W1H.Journalism that’s all! Really, consider a situation you get married by a matrimonial advertisement, and always tagged by the advertisement, this is the media what you use. A photo makes you hero and also villain.
The development gives us a Journalism that has audio, radio and later video, Television. So the light is faster than voice. TV sweeps the homes and culminated a bedroom, dining room culture. Lifebuoy, Colgate and Vim are at every shop. People feel the change of packaging.
A story on TV has one angle, one voice over, one ending. So the impact is one! Indulge the life and immerse you thought process for the one views they show. Define is the limit.
Then accidentally we became penniless country, the chance to globalization occurs. Winters of 1990 are chilling. Maruti already gave the power to medium class to drive on four tyres. In a span of time the market become the most strongest influential place.
Media starts it journey from the struggle to the education information and entertainment notion, see a space to galore. ZEE, SUN are indigenous, STAR is a entity of a conglomerate. But the local groups are doing well. ZEE become doyen and starts a News channels to cover information of India, a task which is never covered by any media in a vast propagation. Then Star News, lures the English segment. Really the mass channels logo and identity created by India today group venture Aajtak. It makes a niche space. Then followed by NDTV, SAHARA. This is the national play ground. Simultaneously the regional market is brimming.Westbengal, Andhrapradesh, Kerala, Tamilnadu has starting to cash the regional feelings.SUN , ETV, ZEE ALPHA, ASIANET are making places in regions.
Well the story has a good starting with a sordid present. The responsibility is on the shoulders of this fraternity.
A word that driven the whole TV media is TRP (Television Rating Point), it is a accumulated study of viewing patterns and providing crux information for the advertiser and channels planners. This whole data base functioning is govern by a Multi National Company, who works in many countries.
Current media practices and trends are dictate by TRP, the survey of viewing patterns tend to benefit market. Some media groups are giving priority to advertisement rather content and information. Media planners chalk out the plan to grind the market and make place on media spaces.
Television has immense reach and impact. It needs prior attention. The attention to not succumb in pressures. Business is all right, but the intention always is pure and ethical.
Journalism is today become a glamorous and grabing business. Individual are filling place for money and space, not for service. The root thought of this seva is dying.
Only your voice can change the situation. Demand the space. Only you can change the mediocre. And one fine day you are in the camera saying that I brought up a media that is mine and for haves not.
Soochak
soochak@gmail.com
What is media! A question, which is a simple answer. A tool which gives us information, a source which feels us recognised, by the haves. The have-not's of India has always on the verge of identity crisis, thanks to a birth goal that India achieved through sheer dedication-FREEDOM. From the hands and clutches of English Sun.
Media is communication and dissemination of ideas and problems, which needs implementation of solution. The solution that media never quote directly, is the the Laxmanarekha.
From Udant Martand to Bengal Gazetteer to Grama Swarajya, every time it portrays an ideology. An ideology which is prospers in democracy.
Ethics, morals, objectiveness, questioning, credibility, and 5W1H.Journalism that’s all! Really, consider a situation you get married by a matrimonial advertisement, and always tagged by the advertisement, this is the media what you use. A photo makes you hero and also villain.
The development gives us a Journalism that has audio, radio and later video, Television. So the light is faster than voice. TV sweeps the homes and culminated a bedroom, dining room culture. Lifebuoy, Colgate and Vim are at every shop. People feel the change of packaging.
A story on TV has one angle, one voice over, one ending. So the impact is one! Indulge the life and immerse you thought process for the one views they show. Define is the limit.
Then accidentally we became penniless country, the chance to globalization occurs. Winters of 1990 are chilling. Maruti already gave the power to medium class to drive on four tyres. In a span of time the market become the most strongest influential place.
Media starts it journey from the struggle to the education information and entertainment notion, see a space to galore. ZEE, SUN are indigenous, STAR is a entity of a conglomerate. But the local groups are doing well. ZEE become doyen and starts a News channels to cover information of India, a task which is never covered by any media in a vast propagation. Then Star News, lures the English segment. Really the mass channels logo and identity created by India today group venture Aajtak. It makes a niche space. Then followed by NDTV, SAHARA. This is the national play ground. Simultaneously the regional market is brimming.Westbengal, Andhrapradesh, Kerala, Tamilnadu has starting to cash the regional feelings.SUN , ETV, ZEE ALPHA, ASIANET are making places in regions.
Well the story has a good starting with a sordid present. The responsibility is on the shoulders of this fraternity.
A word that driven the whole TV media is TRP (Television Rating Point), it is a accumulated study of viewing patterns and providing crux information for the advertiser and channels planners. This whole data base functioning is govern by a Multi National Company, who works in many countries.
Current media practices and trends are dictate by TRP, the survey of viewing patterns tend to benefit market. Some media groups are giving priority to advertisement rather content and information. Media planners chalk out the plan to grind the market and make place on media spaces.
Television has immense reach and impact. It needs prior attention. The attention to not succumb in pressures. Business is all right, but the intention always is pure and ethical.
Journalism is today become a glamorous and grabing business. Individual are filling place for money and space, not for service. The root thought of this seva is dying.
Only your voice can change the situation. Demand the space. Only you can change the mediocre. And one fine day you are in the camera saying that I brought up a media that is mine and for haves not.
Soochak
soochak@gmail.com
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