Television and social media have recently evolved a new template for journalism, discarding the print media and news agencies. “Where, how, when and what ?”- the four key elements had guided news writing for the last century or so and silently delivered authentic stories to the readers who took them as their article of faith. The advent of television news and social media initially gave healthy competition to dailies and agencies, even breaking news and changed the basic rules of news reporting.
Over the last 15 years, television news has transformed into a soap opera that is entertaining, hilarious and almost predictable. Each TV studio has a brand of anchors who conclude right at the start of the discussion on a news story. In most cases, there is little patience or inclination to allow ‘NEWS’ to tell its story by answering ‘Where, how, when and what ?’ of the incident or the event.
The ‘celebrity anchors’ rule the studio dictating the tone, tenor and content of the news and its analysis as per the editorial line of the News Channels (broadly, set by the owners who are all eager to toe the line of the government of the day). Editorial freedom is as restricted as that of a goat tied to a rope with a peg on the ground. The ‘politically sensitive’ stories are dealt with, with kid gloves. The toothless colour stories (including development reports) alone have all the freedom to go around in abandon and ‘insensitively’..!
The TV reporters on the ground repeat the cue given by the anchor in the studio by saying, “Absolutely, you are correct…” One has not seen or heard reporters, venturing to rupture the known narrative or giving even slightly different versions of the event based on their reporting. The line is set in the comfort of the studio, and the reporters have to follow it. This explicitly shows in their news feeds. ‘Breaking news’ is mostly based on government announcements, policy decisions, parliament speeches or a controversial statement by a political leader, out to grab the limelight. There is hardly any home-made ‘breaking news’ from the TV channels.
But one can excuse TV for not doing ‘independent’ or investigative reporting, particularly on the functioning of the government, as their ancestors – the Print media- itself has shut its shop on ‘exclusives’. Readers are woken up with a national exclusive or banner headline? Barring perhaps one or two reports, there is no major investigative report on the government (s) or the opposition parties. Whatever media has in its kitty, it is either fed by the government sources or its rivals in the opposition. The international breaks emanating from foreign lands and key judicial pronouncements at home have been, helping TV and dailies to carry their day.
The silence in the media is quite unnatural. The Fourth Estate’s primary role is to keep people informed and make them aware of what is not known, thereby empowering the populace to make the right choices when they scrutinise the performance of their leaders or vote for them. The bold questioning of the central government or the state governments on– development policies, right to information, labour laws, woes of infrastructure, paper leaks, ideological appointments in education institutions, rising unemployment and upswing in migration of young Indians abroad, an urgent need for police and judicial reforms — is rarely front-paged even by the broadsheet newspapers. ‘Why famished cows are still left in the streets by their owners ?’ is another pregnant question that the television or the dailies do not dare to ask.
The print and television media should have elevated their level of news debate, particularly when a spate of fake news (and vulgar videos) in social media has already muddied the waters. Mainline television news has stopped seeking answers from the government or the governments of the day in the states.
Ironic, as it may sound, social media (News X, YouTube, WhatsApp) seems to be the only platform where News can be ‘free’ and uncensored… There is ‘freedom’ in platforms like YouTube that have increased their subscriber base. This has compelled even top political leaders, including the Prime Minister to appear on the YouTube channels.
Television news studios are fake battlegrounds. Professors of JNU and Delhi University have been seen abusing each other on ideological grounds (pl, read, on their respective political interests). Even the sober TV news anchors turn aggressive – even when there is no reason for it. There is action, drama, shouting, personal attacks, shaming, sulking, chest-thumping and sudden angry walkouts too by the guests in the TV studios but no news.
The format for television debates is all too predictable. A particular topic of the day is selected with spokespersons of different parties, ‘political analysts’ and ‘scholars’ (standing in a row or sitting across) readying to reach each other’s throat. The rancorous exchanges last for 15-20 minutes but do not make viewers any wiser as the show is hijacked. The takeaway from such TV shows is what the moderator chooses to offer. And that is, largely, a viewpoint of the government or the ruling party.
The result of such sound and fury is that the debate turns out to be stage-managed, and less credible. The high decibels in the TV studios, devoid of good content and spine, had weakened the government’s information offensive in the recent conflict with Pakistan where some of the TV channels claimed that the Indian Navy had “destroyed Karachi port, Indian Air Force had downed Pakistani jets, and their pilots had been captured, Pakistan’s PM had sought refuge in a bunker, and its army chief Asim Munir had been ousted in a coup.”
“Anchors and commentators became cheerleaders for war between two nuclear-armed states. Some well-known TV networks aired unverified information or even fabricated stories amid the burst of nationalistic fervour,” The New York Times, the US daily, was quoted as saying. The TV news credibility dwindled during the critical period of ‘Operation Sindoor 2025. on the night of May 7 and May 8. The British Newspaper and magazine, The Economist, also took a dig at the Indian TV panelists: “If news segments were merely outrageous, commentary was unhinged.” There are not many takers for imbecile news (or news analysis) in a globalized world which relies on multiple cross-border sources for the right information.
The rule book of journalism has been thrown into the nearest dustbin by a vast section of Indian TV which is apparently on a ‘Swachchata Abhiyan’ (sanitation exercise) and seeking to hide the shanties in a bid to appreciate the spread of beauty parlours around.
Manufactured news has a very short shelf life. It is not too late for TV news in India to correct the missteps taken for the TRPs or other motives. In a few years from now, the chaotic but rapidly expanding digital-social media may, willy-nilly, be in a position to replace the NEWSLESS TV.
Very apt analysis on the decline of media in the last decade.
The author is absolutely right that What, How, When, Where are missing in today’s news, which has become a slave to the owners’ interests. What we witness is needless chest thumping and biased views masquerading as news. Upreti is clearly on target when he says that real news mostly survives on X, U tube and WhatsApp. Thanks to these newer mediums of news dissemination, we come across the real world of news, which is both bold and investigative. In a world where tv and print have abdicated their responsibility, online media comes across as breath of fresh air.
So true. Felt someone gave words to my daily thoughts. Why mine?, perhaps everyone’s. As a 60 year old I vividly remember rushing to TV in eighties or nineties to learn what really happened. News anchor did not have an iota to add or subtract. Today, even if one hears from multiple sources one stays in doubt if it is indeed the case. Just imagine with all the technology and speed of transmission, even a highly literate, and one with all the resources has no means to access accurate information.
I was longing to read such an elaborate and crystal clear article on this societal issue.
Well analyzed and articulately expressed.
There has definitely been a degeneration of erstwhile social values in all spheres. Media is no exception. The New York Times is another rag always disparaging India and spewing venom on anything Indian. Channels do toe the line of the government. The government is fighting against external deepstate and internal extremist forces. So much so that even the courts have leftist leanings. These forces have nefarious designs. While we identify the enemy outside and deal with them firmly, the internal Tukde Tukde gang, Maoists, etc. are more dangerous. If the intentions of the government are good it is the responsibility of not only the media but every right thinking individual to strengthen the government’s hands.
At the outset I would like to hail this report for its objective analysis of the current news content and presentation. Every word is carefully chosen to convey the intent and the status of media ‘ operational efficacy.
For a long time news was not allowed on private channels as the govt knew where it would lead to. However the private channels found an alibi to start news channel as there were operating on a foreign satellite. There was no regulatory mechanism to screen or to restrain.
This gave rise Arnab Rahul et al. to rise and create bad news tradition.
Like Upreti says the 5Ws &H have to thrown to dust bin. The grammar of news is obliviated and the definition completely destroyed. News is sycophancy and a way of making illegal money. I have stopped watching news