4

Dec

Media  and Crisis of Credibility

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Today’s Edition

New Delhi, 4 December 2023

Pradeep Mathur

 Mass  media content on issues of  governance and development  is now a matter of intense debate  as concerns are being expressed  over  declining standards and professional ethics of  journalism in our country.

To address the issue let us have a brief  look at the evolution of journalism in India which can help us  understand  the present state of drift in  media.

Modern journalism in India started with a small English weekly launched by Augusts Hickey, a Calcutta based English man in 1780. The newspaper soon closed down because of opposition by the East India Company’s bureaucracy whose misdeeds and corrupt practices  the newspaper tried to expose .There were some other attempts to start newspapers before Raja Ram Mohan Rai launched a series of newspapers which were the spokespersons of his social reform campaign.

 Launched in the early decades of the 19th century Raja Ram Mohan Rai’s three newspapers set the tone of what we even today call as value-based journalism for socio-economic  development  of our society.

By the start of the 20th century   the Indian newspaper world had developed three  distinct ideological trends.There were newspapers like The Statesman and  The Times of India which supported the British Raj and were of the view  that it was in the best interest of India and Indians.

These  newspapers did not see anything wrong with the governance . Then there were newspapers which did not oppose the British rule but criticised the British Raj bureaucracy for its failings and incompetence. They were called Anglo India Press. The prominent newspapers which belonged to this category were The Pioneer of Allahabad, The Mail of  Madras and The Civil and Military Gazette of Karachi.

The third category comprised newspapers which opposed the British rule in India and supported the Indian struggle for freedom from British rule. The Free Press Journal of Bombay, The Tribune of Lahore, The Hitvad of Nagpur, Amrit Bazar Patrika of Calcutta and National Herald of Lucknow besides a big number of India languages newspapers belonged to this category.

These three major ideological streams defined  journalism in India at the time of  its Independence. The  Independence brought about a policy shift in their editorial line. The British press became a supporter of the conservative public opinion and corporate world. The Anglo-Indian press retained its role as a critic of the Government of the day with the Idea to apply a corrective to the establishment. The nationalist press, however, lost its plot as the great communal divide and the partition of the country made it clueless.

It is the loss of plot by this third stream of press which is responsible for most of our media related problems that we face today. After the Independence  media in India slowly started losing its ideological commitment to the common man and became what is popularly called  from a mission to profession. Media and media persons enjoy a big clout in a democratic society and the media coverage can make a considerable impact on the careers of those in position of authority. Similarly media coverage can also influence policy decisions  which vested interests always want in their favour. Therefore in our developing society  media became an instrument in the hands of power brokers.

In fact true professionalism touched only the fringe of media industry in India. In the transition from mission to profession Indian media first became a management tool in the name of PR, advertising and communication skills and then an instrument in the hands of the vested interests of big business and political dispensation. The spirit of idealism and commitment to the people’s cause was lost in the way.   

Advent of TV  and digital media has only strengthened this  trend. Hailed as a magic multiplier  that would generate mass consciousness and fight backwardness , both social and economic , TV made an entry in India more than two decades after the Independence. Initially it looked like living to its promise but soon turned into  a soap opera.

 In terms of range and audience  T.V. media  has  developed in a big way. Now there are  nearly 400  channels in India whose total audience

 could easily be around 600 million.

The widespread criticism bordering on condemnation  of TV that we see today is  unfortunate. TV is neither evil nor a devil. However, this is not to suggest that there is nothing wrong with TV in India. It has no doubt trivalized and frivalized news and content  relating to critical issues of public good . It has promoted sensationalism and has very unfortunately become a channel for disseminating false news. Even worse it is being labelled as promoting  fake news and becoming what is being derisively called as goddi media. All this has greatly damaged the credibility of Indian media in general.

Any decline in the basic standards of TV journalism is understandably  a matter of great concern  .Therefore,  what is needed is an objective and analytical understanding of the problem and not outright condemnation  of TV journalism. Cynicism does not help in  understanding  a problem and certainly it cannot solve any.

Let us make an attempt to understand the problem.

There are very few public-funded T.V. channels like Doordarshan, Lok Sabha TV and Rajya Sabha TV. All private channels have to generate their own resources to survive in business

Running  a TV channel is a high cost business .In a highly competitive advertising market it is not easy to generate resources to run the business. Understandably the mortality rate of private TV channels is very high.

A large number of viewers, popularity called TRP, improves the standing of a TV channel in the  ad market.

Unlike print media, the TV media audiences are not necessarily intelligent, educated and intellectually sophisticated. They may or may not have any understanding of the system and its institutions.

Since audience is the oxygen of mass media TV channels have to keep these large illiterate and semi-literate audiences in mind while shooting  their programmes.

And here lies the crux of the problem. Instead of producing the content that will attract, entertain and educate the masses and raise their level of understanding and perception, most of our channels are taking the content quality down to the level of dark, uneducated and unenlightened minds of their illiterate and semi literate audiences. That is the reason while on programme side we have such stupid stuff like “ Patal ki Seedi and discovery of the kitchen of Sita mata”, on the news side we have a totally distorted framework of history about which less said the better.

Obviously the question is what is the way out. The way out is difficult but not impossible. Indian masses, illiterate or semi literate, who constitute bulk of Indian TV audiences, are ever willing to listen and learn provided you know how to communicate with them. And to communicate with them successfully you have to understand them and not impose yourself on them. Mahatma Gandhi knew this basic truth.

 The problem with us in the world of communication is that we look down upon our audiences and think of ourselves as a class apart. The arrogance of Anrab Goswami is a testimony to this. This is all the more true when we relate to the poor, the illiterate and semi-urban uneducated audiences. We presume that only stupid content will appeal to them. This is a monumental mistake that  we commit.

The challenge before us is to show our  commitment to  true professionalism and this calls for good media education, understanding of society, right  perception and  hard work. A touch with ground reality  and right attitude is also needed.  This will help us to  be  good content producers.

A thorough study of the audience habits, behavior and attitude is the need of the hour. This will give us an idea of how to  understand  audience psyche. Only this understanding will help us in knowing how  to make them interested in the real issues of health, education, jobs and social participation concerning their lives.

Our TV  content creation should  be done based  on complete  knowledge of  what  mass audience really  needs and wishes to see on the screen . Only such an approach will increase committed viewership and  give strength to our media , especially  T.V. news. It will also  arrest the  declining interest in media  and ensure that we regain the honour and prestige of media whose  defining character has been marked by a degree of social concern   and public good till recently

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