Indians have always had a nose for ‘news’. With the detoriation
in the popularity of reality shows, the news channels have filled the demand
gap and what we’re witnessing is the emergence of a new age in the viewership
of the idiot box. The news has emerged as the great Indian reality show.
A simple reflection is what constitutes our prime-time
shows. The new family TV time is the
Bulletin Broadcast. There can be various motives attributed to it. Firstly, it
is the dearth of good Indian fiction shows. The new-fangled intelligent audience doesn’t
find relevancy in the glamour and drama soaps. The youth fulfill this craving
by feeding on the international sitcoms. The elders are disconnected to these
international flavours and naturally sans alternatives.
Furthermore, it is the evolution of social media which has cultivated
in us, the impulse to be bang up-to-date with what’s happening around us. In
fact, other than the usage and impact of the information, the emphasis has
moved to who know’s what and when.
Thirdly, it’s the age of power media clout. The news channels now have engaging
talk show hosts who sensationalize and seem to represent the hoi polloi. The celebrities and the
politicians alike feel the necessity to come out and voice their opinion
instead of being misinterpreted by the shrewd spokesperson.
Now that we’ve discussed the raison d’etre, let us scrutinize
if the trend is evil? In our times, information is power. Politics is a
foremost element of this masala. This
makes us a robust democracy with people being cognizant. This newly found power has however, waged an intra-industry
war amongst the news channels. They are contending on what makes the breaking
news. They are crafting and flouting social movements at their will. These will
are motivated by what pushes the TRP and not on what quintessence the
information has. So the reality show camouflages
itself with the audience voting.
A recent illustration of their muscle would be the Anna Hazare
led India Against Corruption movement which was predominantly created by TV
media. The chosen one to point out these loopholes has been a sibling of TV. It
can now be addressed as the step brother- newspapers. It challenges the newscast
shaped by TV through its editorial and Points of View sections. The youngest
sibling Private radios rather than challenging the vox popli have decided to go
with the tide. Like never before radio channels are indirectly sharing news content
and leading social movements.
So earlier there were reality shows, which were deemed to be
fixed. Now, the battle has surpassed the war-fields to the mediums competing.
Although the consumer is the king, the medium the ministers, it’s the newsmaker-
the secret dictator…
But who cares once the reality show is over?
