I have been in Media all through. Started with niche area and then joined a main stream media organization, but its only in last 1 year or so that I have actually understood what this profession is all about. Being an HR person, earlier I use to treat all people alike and for me they were employees… but now I can see a difference, they are foremost journalist and then an employee…
Being in HR I have also got a chance to interact and observe all kinds of people and from all genre. The veterans and the trainees on one side, those who have worked hard and made their name and place in the new media on the other side and also those who couldn’t care less about anything…
Therefore today I pen down what I feel about today’s time and manner. I feel that the time that one is exposed to today is the most difficult for anyone in this field. This time is the real test of a person’s desire, ambition, ethics and all those values that brought him or her into this field. The men will be separated from the boys… whose way it is going to be is to be seen then…
Let me give some background. Today, TV is a medium largely for entertainment. Therefore news on TV has also become a means of entertainment and it is viewed mostly for that. There seem to be very few takers for serious news. This has been revealed by the various viewer ship analysis done by our research team and also from various articles published in leading national dailies. The result is that the serious journalist gets very very frustrated. He/she does a good story but the same is not watched by masses and a freak entertainment program relating to bollywood gets the desired numbers… Slowly the motivation levels start going down. These are people who have contacts, who wish to take up issues, which are socially and politically relevant. They work on those lines and at the end of the day realize that these issue no longer matter to the public. People are not bothered. This is the hard reality and this is what all people in this profession are facing…
As per my observations there are three categories of people… One the veterans who are now channel heads, editors and hold responsible positions in media houses and take the decision of what will go on air or get published. The second category is those people who are the middle generation. These people got into this field inspired by our first category of people, who have seen the boom in media, who have seen the actual transition and who have through hard work made a name for themselves. The third and the last category of people are fresher, trainees, who have studied this medium after the boom, who decided to get into this, not out of any inspiration or any social cause but because they think it is glamorous because glamour is all that they have seen on TV, in print on net etc…
So what is it that makes times difficult for the journalist or those associated with these journalist. So what does this changed scenario do to the various kinds of people.
The veterans are faced with anguish, confusion and sometimes inability to take a correct decision. They are the ones who need adapting the most. They are the ones who take decisions and their decisions weigh on those below them… Though they may often wonder what is this that they are into but they are the ones who have the maturity to understand that this is the way ahead… To my mind, those in the business may often be facing pangs of frustration and my heart goes out to them because they can’t even complain… to whom will they go and complain anyway… they are the leaders…
Then comes the second category. These people are faced with a turmoil day in day out… they have hope that times will change. Serious news business will be back again. They have invested the former years of their career in learning the ways of journalism. The veterans from print and electronic media have been their mentors. To now suddenly accept that what they believed was journalism is not what people want to see or read, their entire existence seems to be in a state of confusion. They curse their seniors, the management, the media houses, they change jobs in the hope that the new place would do things differently and they still try to attempt stories, which are socially and politically relevant. When they succeed in their attempt, they get a ray of hope that things are not all that bad… The good thing is that they never give up. They fight day in and day out. They are carving out a path for the next generation, they still keep their networks alive, and they still break a story with the same passion… All they find difficult to do is to accept that the old days are gone forever.
However the saddest state of affairs is of the third category, the new entrants. Their foundation is the new age journalism, the world of glamour, hype and entertainment. Journalism that is shallow and that is based on quantity than quality. They are not to be blamed. This is all they can see all around them. This is what they learn, they practice and this is what they imbibe. In terms of work, they are the most productive and the happiest lot. There are no confusions in their mind and no turmoil. They never question the ethics of a story. They work on it because they have been taught that the people want to view/read these kinds of stories. Why would they then be in sad state of affairs? The reason is simple. They do not know and will never know what true journalism is all about. (If we were to believe that times ahead will remain like these). They have not worked as closely with the leaders and veterans of yesteryears. They have not seen the power of pen which can change the country opinion or which can dismantle governments. They have heard of these things, as those were the days… This does not imply in anyway that these people are not working or are a failure. In the times when they have joined the profession they are contributing in which ever way they can. However their shelf life will be shorter. People may not remember the journo of today after a couple of years. The monetary boom in the industry has got into the heads of most of the people and therefore the time most people are willing to invest in learning and establishing themselves has drastically come down. In effect a very sad state of affairs for this profession.
