Once upon a time there was a king who employed some informers to keep him updated about the important happenings in his kingdom. They used to go around and provide him all important and relevant information. Everything was going on well, till he started competition among the informers as to who can provide more information, that too faster. Also, who provides him the information first.
This created a sense of desperation in the informers and they started looking for any information. To keep up their jobs, they started reporting trivial and irrelevant information to the king. The king got irritated and questioned them on their capabilities of providing quality information.
The real issue here is who was responsible here for the dilution of the information? Was it the king or the informers?
Similar is the fate of our News Channels. Today, we have around 70 odd news channels, all competing with one another on showing live news on 24 X 7 basis. What news can they show, when there is nothing significant happening every minute? So, whenever there is no news worth reporting, they start reporting trivial news like say monkey menace in some town, traffic jams due to rains, a protest rally by some inconsequential group in a small town, or a comment made by some panchayat level politician.
Among the funniest news items shown, more are from those Hindi news channels who claim to be the leaders in this business. One such news item ‘Yamraj se mile Gajaraj’ was on a person by name Gajaraj in Bihar who was declared dead and was subsequently found alive after nearly three hours. When questioned what he felt during this period, he said that he went to Yamlok, met Yamaraj there and after knowing that it was a case of false identity, he was sent back to earth. The reporter was asking him in detail about the experience like who else were there, how was Yamaraj’s office, how they were dressed etc. And the channel ran this news for full three hours during prime time. Later, someone (from a rival channel) gave the news that this person was a habitual drinker and usually speaks incoherently when drunk.
The other program that amuses me is the one on horoscopes. Many Hindi news channels show these programs in the morning, as though scores are people are waiting for the astrologer to say some good words about their zodiac sign and give them green signal for signing new contracts. The actual fact is that these astrologers are themselves not sure whether the channels will pay them for their services regularly. One channel even organized a debate between astrologers and people who did not believe in astrology. And these participants debated fiercely throughout the program, as though the various planets would take the astrologer’s orders at the end of the show, on which way to influence lives of people. It appeared more like a comedy show rather than a serious discussion.
Then there are those crime related programs, which try to show the news in a much more sensational manner than the actual incident. The anchor is usually a person with pony tail, whose hand springs to shoulder level at the end of every sentence with index finger pointing towards the camera, as though he is threatening the viewers that if they change the channel he will kill them. He often uses very strong words to describe the incident. His ‘Josh’ is so much that, if technology permitted, one day he will come out of TV and start harassing everyone in the drawing rooms watching his program.
These days, there is a trend of inviting some speakers from different parties and engaging them in a debate. The anchor usually acts in such cases as though wisdom is his birthright and he has an uncanny skill of analyzing critical national issues. This tribe is also characterized by the habit of interrupting a speaker while answering first question and ask a second question. The objective in many cases is not to know the answers, but to make the viewers aware of the infinite intelligence of the anchor in asking such tricky questions. The topics and the participants are carefully chosen so as to generate some heat during the discussions / arguments. During one such discussion on a Telugu channel, the arguments got so much heated that two of the participants from rival parties started physically fighting and throwing blows at each other. The program had to be stopped abruptly for safety of the other participants and the anchor and also to save the furniture of the studio. The irony is that, that program got the highest TRP on that day, as people wanted to see the ‘real action’.
Another favorite emerging topic of these news channels (when there is no real news happening), is about the global warming. They show some clippings from movie 2012 and scare the people predicting wildly about the impending doomsday of this world. They talk about wild fires in USA, or floods in Europe, or Landslides in Philippines and relate it to the imminent threat of nature. Graphically, they also show tectonic plates moving under the earth causing Tsunami, or the volcano erupting somewhere.
The standard of a channel can also be gauged from the type of advertisements shown on the channel. On Standard English news channels, one will never see the advertisement of people using a particular brand of undergarments being given preference in a queue or being allowed to pass through before transport minister’s cavalcade. The ironic fact is that there is a huge customer base in rural India, who watches the Hindi news channels, who will buy in the concept shown in such advertisements.
‘Peepli Live’ was one movie which has shown the true colors of News reporting as it exists today. The entire political system gets polarized about whether the central character in the film, Natha, should commit suicide or not. And all the news channels gather in the village around his house to telecast any action which might happen there. No one wants to miss the opportunity of showing something unusual. Sadly, no one is really worried about Natha’s life.
However, sometimes the enthusiasm to show the live action can create serious problems, as was witnessed during the 26/11 terrorist attack in Mumbai. Towards the end of 72 hours operation, many channels have shown the live action of commandos descending over the buildings in which terrorists were holed up with hostages. This move was later ridiculed as many realized later that the masterminds of the terrorists were sitting across the border and watching news channels. They were giving the terrorists a live commentary of the commando’s moves and advising them their next actions. This was disastrous reporting, to say the least.
Never was the credibility and respect of journalism lost so much, as it happened during the Nira Radia tapes expose. The senior journalists like Vir Sanghvi and Barkha Dutt were heard discussing with Nira Radia, and taking her advice on how to present opinions on some national issues in their most popular programs. These journalists actually created programs favoring certain personalities / parties and influencing the opinion of large number of people who watched their shows. After that episode, how will anyone believe what they are saying, even if it is truth? Their all actions become suspect. The negative impact of this expose was so much that it negated all the excellent work done by Barkha Dutt during Kargil war. She had earned much appreciation then, for going in war zone and live reporting from there.
The over enthusiasm in reporting sensational news forced 168 year old Britain’s Tabloid ‘News of the World’ to close down after the incredible scandal which broke out last month. Their journalists went to the extent of hacking phones of murder victims and concealing information about their death, giving false hopes to relatives of the dead.
With changing times, sadly, the news channels are getting more glamorized and sensational. Incidentally, these channels earn money through advertisements and a program attracts advertisements based on TRPs.
Unfortunately, majority of the audience is interested in watching sensational news rather than correct news. And that is what they will continue to get.
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