The Onslaught Of The News Channels .....

There are multitudinous news channels today and hence lots of employment opportunities for budding journalists. But alas the quality of news is far from satisfactory .The recent outrageous coverage of the Abhishek Bacchchan and Aishwarya Rai wedding was a good example. Lot of news time and print is spent on presenting a wedding which would hardly affect the life of the ordinary Indian. Then there is the debate that this is what the public or ‘aam janta’ wants. I am sure if you take an opinion poll of ten people outside Churchgate railway station at least 7 will say that the media did go a bit overboard in that case . In the past newspapers were given to children to improve their language. But today other than the editorial most of the newspapers seem to have taken the the tabloid culture route .Thus the stuff is far away from enhancing language skills of young adults . I think the national dailies and news channels that have otherwise good content should leave the star chasing and gazing to the Hellos and People Magazines of the world …It is their job …

The news channels have to present news 24/7 and hence one finds discussions related to politicians’ visit to temples, their attendance in marriages, someone being declined hospital admissions and other trivial matters which are given a different flavor and also portrayed with a different fervor. In fact there are round table conferences and chat shows around these topics. This does not mean that the entire picture is dismal. Of course there are a couple of interesting news programs as well . But they are relatively fewer and hence do not have that kind of mindshare amongst the viewers .As result the younger generation is fed on newsreels of star weddings , political debates on issues like phone tapping , constituency visits rather than events that would have a greater social , economic and political impact . The impression one gets is that quantity is important , it should be presented fast and if possible in a neat package . The viewer has all the rights to switch the channel or not watch television . But that is just wishful thinking . Television has such a powerful impact on the masses that one cannot say that the effect of this kind of news reporting or journalism can be effaced by controlling the remote . Most people will not even have the time or space to think or act on those lines and hence the media onslaught continues unperturbed . I think sooner or later the news channels and newspapers will have to relook at the whole process of news reporting …