Home turf heroes

In India, for a long time, the power to influence the mind of the masses lay with the so called national media being run from New Delhi, the big newspapers and the 24 hour television news channels. These controlled the media space, and determined the news that invariably centred round major political personalities, with Delhi dominating. The partisanship was so visible, and the gap between what passed for national news and regional concerns so great, that it was but inevitable that the growing vacuum would be filled. And very soon, language newspapers and television channels started mushrooming in the state capitals with a distinct bias for the local political leaders, and developments that found scant mention in the so called national media.

The result is that over the past 10 years, the Delhi media has lost its supremacy with the language newspapers and channels topping the reader/viewership charts. In fact, it is now not at all uncommon to find editors from different parts of India openly challenge Delhi’s claim to represent the “national” voice, as they insist that the newspapers and channels operating out of the Indian capital should be referred to as just the “Delhi” and not the “national” media. More so, as the media here does not reflect the nation’s concerns and ignores important news in the states to give space to inconsequential events just because these take place in New Delhi. The masses, aggrieved over this continuing neglect at the hands of the Delhi based media, turned to embrace the first television channel and newspaper that opened in their respective state with so much enthusiasm, that this literally opened the floodgates for the now flourishing state media.

C-voter carried out a survey for Media Watch to find out the most successful newspaper and television news channel in the states. The results, along with interviews with some of the decision makers in the regional media are carried in this issue of Media Watch. C-voter covered a random sample of 5,651 readers/viewers across 18 states and 237 media personnel across 18 states.

TSI correspondents who interviewed some of the leading lights recognised by the survey found that unlike the Delhi media, the regional media, with the exception of none, spoke of their coverage of social causes and people’s local concerns as one of the primary reasons for their success. Indeed, many identified actual participation in these concerns as a major link between the people and the concerned media house. Sambad owner-editor Soumya Ranjan Patnaik spoke of organising Blood Donation camps as one of the more specific reasons for his success; Chief Editor of OTV, Soumyajit Patnaik, spoke of the extensive coverage and help extended to flood affected people; and in fact almost all the owners/editors spoken to by the correspondents spoke of their organisations’ connection with the people as an extremely important reason for their success.

Objectivity was not highlighted as a reason, simply because every journalist of some standing knows that this term does not exist in the field. A reporter covering police brutality cannot be objective to the point where he equates the victim and the police. But the owners/editors did speak of what they described as “authenticity”, truthful reportage. DY 365’s Executive Editor Pranay Bordolai listed the reasons for their success as “fearless, unbiased, authentic” dissemination of news. Chief Editor of News Life, Atanu Bhuyan, was clear that “authenticity” was a major reason for his organisation’s popularity, because of which he feels “people can believe in us.”

Television editors spoke of speed, maintaining that part of their popularity was also linked to their ability to reach the spot first, and to break news earlier than others. In depth coverage was also identified as a reason for success, with Chief Editor of the Sun Network, V Raja, summing it up with, “we think, eat and breathe news”. Interestingly, there was a strong opinion against political affiliation of media organisations, although it is no secret that many publications and channels in the states particularly, are run by influential political parties, and