Mad race for breaking news is eroding the credibility of news channelsTV celebrity Rajat Sharma is today a name to reckon with in the world of television news and current affairs programming. Rajat has carved a niche for himself with his trailblazing primetime public interest TV shows like 'Janata Ki Adalat', 'Insight' and 'Helpline'. 'Janata Ki Adalat' had a record run for 8 years and Rajat's sharp tongue, dry wit and quick repartee won him loyal audiences. With about two decades of experience in print and television journalism, Rajat started his career as a reporter with Onlooker magazine. He moved on to become the youngest Editor of Onlooker and later worked as editor for The Sunday Observer and The Daily. When satellite television made in-roads into India in 1992, Rajat entered the world of television. He joined Zee TV as head of News and Current Affairs. He has to his credit the launch of first daily news bulletin for a private TV channel in India in March 1995.
In 1997, Rajat set up his own production house - Independent Media Private Limited (IMPL) to primarily make programmes for Star TV. Currently he is producing a daily news show 'Aaj Ki Baat' for the newly launched Star News. This show, which had been earlier running on Star Plus, has endeared Rajat to the audiences because of his unique style of presenting news in a simplified and analytical manner. In this candid interview with Vinod Behl of exchange4media, Rajat Sharma talks about the current news channel boom, the growing popularity of news genre and its prospects. Q. On the present-day TV news scenario TV news in this country is still emerging and taking its shape. What we see around us are the problems associated with the process of maturity. People who are running TV news do not have enough hands on experience. The number of trained broadcast journalists is much less than the requirement, particularly in view of the news channel boom. There is a group of 20 - 25 people who keep moving from one channel to another. So, all these news channels look alike. This is a problem associated with the system. And once we have enough number of experienced TV professionals, the situation will change. But I believe that in the absence of quality training institutes, the mess will continue for sometime.
Q. On the news channels boom In a country of 100 crore, there is a room for all the news channels. Of course, this has led to intense competition. But then ultimately, the competition is to the advantage of the viewer. Having been held captive for over three decades by Doordarshan news, viewers now find a news buffet in front of them, with a wide choice.
Q. On the scope and relevance of news shows in the context of 24-hour TV news News shows have their own scope and relevance. Viewers, who have seen the news the whole day, want someone to present analysis of day's happenings. This is where shows like Aaj Ki Baat work. We also present a glimpse of tomorrow's happenings. The idea is to prepare the viewers about next day's happenings before he goes to bed so that he can keep an eye on his area of interest. One of our sections that have done well with viewers is the public interest segment towards the end of the show. In this segment, we try and tell people if they are doing something wrong. Our crew with a secret camera catches people urinating in public places, people traveling on bus / train roof tops, cops extorting money from poor rail passengers for letting them into unreserved compartments.
Q. On the growing popularity of news genre People had always been interested in news, particularly political news, Politics is a passion in India and elections are like festivals here. All these years we were exposed to only Doordarshan's stereo typed dull news. But now with growing competition, private TV news channels are making efforts to package news in an interesting manner. It's another matter that in the process, one has to often make compromise with the philosophy of news.
Q. On presentation of TV news The most important aspect in TV news is its visual content. But news channels people concentrate on 'Talking Heads' that to my mind do not make TV story. This can at best be broadcast on radio. This is where we have to take a lesson from the BBC. Also, I believe that pretty young faces do not necessarily make good and credible news presenters. Anyone who is presenting news irrespective of his / her age should have understanding and knowledge of what they are talking about. That will make them more credible.
Q. On the growing trend of breaking news In television news, the most important thing is channel's credibility among viewers. But unfortunately inexperienced people in news channels have got into the mad race of 'Sabese Tez', 'Sabse Pehle' and 'Sabse Aage'. Non-issues are being blown out of proportion and projected as real issues. Not only that, channels is making lot of mistakes. The stories that start hounding us in the morning are with drawn by the evening. There are cases where channels have even apologized for giving wrong news. All this is eroding the credibility of news channels. Heavens won't fall if you give news 5 - 10 minutes late. But what is important is that you must have accurate facts. I feel very comfortable, that I have not joined this mad race of 'breaking news'. On the contrary, we continue to focus on issues, which directly impact common people. And we speak for them. This gives me immense satisfaction and viewer's support.
Q. On the growing commercialization of news I can speak from my 20 years experience in print and television journalism that there are occasions when you get a feeling that things other than content are overtaking. But despite the commercialization of news, I believe that ultimately it will be content which will be emerging as a dominating factor. After all readers and viewers are today very intelligent. If you try to sell them inferior quality presentation in the garb of news content, they will simply reject it.
Q. On the growing trend of mixing content with the message I personally think it is not fair. But due to cutthroat competition, ad sales departments in news channels are dictating terms to ensure the commercial success of the channel. However I think it is only a temporary phase that will not last long.
Q. On his philosophy of news My philosophy has been that the news should not be thrown at viewers. We analyse and simplify news for the viewers. Our experiment has succeeded because viewers have liked Aaj Ki Baat. Our feedback has shown that 'Aaj Ki Baat' has large number of woman viewers because they find our news simple and easy to understand.
Q. On the impact of 24 hour television news on Print news I believe that even today, with limited resources, newspapers are scoring over TV. The channel people have a practice of reading newspapers and sending camera crews to cover the news. Moreover, we still get more in-depth stories in print only. In other parts of the world, TV news channels break news and do comprehensive stories, which are followed by the newspapers. But I personally think that newspapers and TV news is complimentary to each other. On news channels boom offering opportunities to news and current affairs producers. The boom could have been great for individual producers but it is not so, mainly because most channels prefer in-house programming. It is only in rare cases that they outsource programmes. Fortunately for us, we do two Aaj Ki Baat news shows on Star News. But I do not see this becoming a trend in the near future.