Whether the times prevalent are good or bad, are in the interest of this industry, this profession or not, we will have to wait and see. Which one of the three category (similar to three generations) of professionals will be the happier lot will also have to be seen. There is a lot to be seen and experienced in this industry. I have spent endless hours talking to people from all the three categories of people and I can be one with their anguish, their confusion and their dreams and their hopes. I am sure even if professionally I don’t remain in this industry, I will continue to be part of that society which craves for decent and relevant news. News we can use. Therefore either as an HR professional or as a viewer/reader, I will continue to track the changing mood of this industry. As of today I know for sure the mood is grim and the times are trying.
Shubhra Chaturvedi
10/9/2006
Being in HR I have also got a chance to interact and observe all kinds of people and from all genre. The veterans and the trainees on one side, those who have worked hard and made their name and place in the new media on the other side and also those who couldn’t care less about anything…
Therefore today I pen down what I feel about today’s time and manner. I feel that the time that one is exposed to today is the most difficult for anyone in this field. This time is the real test of a person’s desire, ambition, ethics and all those values that brought him or her into this field. The men will be separated from the boys… whose way it is going to be is to be seen then…
Let me give some background. Today, TV is a medium largely for entertainment. Therefore news on TV has also become a means of entertainment and it is viewed mostly for that. There seem to be very few takers for serious news. This has been revealed by the various viewer ship analysis done by our research team and also from various articles published in leading national dailies. The result is that the serious journalist gets very very frustrated. He/she does a good story but the same is not watched by masses and a freak entertainment program relating to bollywood gets the desired numbers… Slowly the motivation levels start going down. These are people who have contacts, who wish to take up issues, which are socially and politically relevant. They work on those lines and at the end of the day realize that these issue no longer matter to the public. People are not bothered. This is the hard reality and this is what all people in this profession are facing…
As per my observations there are three categories of people… One the veterans who are now channel heads, editors and hold responsible positions in media houses and take the decision of what will go on air or get published. The second category is those people who are the middle generation. These people got into this field inspired by our first category of people, who have seen the boom in media, who have seen the actual transition and who have through hard work made a name for themselves. The third and the last category of people are fresher, trainees, who have studied this medium after the boom, who decided to get into this, not out of any inspiration or any social cause but because they think it is glamorous because glamour is all that they have seen on TV, in print on net etc…
So what is it that makes times difficult for the journalist or those associated with these journalist. So what does this changed scenario do to the various kinds of people.
The veterans are faced with anguish, confusion and sometimes inability to take a correct decision. They are the ones who need adapting the most. They are the ones who take decisions and their decisions weigh on those below them… Though they may often wonder what is this that they are into but they are the ones who have the maturity to understand that this is the way ahead… To my mind, those in the business may often be facing pangs of frustration and my heart goes out to them because they can’t even complain… to whom will they go and complain anyway… they are the leaders…
Then comes the second category. These people are faced with a turmoil day in day out… they have hope that times will change. Serious news business will be back again. They have invested the former years of their career in learning the ways of journalism. The veterans from print and electronic media have been their mentors. To now suddenly accept that what they believed was journalism is not what people want to see or read, their entire existence seems to be in a state of confusion. They curse their seniors, the management, the media houses, they change jobs in the hope that the new place would do things differently and they still try to attempt stories, which are socially and politically relevant. When they succeed in their attempt, they get a ray of hope that things are not all that bad… The good thing is that they never give up. They fight day in and day out. They are carving out a path for the next generation, they still keep their networks alive, and they still break a story with the same passion… All they find difficult to do is to accept that the old days are gone forever.
