Voyeurism Vs Elitism?

 

 

Fifteen minutes of fame-or notoriety-is no longer the monopoly of a frenzied mind dreaming of it. Take Professor Matuknath Choudhary , his wife Mrs Choudhary and his paramour (lover, companion, soul mate, bedmate…) Julie. On live television, millions of Indian viewers enjoyed the spectacle of Mrs Choudhary thrashing Julie for stealing her husbands affections while Matuknath kept chanting ‘Julie I Love You’. One TV channel even made that the tagline of this ‘special program’. And then who can forget the spectacle of a car running around the roads of Delhi without a ‘driver’. Or of a certain Jahnabi Kapoor slitting her wrists in front of Amitabh Bachchan’s house because Abhishek ‘ditched’ her! Or of a 14 year old boy from a dusty and remote village of Uttar Pradesh who suddenly woke up one fine day and announced that he is actually the reincarnation of a dead American scientist, the drawl and twang of his voice suspiciously like that in a Hollywood blockbuster!

All this would have been hilarious, but for a fratricidal war between English and Hindi news channels over what constitutes news. In many ways, this war is redolent of the parable where two cats are fighting with each other over food. In the parable, a smart monkey comes along and exploits the differences between the two cats and takes away all the food. In today’s context, the two cats are English and Hindi news channels and the monkey is the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting. The prize is-who will get to regulate news channels? The I&B Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi is introducing a Broadcast Bill in the Parliament that-if it is passed-will impose draconian controls over television news channels. And astonishingly, rather than presenting a united front and telling the powers that be to stop dreaming of introducing censorship through the back door, fat cats and stars of English and Hindi news segments are accusing each other of playing games and worse. “It is unfortunate,” admits well known television personality and co-promoter of CNN-IBN Rajdeep Sardesai, “ the government and politicians who would anyway prefer censorship will exploit these differences” For months, there has been animated debate about the ‘kind’ of news that is being shown by Hindi news channels. Many ‘English’ commentators have been accusing Hindi news channels of trivialising news, sensationalising it and showing people, events and occasions that have no relation with mainstream news. The ‘Julie I Love You’ kind of stories fall into this category. In fact, some commentators like Vir Sanghvi have gone to the extent of saying that Hindi news channels are actually poor imitations of entertainment channels masquerading as news. They have even gone to the extent of saying that the Hindi news channels are themselves to blame for the alleged support that the Broadcast Bill enjoys. The stark differences between the English and Hindi news channels came to the fore during a program hosted by Karan Thapar that featured Ashutosh, Managing Editor of Hindi channel, IBN-7 and Barkha Dutt, Managing Editor of NDTV. Both publicly disagreed with each other over what constitutes news.

The real surprise is that there are many journalists and commentators who seem to agree with people like Vir Sanghvi and Barkha Dutt. Says Umesh Joshi, Editor of Hindi news channel Total TV, “The channels have no right to broadcast quarrels among the family members.It is astonishing that over 50% reporters are on the payrolls of the political leaders.Low profile cases like rape in a slum are not broadcast. The licenses of the reporters who do not obey the code of conduct should be confiscated.”

It is opinions and comments like these that seem to be encouraging the I&B Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi into thinking that the government has a reasonable chance of sneaking in censorship by exploiting this growing divide between English and ‘regional’ news channels. The world over, governments have always displayed a propensity to curb, control, regulate, manipulate and even stifle news media. Even in a so called liberal democracy like the United States, the administration of George Bush has ruthlessly exploited the fear psychosis of Americans after 9/11 to muzzle protests against the invasion of Iraq in 2003. In India too, when the Kargil conflict was raging, news outlets criticising the then government were declared ‘anti-national.’ So, it is no surprise that Mr Dasmunshi would love to ‘control’ the rapidly growing and proliferating world of news in the country. But are politicians like Dasmunshi really doing this in national or ‘public’ interest? Even a child knows that there is no ‘public’ interest involved in these attempts at backdoor censorship. The only interest is purely political. Says well known television personality Yashwant Deshmukh, “ Since 2001, the political class is growing increasingly afraid of, and angry with television news for exposing corruption and other misdeeds of politicians”. Deshmukh is bang on target. When Tehelka did India’s first modern ‘sting’ operation way back in 2001, the entire nation was astonished. One can also not forget how Tehelka was virtually hounded into bankruptcy for having the ‘audacity’ to expose corruption in high places.

The world of news has come a long way since then. Thanks to intense competition between the numerous channels that have sprouted since, virtually all are in a kind of ‘race’ with each other to do ‘sting operations’. Not a day passes without one of the major news channels not exposing some dirty deed of a politician or a bureaucrat. It is thanks to Hindi news channels that Indians got to know how members of Parliament could be bribed to ask questions on the floor of the house. It is thanks to Hindi news channels that Indians got to know how MPs ‘misuse’ and siphon off the funds they are given to develop their constituencies.

Sure, many stories in regional news channels can be exasperating. Sure some cross the line when it comes to decency. But asking for censorship is like throwing out the baby with the bathwater. The loser would be media freedom in the country. The Indian media is divided...

The entire team of TSI fanned out across the country to ask people in important positions in various channels and news outlets their opinion on this controversy. The sad fact is that there is a clear ‘divide’ between English and the ‘vernacular’ media.

Rajdeep Sardesai,

Managing Editor, CNN-IBN

The differences between the two segments is quite unfortunate. Really, there should be only one definition of what constitutes news and it should be equally applicable to all segments, regions and languages. Leaders in the two categories can dialogue with each other and come to an agreement so that all news and media outlets present a unified front...Otherwise, the government and the political class can exploit the divide to impose censorship and that would be a truly disturbing and dangerous development. The media has to be free and self-regulated in a functional democracy.

Sushi. Thirugnanam,

Channel Head, Sun News

The so called national channels are doing sting operations for the purpose of sensation. Sometimes these operations also turn controversial. We don’t follow their trend. We are informative and have plans to be more so in the future

Ardhendu Das,

Manager, OTV

Compared to national English channels regional channels are closer to people, their problems and the issues. English channels have lesser understanding of all that. Moreover, they are not even trying to understand the local issues. Being close to different issues and a better understanding give regional channels a higher reach, acceptibility and penetration. Johney Lukose,

CEO, Manorama News

A self regulation by the concerned electronic media is better than a government control. The Government does not have such an authority. The sensationalisation must be controlled by channels themselves. Otherwise, their credibility will be at a loss.

Umesh Joshi,

Editor, Total TV

I believe there should be some ethics code of conduct. The channels have no right to broadcast quarrels among the family members.It is astonishing that over 50% reporters are on the payrolls of the political leaders.Low profile cases like rape in a slum are not broadcast. The licenses of the reporters who do not obey the code of conduct should be confiscated.

John Britas,

MD, Kairali TV

History shows that every law is misused by governments themseves though they are initially aimed for some good cause. Likewise, this Broadcasting Bill will also follow the same path. Of course, the private TV channels, especially Hindi and Indian English channels, forget to follow some social norms in this competitive field. They are rushing to a conclusion and spreading some false or distorted facts which create confusion among people.