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Pachauri started the session by bringing to the audience' notice
the Times of India cartoon for the day by RK Laxman which features
the common man flipping through the channels , watching static images
and noting that this is by far more entertaining than the fare actually
dished out on television. This attitude could be one of the biggest
concerns for news broadcasters in India he noted.
Although the numbers for news media are encouraging, the content
and quality of news content came under sharp focus by the panelists.
According to Pachouri all news room discussion revolves around the
4 Cs – Cricket, crime, cinema and crisis. The industry is now
facing a question of how to better the quality of their product
and move beyond the obvious issues that hog the headlines.
G Krishanan, the first speaker at the discussion candidly shared
that it wasn't easy to set up or build the TV Today network in the
late 1990's when the banks were unwilling to help financially and
there were critics galore who insisted that 'we don't need a third
news channel, we already have two'. There was a general consensus
then that advertisers won't pay a premium and news was a loss making
proposition.
Illustrating how he had been introduced to the new face of streaming
mobile video at the Frames seminar Krishnan noted, "It is not
the changing face of news but the changing face of India which has
brought things into sharp focus. News of course is a micro part
of the whole discussion. It is the changing technology and changing
nature of demographics that has really helped chart the success
story of media and news media in the country."
Speaking about the challenges faced by news channels Krishnan said,
"Most television news channels are clones of each other. We
don't need more crime news with scary anchors." He emphasized
the need to build a super brand through 'differentiation' with factors
like "art of story telling, look and feel of news and technological
advancement playing a big role."
He concluded by saying, "there was a need to create multiple
touch points for news- radio, mobile, OOH, in-flight entertainment
and video streaming on mobile and internet. The idea is to create
a brand instead of just a commodity."
BBC World Service' Srivastava chose to speak on the phenomenon of
"infotainment" and question if there is a methodical research
to check what viewers want. "There is an increasing feeling
that there is more entertainment and less information while the
idea of infotainment was to present information in an entertaining
manner."
As a British public broadcaster who has also had an India presence
for long and has actually seen "the changing face of news in
India from an half hour telecast to the mushrooming of 24 hour news
channels to the present scenario where there is a need to create
differentiated, quality news programming," Srivastav still
believes that despite all the news coverage on television the common
man is not getting his dues.
"The man on the periphery loses out in this news game. He's
not part of the middle class or the consumer class and therefore
he has no stand. News ends up disappointing him." Despite what
he calls 'his old fashioned misgivings', Srivastava insisted that
news channels would have to wake up to their social responsibilities
soon. The television networks have to be responsible to both the
market and to the Indian consumer, he said.
Alessandro presented the Italian news media view where he explained
that the country had the bigger corporate giants like telecom and
other industries launching news channels. The state of Vatican also
had its own news channel. But the country was increasingly facing
a situation of "one source news" which was perhaps balanced
only by the excellent work done by independent documentary film
makers.
Times Now' Lulla had a very specific point to make stating that
the business of television news was "highly undervalued".
"There is a big money involved in running a 24 hour news channel.
The constant on air product, technology and infrastructure involve
big costs."
Replying to the constant refrain of audiences and panelists on news
leaning towards entertainment Lulla pointed out, "Films, corporates
and brands – they turn to news channels to promote themselves
because they still view us as a credible source of information."
The panelists were confident that the various news channels coming
up in India would find 'its place in the sun' and there was no need
to hit the panic button on a cluttered market.However, all the panelists
also believed that the reason the topic was chosen was to primarily
point out that the "change" was still a continuous process
and news channels were still evolving.
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