Indian media is well known for sensationalizing issues. To attract more eyeballs, media organisations exaggerate everything and make sensational headlines. The print medium is relatively better but many websites and almost all the television channels are more of an Ekta Kapoor soap, rather than being platforms for sensible coverage and informative reporting. The left-liberal media establishment collaborates with the opposition which has nurtured and nourished it since the days of state monopoly over media, and spreads ruckus. The state monopoly over media ended in the last few decades but the subservience of left-liberal media to opposition remains the same. The people in the media still pursue fear and rumor-mongering on the direction of their political masters.
The ideologically driven anchors perpetuate their own ideology in debate shows as they bring in the panelists who share a similar ideology as them. Field expertise no longer matters in the ideologically driven media, all that matters is whether one is pro-government or anti-government. So, channels like NDTV, interview JNU student leader Kanhaiya Kumar over Rafale deal controversy, something that is clearly not the area of his expertise. The specialization of Kanhaiya Kumar lies in African history and the person claims that Rafale is a big scam. It looks like NDTV has taken up the task of creating celebrities out of the likes of Kanhaiya Kumar.
On similar lines another NDTV anchor, Ravish Kumar interviewed 23 year old, pro-AAP Youtuber, Dhruv Rathee who spews ‘gyaan’ in short Youtube videos, on topics ranging from ‘How to start a business’ to ‘fake news’. A person who claims to be an expert in every stream- economics, history, political science, finance, business studies, defense expert and what not. When in reality, the person does not even have a master’s degree in any of these subjects.
The television media has confined itself in either producing entertainment cum news shows or ideologically driven political narratives to benefit or harm a particular party. During the day they run shows like ‘Saas, bahu aur Saajish’ and in prime time every anchor indulges in a public relation exercise for his favorite party. One can see a single party spokesperson debating on a wide range of topics from Dharma to Economics. All these spokespersons have to do is Google the topics they are given for debate. However, these spokespersons do not bother to do even that and are still considered fit to talk about them on a national podium.
The standards of the Television have gone so low that informed debate just cannot be expected from them. All they indulge in, is a PR exercise for the opposition. Majority of the anchors do not have enough intellectual rigor to present their views on any topic, they read the lines written by the production team from a teleprompter. All these well groomed anchors have to do, is to look presentable on camera. Channels like NDTV pick three people who support the anchors views and just one who doesn’t. What follows is a 3 vs 1 slugfest. To add, the panelist who presents opposing views is given very little time. So the ideological bias of the anchor becomes the popular opinion and the whole show ends up being more of a PR exercise than a political debate. A lot of TV news channels are guilty of the same offence. If this continues, web channels with better content will finish the TV industry in the coming decade.