However the saddest state of affairs is of the third category, the new entrants. Their foundation is the new age journalism, the world of glamour, hype and entertainment. Journalism that is shallow and that is based on quantity than quality. They are not to be blamed. This is all they can see all around them. This is what they learn, they practice and this is what they imbibe. In terms of work, they are the most productive and the happiest lot. There are no confusions in their mind and no turmoil. They never question the ethics of a story. They work on it because they have been taught that the people want to view/read these kinds of stories. Why would they then be in sad state of affairs? The reason is simple. They do not know and will never know what true journalism is all about. (If we were to believe that times ahead will remain like these). They have not worked as closely with the leaders and veterans of yesteryears. They have not seen the power of pen which can change the country opinion or which can dismantle governments. They have heard of these things, as those were the days… This does not imply in anyway that these people are not working or are a failure. In the times when they have joined the profession they are contributing in which ever way they can. However their shelf life will be shorter. People may not remember the journo of today after a couple of years. The monetary boom in the industry has got into the heads of most of the people and therefore the time most people are willing to invest in learning and establishing themselves has drastically come down. In effect a very sad state of affairs for this profession.
Whether the times prevalent are good or bad, are in the interest of this industry, this profession or not, we will have to wait and see. Which one of the three category (similar to three generations) of professionals will be the happier lot will also have to be seen. There is a lot to be seen and experienced in this industry. I have spent endless hours talking to people from all the three categories of people and I can be one with their anguish, their confusion and their dreams and their hopes. I am sure even if professionally I don’t remain in this industry, I will continue to be part of that society which craves for decent and relevant news. News we can use. Therefore either as an HR professional or as a viewer/reader, I will continue to track the changing mood of this industry. As of today I know for sure the mood is grim and the times are trying.
Shubhra Chaturvedi
10/9/2006
Comments
As long as people like you to have empathy with the third category, there is hope. But this also brings a lot of responsibility. Responsibility to take onus and initiative. You will soon realise that you are not the only one. Having anguish is first sign of hope. If we see hope, we should have a burning desire to change scenario. Task may be difficult but difficult task are performed only by people who have anguish within themselves.
Khurshid Anwar
e-mail: notowar@rediffmail.com
nice and very thought provoking. pata hai changes have to come from within the
industry. (i'm sure you know all this). yes the reality is that TRP's dont go with serious
news and social stories. but there are small holes through which the ray of light can be
seen. for instance, even though i feel it was majorly hyped, jessica/matto/katara cases
are back in the court's, the police is in the dock and there is a hope that after all the
criminals will be punished. and one of the reasons for this was active media
participation. a decade or even 5 years back i couldnt have imagined a thing like this.
cases against influential people going back to courts. gujarat retrial is also a case in
point.
There is a limit to which you can base your news on the TRP's. Star News ka aj ke din
highest TRP hoga but uski news ki koi validity nahin hai. even amongst the common
man jiske liye serious news koi matlab nahin rakhti. agar aj koi khabar pata padti hai to
log ndtv ya ajtak dekhna chahte hain. if you remember TOI had become horrible and till
last year i wouldnt even pick it up. they have improved over the last year and bach gaye
hain. if they would have continued i'm positive that unki readership bhi kam ho jati.
similarly with ajtak
serious news ki apni alag viewership hoti hai. niche viewership. agar trp's hi sab kuch
hote to aj discovery, ngc, ya history channel chal nahin rahe hote. isliye the change has
to come from within. balance banana hoga.
bye
Shachi
What Televison is today is the reflection of our society. As a nation and as a society we are in transition and this process have been put on a fast forward due to the technological boom. While one section of the society have moved way ahead in the spectrum, the other end of the same mass of people are still trying to understand what has zipped past them.
This is something that is happening on TV News as well. Economic stabilty and growth has unleahed a sea change in our perspective adn therefore the generic shift from the good defined news format to the current stage of confusion. But if we were to look the staggered transformatuion of television in USA, we will realise that they too went through a similar phase of transition. The only saving grace was they they were not faced with the sonic boom of technology - like we are faced today.
So Patience my dear Watson. If not today - tomorrow a defined section of people will appear, who will look forward to the classical format of news. And once we develop as a literate nation, we will have this dream come true as well.