In TV news, India has become an important player on the world stage: Bhupendra Chaubey

At a time in the past, news reporting was a task of two people. One who held the heavy video camera and the other, a reporter with a mic. Moreover, it was difficult to broadcast the news because Doordarshan was the only place for it, said Dr. Bhuvan Lall, Author and Entrepreneur.

At the NewsNext Summit 2022, Dr Lall engaged in a fireside chat with Senior TV Journalist Bhupendra Chaubey to discuss what ails the TV news today in India.

Setting the context of the discussion, Lall shared how things have changed today and everyone in the media fraternity has come a long way. TV news has been evolving and has gone through various phases. It has now come to a situation where India has become an important player on the world stage. Whatever is seen on Indian TV news is also viewed globally, he said.

“A nation with a population of 1.4 billion people, which is set to touch 1.73 billion people by 2047, is in dire need of two elements of journalism - Credibility and Country,” he added.

Chaubey then mentioned that he has been coming to the summit for the past seven to eight years and almost all top media professionals discuss the crisis of journalism.

“I believe all journalists, including me, are hypocrites,” he remarked.

Chaubey shared that he too had been bitten by the entrepreneurial bug in 2018 and wanted to start his own venture because the news media was broken.

“But then the problem arises - where will the money come from? TV newsrooms unfortunately have been taken over by news managers. These news managers, for whatever reason it may be, personal, professional or political, instead of raising the standards of journalism, kept getting it lower."

Chaubey further said, “Now that level has hit rock bottom mechanism where you have nowhere else to go but to make newer avenues to make your mark.”

“Content on news TV as imagined a few decades ago has changed by virtue and by definition. Today all things revolve around commerce and technology.”

“Also, I do not believe at all that journalists have no relation with commerce. All expectations of journalism will be fulfilled only via commerce,” he contended.

“If a journalist wants money, there is a certain business model that exists. And if they are ready to challenge that business model, then they will have to be ready to compromise on the money front”, Chaubey said while signing off.

So there definitely exist massive opportunities with many new avenues coming up. Technology will guide everyone in the media fraternity towards the right direction.

Moving towards the end of the discussion, Chaubey highlighted he has noticed a new word called ‘whataboutery’ which fits right in with the current situation of credibility in journalism.

He said, “The truth is, and I have no hesitation to say this, that there is no journalist with more than decades of experience who at some stage either didi not buckle under pressure nor had to take specific sides.”

Hence, Chaubey believes he holds no authority to pinpoint other journalist’s credibility and 99 percent of journalists do not have that authority either.