Media News

Changing trends in journalism are an evolution
The Media environment in India has been certainly different. Television in India is undergoing significant changes in the current liberalized environment. India is the only country which has more than three dozen of 24 hour news channel and programs are broadcasted on news and current affairs. News Channels are booming as if sky is the limit. Within few years we will get satellite news channel for every major city in India.
   

‘News’ is an integral part of life in the 21st century. All types of media like the print, radio, TV, cinema and the internet have been growing in their own line of attack and are expected to grow each year. The circulation of newspapers and magazines is also on a considerable rise.  Right from the private radio station started in 1924 by the British colonial government in Bombay and Calcutta to 1959 when Television was introduced for the first time in India, there have been inevitable modifications and updates till date. In 1959 Doordarshan telecasted a one hour program twice a week on community health, citizen rights, education and traffic sense etc in Delhi. The only hitch in television was that you could not enjoy the original colors of the objects because of black and white transmission. Sooner DD  was broadcasted on a national level in 1982 when colour television was introduced with the Live telecast of the Independence Day speech by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Doodarshan’s monopoly was broken in 1992 when private television channels creeped into the Indian boundaries and the audience were entertained by family drama, comedy serials, children programmes, cartoons, movies, talk shows, recipe/cookery shows, musical concerts, non-fiction programmes etc. The strong point of all today’s news bulletins is their topicality, objectivity, glossy editing and high quality visuals. News has travelled a long way from the DD era to India TV or even UTVi business channel.
        

The emerging media powerhouses provided prime television content to almost all leading satellite channels in India including BBC, Star Plus, Sony Entertainment Television, Zee, MTV and Discovery. Zee television came into the battlefield by launching the news channel Zee news in 1995.  Zee channel revolutionized the way news was delivered to the viewers. The other round the clock news channel, the Murdoch owned Star TV beamed its exclusively 24 hour’s news channels, Star News in 1998.Today Star news has programmes like Khabar filmi hain, saas bahu aur saazish, sansani, fund ka funda, 24 ghante 24 reporter, Satyameva Jayate, Star had made a contract of five year with Prannoy Roy owned NDTV to provide news content for this news channel. The untiring exhaustive live coverage of the Kargil war between India and Pakistan gained more publicity and attracted more viewers towards the electronic channel.  As time passed, NDTV’s five years contract with Star group for outsourcing of news and related programming expired on 2003. With this NDTV came up with two 24 hours news channel, NDTV 24x7-English News Channel and NDTV India- Hindi news channel. NDTV’s hallmark shows are We the People, Spectacular Spas of the World, Witness, The Big Fight, `Walk the Talk`, `Cricket Controversies`, `Your Day Today’, ‘Sports 24x7`, `The X-Factor` etc. 
    

After the huge success of news programme ‘Aaj Tak’on DD , TV Today group launched a 24 hour Hindi news channel with the same name ‘Aaj Tak’in the year 2000. Some of the mega stories covered were on the Kandhahar hijack, September 11 attacks in America, Afghanistan war, attack on Parliament, Iraq war, Godhra carnage and riots etc. Within a year span Aaj tak was awarded as the Best News Channel from Indian Television Awards. Late S.P.Singh is still remembered with the unique sign-up message “Ye Thi Khabar Aaj Tak, Intezar Kijye Kal Tak”. S.P. Singh never believed that truth lay in the eyes of the beholder: which is why when the Ganesh drinking milk episode took place Aaj Tak pursued the phenomenon with the diligence of a news hound. Aaj Tak cameras went behind several Ganesh temples and televised the tell tale channels of milk pouring out into drains.  Aaj Tak is also remembered with the five minute fast paced, condensed daily news capsule “Ankhon Dekhi” by Nalini Singh.
      

Media is a watchdog for the society. Although news channels like CNBC Awaaz, NDTV 24x7, Headlines Today and Times Now are doing their best to expose some of the scandals and hidden tasks of some happenings in the society. From local news analysis, television soap to Page 3 news, every happening comes under purview of news. The power of TV journalism became more visible by the major sting operations like Operation West End and Shakti Kapoor Case. This style of investigative journalism has brought about a change in the way we look at news, amidst new notions of editorial freedom.
   

