|
The Indian consumers are on a roll. The average amount spent by the Indian middle and upper middle class has risen astronomically in the last 10 years. The Indian market is huge and multi-national companies are just coming to grip with its big potential. At such a time, everything which can be put in a can and sold is being grabbed with both hands. So, can the media be behind? In the race for TRPs and viewer ships; ethics, morality and responsibility is languishing behind, unable to keep pace with the changing values. Private News Channels are concerned about TRPs and TRPs alone ignoring the way those ratings are achieved.
The only channels which are doing well are those with lots of ‘masala’ news. Government owned channels like Doordarshan, which try to harbour some vestige of responsibility are going bankrupt. No one wants to know of the farmers plight in rural areas but everyone is game for the gory details of one farmer’s suicide in front of the court. Rape and murders are described in lurid details, the capture and prosecution of the criminal is ignored. Since when is astrological shows, alien rumours, miracles and fake wrestling been a part of the news? Yet, any private news media will have these shows on their prime times.
So what regulations do we have in place for such channels? What governing body gauges the standards and variability of these channel’s programs? What is done when statements are taken out of context and words twisted, who is held accountable? News channels are earning more by advertisements than entertainment channels and why not? Where else can you here lurid details of a 14 year old’s murder. If a soap had even hinted at a minor’s involvement with her servant, it would have come under heavy fire but all is game in the name of media freedom. Anything for a reaction, the more emotional they can make the victim’s family, the better TRPs
So where to from here? As India comes into its own in the world and fights for a place in the limelight, the importance of a responsible media is paramount. If one can’t take a country’s media seriously, one can’t take a country seriously. An Indian billionaire might set up 5 plants in the US, but who would want to know it when the news is put beside an article about his extra-marital relationships? How can we trust a channel to accurately describe the nitty-gritty of the Indo-US nuclear deal when all it is interested in is to get reactions from opposing UPA allies? If India does become a super-power, is our media responsible enough to be our spokesperson to the world? Sadly, the need has arisen when we might just need a watch-dog for the watch-dog of the nation.
Bookmark/Search this post with:
|
You have said so much, and all of it is accurate. I share your enormous frustration about the irresponsibility of the Indian news media. But why are you surprised? Does not the same lack of social responsibility pervade the entire nouveau-middle class society? Each man for himself, make hay while the sun shines, bugger principles and consequences.
The media has been able to get away with this because Indian consumers are still immature. Faced with information overload, most of the very young populace, a result of an inverted population pyramid, prefer titillation to serious news coverage. As a result, they will grow up into tomorrow's lopsided citizens- bereft of ideas, concepts, principles and a world view.
The dream of a generation of children aspiring to become doctors, engineers and IT professionals has been replaced by poorly educated anchors, shouting shrilly in Hinglish into mics on street corners, trying their best to ape reporters on foreign channels, building up to the moment that they can sign off with the glorious, "And this is Kshitij Sharma, reporting from at the scene of the whereever I happen to be, at the end of yet another pathetic round of uninformative and self-conscious reporting (Mum, did you tape me?)".