Newspapers have grown numerically in India but independence of views still eludes them
Uday Sahay
ADG, Communications CWG 2010, Delhi
Though the media in India, especially print, has come of age numerically and in terms of production finish, it lacks confidence to see issues beyond its nose on merit or to decide its own agenda independently. Post-liberalisation, this lack of confidence seems to have deepened thanks to a newly acquired globalised culture of seeing news as a language neutral product. Let me cite two examples.
The first example is the coverage of the Maha Kumbh from January to April in Haridwar. A small fraction of the sea of humanity there will consist of media persons from across languages and delivery modes. In absolute terms, the media contingent is likely to be the biggest ever both on account of exponential growth of the media in last 12 years and also because Maha Kumbh will be 2010’s most happening event. But is it correct to presume that the relationship was always as natural and spontaneouss? It wasn’t. The Maha Kumbh in Haridwar in 1998 drew little media attention from the English dailies in India. Their readers were probably not religious enough. The mega event primarily attracted the vernacular press. Other newspapers picked up stories from the news agencies. Doordarshan sent a small crew. The exponential growth of internet and TV by the next Kumbh at Allahabad in 2001 spread the news all over the world. The western media rushed to witness the mela. The western media’s response evoked – thanks to new online feed - an immediate response from the India English media and there was a beeline of journos to reach Allahabad. The western media sets the agenda.
The coverage of the BRT corridor in Delhi showed lack of confidence of the vernacular media to see issues independently. Delhi-based English newspapers wrote a common script on the trials and tribulations of their target readers when they covered BRT corridor issue. English speaking journalists of varying hues – Oxbridge bred, public school kind – unanimously sang the hate song on BRT. It was based on their own experience and that of their car-using constituents. Two newspapers took the lead. Personal and advertising interests reportedly took over. Though different newspapers titled their written scripts differently, their underlying signature tune was the same: One newspaper titled it as “Big Road Trauma” while another captioned it “Road to Hell”. These newspapers truthfully mirrored selective reality.
Elite English-language newspapers have a target readership. Their menu of news, views, editorial, advertorial and even advertisement is based on taste, preferences, concerns, trials and tribulations of the target readers. The final touches on the menu are added with the brush of personal experiences of the journos handing out their judgments and of the business interest or political predilection of the owners.
Hence everything was predictable about the reporting pattern of most newspapers in Delhi on the BRT issue except for stray voices that differed. The allegiance was not to a class in the Marxian sense – of owners and non-owners of means of production – but to a class of car owners. They accounted for just about 6 per cent of BRT corridor users.
Uday Sahay
ADG, Communications CWG 2010, Delhi
Though the media in India, especially print, has come of age numerically and in terms of production finish, it lacks confidence to see issues beyond its nose on merit or to decide its own agenda independently. Post-liberalisation, this lack of confidence seems to have deepened thanks to a newly acquired globalised culture of seeing news as a language neutral product. Let me cite two examples.
The first example is the coverage of the Maha Kumbh from January to April in Haridwar. A small fraction of the sea of humanity there will consist of media persons from across languages and delivery modes. In absolute terms, the media contingent is likely to be the biggest ever both on account of exponential growth of the media in last 12 years and also because Maha Kumbh will be 2010’s most happening event. But is it correct to presume that the relationship was always as natural and spontaneouss? It wasn’t. The Maha Kumbh in Haridwar in 1998 drew little media attention from the English dailies in India. Their readers were probably not religious enough. The mega event primarily attracted the vernacular press. Other newspapers picked up stories from the news agencies. Doordarshan sent a small crew. The exponential growth of internet and TV by the next Kumbh at Allahabad in 2001 spread the news all over the world. The western media rushed to witness the mela. The western media’s response evoked – thanks to new online feed - an immediate response from the India English media and there was a beeline of journos to reach Allahabad. The western media sets the agenda.
The coverage of the BRT corridor in Delhi showed lack of confidence of the vernacular media to see issues independently. Delhi-based English newspapers wrote a common script on the trials and tribulations of their target readers when they covered BRT corridor issue. English speaking journalists of varying hues – Oxbridge bred, public school kind – unanimously sang the hate song on BRT. It was based on their own experience and that of their car-using constituents. Two newspapers took the lead. Personal and advertising interests reportedly took over. Though different newspapers titled their written scripts differently, their underlying signature tune was the same: One newspaper titled it as “Big Road Trauma” while another captioned it “Road to Hell”. These newspapers truthfully mirrored selective reality.
Elite English-language newspapers have a target readership. Their menu of news, views, editorial, advertorial and even advertisement is based on taste, preferences, concerns, trials and tribulations of the target readers. The final touches on the menu are added with the brush of personal experiences of the journos handing out their judgments and of the business interest or political predilection of the owners.
Hence everything was predictable about the reporting pattern of most newspapers in Delhi on the BRT issue except for stray voices that differed. The allegiance was not to a class in the Marxian sense – of owners and non-owners of means of production – but to a class of car owners. They accounted for just about 6 per cent of BRT corridor users.
Read these article :-
Outlook Magazine money editor quits
Don't trust the Indian Media!