The worlds largest family ‘Sahara India Pariwar’ launched a 24 hour national Hindi Channel, Sahara Samay, in 2003. It is the first ever city centric satellite news channel covering 31 cities in India with their own city news bulletins. Sahara Samay has a famous show called ‘The RKB show’ by Rakesh Bajaj. Sahara Samay has an unvarying way to present its news anchors dress by having an Sahara Samay logo on their shirts or coats unlike any other channel presenters. It reinforces the branding style. Sahara channel programmes different sections of news which include current affairs, politics, sports, entertainment, business, national and regional news, horoscopes, fitness, yoga and much more. There is Kuch Aur Khabre - about people and issues, which are so small that they would get lost in anonymity. Teh Tak, Khel Samay and Cinema Samay are some other segments. There is a separate capsule on business and the stock market prices roll over on the panel. Crime reports have been received well all round. Aap Ki Aaawaj, People`s Voice, is being done relentlessly to highlight people`s concerns without editing them or trying to neutralize them.

Later a shift was brought when India TV was launched in 2004 by ‘Aap Ki Adalat’ fame Rajat Sharma, Sohaib Ilyasi, the man behind the highly successful ‘India’s Most Wanted’ and Tarun Tejpal, editor-in-chief of Tehelka roped together and launched Hindi news and current affairs channel India TV. The chairperson of India TV had said that they aim to set new benchmarks by maintaining international standards of responsible and credible news reporting. They will stay away from graphic depictions of violence and sensationalism of news. Well I feel that India TV is just presenting the opposite of the above statement. News stories like aliens trying to harm the planet earth, spirits or ghosts are present in rural areas, half man and half tiger face human is present on earth at such an century, a small child has a tail like hanuman, etc all such crap stories are shown and they claim themselves to present credible news reportage. India TV presents shows like Shirdi Sai baba, Alert viewer, Bhavishyvani, Jai Shani Maharaj, Guru Mantra etc all these shows in a way try to make the audience believe more and more on these superstitious stories.
  

News is given on mobile phones via short sending message and now the recent trend is that you can watch your favourite news channel on your mobile phones with the convergence coming in of 3G. Questions are asked to audiences on certain ongoing issue and the answers can be sent to the news channel via mobile phones. Most of the time the result are an indirect answer to channels stand/ viewpoint.
     

Indian news channels lose credibility over TRP by sensationalizing it. The best example would be Rakhi Sawant. It’s a fact that whenever Rakhi Sawant is in the news the TRP rates of that particular news channel rises. The recent example can also be the Richard Gere and Shilpa Shetty kiss in public and also the Abhishek and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan wedding in Mumbai was totally hyped when the media was not allowed to cover the wedding ceremony and the rumours were that the rights of the photographs were sold to the foreign media. The sad part is that Page 3 news is termed as ‘Celebrity Journalism’. There is a direct correlation between TRPs and Revenues for the news channels. According to industry estimates, the advertising revenue that mounts to Hindi news channels is roughly in the region of Rs 400 crore. Of this, Aaj Tak corners about Rs 170-180 crore, ZEE News about Rs 70-80 crore, NDTV India about Rs 60 crore, STAR News (Rs 50 crore), DD News (Rs 40 crore) and Sahara Samay Rashtriya Rs 15-20 crore.

Dumbing Down of news is also a changing trend in journalism. It’s the trivialization of News, what Sanjay Dutt ate for lunch when he was in jail, how he is sleeping etc, same like Paris Hilton went to jail well, her going to jail is not dumbing down, that’s a news story, but trivia. Prince issue is a human interest story. Media talks about everything and anything about any bollywood’s actor. Right from Aishwarya Rai’s wedding talk to her Honeymoon trip stories are prepared on the news channels. Meida has entered the Parliament to the bedrooms of the celebrities. Shahid and Kareena Kapoor’s break up is given such an highlight that celebrities themselves get harassed with such hype. No doubt on the contrary media is used by the celebrities for their personal good and bad also.  When Sanjay Dutt got married with Manyata news channel again had an exclusive news stories on why sanjay dutt married without any grand function. Sanjay Dutt’s sister didn’t attend the marriage becomes a news. Why was her daughter not infomred about the marriage. She came to know through media that his father gets married again. You can say that the amount of airtime given to that story can be seen as dumbing down but classic ones are page 3 culture.

Journalism has come a long age in India. It has seen long changes in India. Today with entry of news channels and new print media, its concept are changing very fast. Toady this is a hot carrier option for the youth of India. Newer colleges are coming up every day to offer the journalism courses. Twenty years back there were very few selected people, who thought of coming into journalism. 25 years down the line Indian media will substantially get localized as well as globalised. The leading TV channels and publication will grow outward into international editions and regional newspapers will complete their penetration into villages when literacy is almost universal.

Hemali Goda

 

 

 

 

 

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