Electronic Media - "The Domination Of Prime Time Viewership"

Before anything else one should know what is Electronic Media?

Electronic Media, generally i.e in Indian context, is referred to the media which is related mainly to television. It is in contrast of Print Media, which is basically related to printing press and paper.

Now, as of today, I will discuss only the media which is related to news, views and analysis (leaving Entertainment and Education which are also important parts of Electronic Media).Few years back (around 15 years), in India there was only one channel which was the wholesole media i.e Information, Entertainment and Education. It was Doordarshan. People used to work whole day and when they returned home they used to turn on the TV and watch it with pleasure.

Then it was all revolutionised after the Kargil war (I am talking only about the news channels. Other channels do existed before as well). Many new news channels came into existence and they presented exclusive reports on the ongoing war and its aftermath. People started taking interest in these channels which served as the better alternative for the traditional ongoing Doordarshan. Although Doordarshan was free-to-air (we just need to install an antenna), the other private channels cost a little fortune in the form of cable charges. In all, it all changed the scenario and there started our today's topic of debate i.e "The Domination Of Prime-Time Viewership".

Today, the condition is that the TV is flooded with number of news channels and they are evolving day by day. Anything happens in the world, they are there to serve us with the latest updates. It is really a nice thing that we are now, more aware of the happenings around, but the old saying prevails... "Too much of anything is bad".

In the quest of broadcasting the earliest i.e "Breaking News", the channels have lowered the quality of information and often finds themselves in the midst of wrong and crap news. Moreover, they donot take the responsibility of the crap they delivered few hours ago. This incomplete and hasty information can prove to be a disaster for the masses.

The public viewership is often assesed by the Target Rating Point commonly known as TRP. More the viewership of any channel, more will be the TRP of the same. The whole game is to increase the TRP as soon as possible and no matter how it is possible. And there come the "Exclusive Reports" airing on different channels from time to time. These reports are meant to sensationalise the public and often result in terrorising them. It is seen that in the haste of broadcasting the earliest, most of these reports are not fully correct and tend to be wrong from the beginning. The recent example being the "Noida Double-Murder Case" in which they all victimised Dr. Rajesh Talwar, without any solid proofs against him, that he murdered her only daughter Aarushi, and his servant Hemraj. Later in the incidentstory it was disclosed he was not guilty. Moreover the channels accused Aarushi of having unacceptable relationship with Hemraj and Dr. Talwar's relationship with fellow co-worker Dr. Anita Durrani. These all disclosures were totally baseless and crap. Just give a thought over the bereaved famliy who lost a loving child and they have to bear such accusations. Who the hell is responsible for all this defame and
insult which the Talwar's had to face? They all did it just for the sake of their TRPs.

Lastly, the ongoing Mediabite of the various TV shows running on entertainment channels. Gosh, sometimes I feel I am not watching a news channel but an entertainment channel filled with all the "Saas-Bahu" stuff, Siddhu laughing in "Laughter Shows", celebrities dancing and singing on different "Reality Shows", and all the stuff which was once confined to some specific type of channels. It is said, (though not offcially) that these entertainment channels pay a certain amount of money to these news channels so as to promote their programmes and increase their viewership. There again the money game comes into picture. The people like me who really want to hear and watch some qualtiy news are often left disgusted and irritated with such kind of stuff.

Frankly, I don't think anything is going to change in the near future, but now slowly people are getting bored and irritated with such kind of stuff and may be possible gradually this scenario shifts in the right direction. Lets hope for the best.