Q. On his plans for expanding his news organization We have large news network with our correspondents and camera crews stationed at about two dozen places. We need to double our strength in terms of newsgathering teams, particularly expanding in smaller towns. We have already set this process in motion. For newsgathering we are also tying up with people with experience in this area. We also need their help in marketing our content in international markets.
In 1997, Rajat set up his own production house - Independent Media Private Limited (IMPL) to primarily make programmes for Star TV. Currently he is producing a daily news show 'Aaj Ki Baat' for the newly launched Star News. This show, which had been earlier running on Star Plus, has endeared Rajat to the audiences because of his unique style of presenting news in a simplified and analytical manner. In this candid interview with Vinod Behl of exchange4media, Rajat Sharma talks about the current news channel boom, the growing popularity of news genre and its prospects. Q. On the present-day TV news scenario TV news in this country is still emerging and taking its shape. What we see around us are the problems associated with the process of maturity. People who are running TV news do not have enough hands on experience. The number of trained broadcast journalists is much less than the requirement, particularly in view of the news channel boom. There is a group of 20 - 25 people who keep moving from one channel to another. So, all these news channels look alike. This is a problem associated with the system. And once we have enough number of experienced TV professionals, the situation will change. But I believe that in the absence of quality training institutes, the mess will continue for sometime.
Q. On the news channels boom In a country of 100 crore, there is a room for all the news channels. Of course, this has led to intense competition. But then ultimately, the competition is to the advantage of the viewer. Having been held captive for over three decades by Doordarshan news, viewers now find a news buffet in front of them, with a wide choice.
Q. On the scope and relevance of news shows in the context of 24-hour TV news News shows have their own scope and relevance. Viewers, who have seen the news the whole day, want someone to present analysis of day's happenings. This is where shows like Aaj Ki Baat work. We also present a glimpse of tomorrow's happenings. The idea is to prepare the viewers about next day's happenings before he goes to bed so that he can keep an eye on his area of interest. One of our sections that have done well with viewers is the public interest segment towards the end of the show. In this segment, we try and tell people if they are doing something wrong. Our crew with a secret camera catches people urinating in public places, people traveling on bus / train roof tops, cops extorting money from poor rail passengers for letting them into unreserved compartments.
Q. On the growing popularity of news genre People had always been interested in news, particularly political news, Politics is a passion in India and elections are like festivals here. All these years we were exposed to only Doordarshan's stereo typed dull news. But now with growing competition, private TV news channels are making efforts to package news in an interesting manner. It's another matter that in the process, one has to often make compromise with the philosophy of news.
Q. On presentation of TV news The most important aspect in TV news is its visual content. But news channels people concentrate on 'Talking Heads' that to my mind do not make TV story. This can at best be broadcast on radio. This is where we have to take a lesson from the BBC. Also, I believe that pretty young faces do not necessarily make good and credible news presenters. Anyone who is presenting news irrespective of his / her age should have understanding and knowledge of what they are talking about. That will make them more credible.
Q. On the growing trend of breaking news In television news, the most important thing is channel's credibility among viewers. But unfortunately inexperienced people in news channels have got into the mad race of 'Sabese Tez', 'Sabse Pehle' and 'Sabse Aage'. Non-issues are being blown out of proportion and projected as real issues. Not only that, channels is making lot of mistakes. The stories that start hounding us in the morning are with drawn by the evening. There are cases where channels have even apologized for giving wrong news. All this is eroding the credibility of news channels. Heavens won't fall if you give news 5 - 10 minutes late. But what is important is that you must have accurate facts. I feel very comfortable, that I have not joined this mad race of 'breaking news'. On the contrary, we continue to focus on issues, which directly impact common people. And we speak for them. This gives me immense satisfaction and viewer's support.
Q. On the growing commercialization of news I can speak from my 20 years experience in print and television journalism that there are occasions when you get a feeling that things other than content are overtaking. But despite the commercialization of news, I believe that ultimately it will be content which will be emerging as a dominating factor. After all readers and viewers are today very intelligent. If you try to sell them inferior quality presentation in the garb of news content, they will simply reject it.
Q. On the growing trend of mixing content with the message I personally think it is not fair. But due to cutthroat competition, ad sales departments in news channels are dictating terms to ensure the commercial success of the channel. However I think it is only a temporary phase that will not last long.
Q. On his philosophy of news My philosophy has been that the news should not be thrown at viewers. We analyse and simplify news for the viewers. Our experiment has succeeded because viewers have liked Aaj Ki Baat. Our feedback has shown that 'Aaj Ki Baat' has large number of woman viewers because they find our news simple and easy to understand.
Q. On the impact of 24 hour television news on Print news I believe that even today, with limited resources, newspapers are scoring over TV. The channel people have a practice of reading newspapers and sending camera crews to cover the news. Moreover, we still get more in-depth stories in print only. In other parts of the world, TV news channels break news and do comprehensive stories, which are followed by the newspapers. But I personally think that newspapers and TV news is complimentary to each other. On news channels boom offering opportunities to news and current affairs producers. The boom could have been great for individual producers but it is not so, mainly because most channels prefer in-house programming. It is only in rare cases that they outsource programmes. Fortunately for us, we do two Aaj Ki Baat news shows on Star News. But I do not see this becoming a trend in the near future.
Q. On his plans for expanding his news organization We have large news network with our correspondents and camera crews stationed at about two dozen places. We need to double our strength in terms of newsgathering teams, particularly expanding in smaller towns. We have already set this process in motion. For newsgathering we are also tying up with people with experience in this area. We also need their help in marketing our content in international markets.
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