NEWS: North East West South, that was the acronym my father used to tell me. An assortment of details relating to events happening around the world. But the more I watch television today the more confused, angry and dejected I get.
Consider a few examples :
i) A kid falls in a well and we get live coverage for next 48 hours non-stop. A family's misery becomes a pop-corn saga.
ii) Nithari killings. Apathy of administration and the potential masala element create another phenomenon.
iii) A non-singer Mika, kisses an item number girl and we get live telecast of their "negotiations" to make up
iv) Priyadarshini Mattoo/Jessica Lal case. Justice is delivered and media pressure is appreciable.
v) Nitish Katara, a non-entity and justice denied, no media to follow vigorously.
I could go on but I hope I'm illustrating the point. Come to think of it, there were days when the likes of Prannoy Roy would be waited for in the program like World This Week. While DD news was a matter of fact- take it or leave it types, Aaj Tak emerged on the horizon; first as a classic program, then as a good channel.
However the good times were short lived. The explosion of cable news channels saw a downfall so rapid that even NDTV, which was highly regarded initially also falling to the whims and fancies. The "buyable" (as i call it) media became a true commodity. What alarms me more is the speed of this decline. Some people may argue that the fourth estate or the pillar of democracy has come to wield a power that few envisaged. The others may argue that like other developed markets even India is witnessing an evolution in media though at a rapid pace. But while first one is like witnessing only one side of the coin the second one is a lame one on account of the fact that who as asked us to emulate the model that west followed?
What is it exactly? Was it the advent of Star News that triggered it? Is it globalization again? Is it us? Reason why I can't figure out one cause could be the fact that it may be a combination of all these. But when we look closely we see a few things that I would like to mention specifically
English Media Vs Hindi/Vernacular Media: If we look at the two we see a marked difference. The vernacular print entities are trying to go local with area specific non-events being their star "items" in programming. The hindi news channels are trying to reap in on the spent up emotions of stressed individuals esp of the middle class and the emerging burgeoise which is coming out of the shadows. The exposure to this "consumption" driven economic world is making the media a part of the shopping basket. The English media on the other hand is trying to take the stance of being on a higher ground. Catering to niche but increasing English speaking, well healed upper middle class. The merchants of dreams are making the aspirations realistic enough to spin a hypnotic web around the audience.
News Vs Non-News content: Not everything is bad after all. And it shows in the non-news programming content. More in-depth, critical and insightful. The quality of such programmes has surely improved and knowledge is indeed being disseminated. The influence/charm of Discovery/History and NGC is spreading and the Indianisation of the same is also adding thrust.
Us and Them : Its always easy to blame someone else for something. Maybe I'm committing the same mistake? Am I not? Increasingly I also get a feeling that we as a nation are a "news" starved one. So if there isn't any, just like a demand supply equation the news needs to be "created". Consider the example when some media people offered the matchstick to someone attempting self-immolation. Think of that person who was covering the event. After all he was covering an "event". So how could the script be changed? So we come to the script. Why I call it a script? Simply because this Bollywood fed society is looking for the same in media. The merging of reality with dreams is creating a cheap entertainment proposition. Why else would channels flash "Breaking News: Abhishek and Aishwarya get engaged". I mean fuck man, you asked for it that is why you are getting it. If you don't want to see it shut it off. But no. Ask yourself, how many times you catch yourself unawares when you are left wondering what the hell am I watching? Surely once everytime you switch on the TV or reading a newspaper. The number of Economic Times readers in Mumbai locals is slowly but surely being replaced by Mumbai Mirror and Mid-Day readers. All because our hunger in all its legitimate and perverse forms is now being catered to. Catered to well after all. So "We the nation" are as much responsible as anyone else would be.
So while the new channels wait with bated breath for the announcement of marriage of Abhishek and Ash, I would sit and hope of another dawn. In the meanwhile maybe we can redefine NEWS as Neo-liberal Entertainment Without Substance ?
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