There's hope for TV journalism if stakeholders keep their conscience: Rajdeep Sardesai

TV news is not dead but it is in ICU because it faces challenges of a kind that perhaps were not visualised when the revolution of 24x7 TV began 25 years ago, said Rajdeep Sardesai, Consulting Editor, India Today at the e4m NewsNext Summit 2023 held in New Delhi on Sunday.

Delivering the inaugural keynote address on ‘TV Journalism and the 3 C crisis- Commerce, Content and Conscience’, Sardesai said there was still hope for TV journalism if the stakeholders kept their conscience and did not surrender to the commerce of TV news.

“It is very easy to say TV news is dead but the reference point for social and digital media is TV news even today. What is said on TV news becomes clips which go viral. TV news is not dead but it is in ICU,” he said.

Sardesai said that the business model of TV news has broken down.

"TV as a medium is not dead, TV journalism is in the ICU because of our own failures. TV as a medium still holds a lot of power" : @sardesairajdeep of @IndiaToday at #e4mNewsNext 2023!

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“There were hardly any players when we started. Till the 2000s, we had only 5-6 24x7 news channels. Today there are 397 registered news channels across India.

“The cake is the same but the competitors to have it have increased multiple times because of which the advertising revenue is shrinking,” he said.

He also said that commerce is dictating content.

“Commerce is not in our hands but those who own these platforms. Commerce is dictating what is to be put as content. Where you first sent your reporter to anywhere in the country, today the scenario is to make them do it in the studio and ensure low-cost content for high ratings,” he said.

Terming this way of journalism as “Khidki” journalism, Sardesai said soon there will be "Ravan" journalism where there will be 100 faces on TV jumping from one studio to another without “offering any knowledge, but drama.”

“Information has become infotainment. And this transition has created a crisis of content,” he said.

The senior veteran journalist, who has been in the industry for over two decades, said TV news has a huge capacity to influence and make a change.

“TV news can make a difference to make the world a better place. It is still the most impactful medium,” he said.

Speaking about the third crisis, Conscience, he said if journalists ask themselves why they chose this profession, they will have the answer to what is the crisis of conscience.

“The crisis of Conscience is an intangible thing. If you ask yourself why you became a journalist, you will find the answer to what is a crisis of conscience," he pointed out.

“During the Manipur violence matter, which happened in the first week of May, the focus was on the Karnataka elections at that time. It required a viral video two months later to wake up to the reality of Manipur. It was, as if for some news channels, Manipur was not a part of India. This is where the crisis of conscience comes. Does your conscience tell you not to cover the news that will not get you TRPs? Ignore the rating system as it is broken,” he said.

Sardesai also said that businessmen invest in the TV news industry for the purpose of controlling.

“As a journalist, we have no control over it. People with deep pockets have taken over TV news. Do you think the TV rating system as it exists today is transparent and cannot be rigged?

“When people who have 1000s of crores in other businesses, just choose to put in a few 100 crores in a new business, how do you then create a commercial model that is viable and transparent? How do you actually ensure that news gathering is where you invest your money or you cut back? There was a time when we invested in news, now we invest on landing pages. If instead of spending on landing pages, we invested in news gathering, we would have better media,” he said.