MxMIndia

Category: COLUMNS

  • Lots of "selfies" were put up on social media by journalists thus proving that many of them saw the Prime Minister like a star rather than a politician, writes Ranjona Banerji

    Ranjona Banerji: A funeral for Indian journalism?

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    You can laugh or cry. The capital’s media went into an absolute tizzy last week when it heard that the prime minister was actually going to meet journalists. All their collective dreams had come true. The only problem as it turned out was that this was not a Meet the Press And Answer Questions so much as a Listen to A Lecture And Take Selfies sort of “Diwali Milan” morning.

     

    The invitation could have been a dead giveaway if anyone had bothered to read it. It said the “hero” of the BJP’s victory had agreed to “grace” the venue (BJP headquarters in Delhi) with his “stunning and glorious” presence. The upshot was that Narendra Modi gave the media a little lecture on his early memories of the room they were meeting in, his Clean India Mission, thanked the media for supporting it and for turning their pens into brooms. A nice conceit but a few decades out of date – pens are rarely seen anywhere these days especially not in newsrooms.

     

    Lots of “selfies” were put up on social media by journalists thus proving that many of them saw the PM like a star rather than a politician and it presumably took them a few days to rub the stardust out of their eyes. How to trust people who allow the wool to be pulled over their eyes so easily is another question.

     

    Two slightly less gushing reports/views on this meeting are here:

    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-29772262

    and

    Modi conquers the media

    I am tempted to hold a funeral for Indian journalism right now but have been advised to wait for a bit…

     

    **

     

    Diwali also brought much joy into the lives of gossip followers on twitter. A number of handles sprouted, most with the word “Luytens” in them, all of which claimed to have the latest political and media gossip from the centre of power in Delhi. Soon, there was speculation about the handles themselves. Who ran them? Who was right wing and who was left wing? Who was a journalist and who was a politician? Were PR people involved? Lutyens spice, Lutyens masala, Journalists Spice, BJP spice, Real Lutyens

     

    Next, the parody accounts of the gossip accounts: Boring Lutyens Gossip.

     

    And you can even follow a handle named for the architect Edward Lutyens who designed the centre of New Delhi (call me Ned says his profile).

     

    Scroll.in reported on the phenomenon: http://scroll.in/article/685245/A-rash-of-spicy-gossip-handles-about-Lutyens-Delhi-sets-Twitter-sizzling

    And a diary item in Mumbai Mirror says that the BJP’s IT cell is looking into all these Lutyens twitter accounts which sounds both ominous in a big brother kind of way and a bit funny in a how desperate can a government get kind of way (link: http://www.mumbaimirror.com/columns/mumbai-001/Down-memory-lane/articleshow/44952840.cms).

     

    **

     

    Sad little trolls continue with their “if you don’t like the BJP and Modi you have been paid by the Congress line” attacks on journalists. I use the word “attack” very loosely because given the way the Congress party’s fortunes are falling I doubt very much it is paying anyone to do anything. Even the trolls sound a little unsure…

     

    **

     

    Without Comment:

    CNN-IBN shows the inauguration of the refurbished-by-Reliance Harkisondas Hospital in Mumbai live. And once we laughed at Doordarshan for this sort of thing.

     

  • It's well-known that no direct correlation exists between box-office and television performance, notes Shailesh Kapoor

    Shailesh Kapoor: The Art Of Mass Entertainment: Oh My Dog!

    By Shailesh Kapoor

     

    Performance of Bollywood films on television is a fascinating topic. It’s well-known that no direct correlation exists between box-office and television performance. Yet, a lot of movie-buying happens based on box-office collections. If one dig deeper, there are box-office measures that can be used to predict the ratings of a film’s premiere telecast. The single screen to multiplex box-office collections ratio is one such measure. Films that tend to get a higher percentage of their collections from single screens tend to work better on television, despite their overall collections being much lower than certain other multiplex-centric film.

     

    It is not very difficult to see why this should happen. Television audiences, especially the film-viewing ones, are skewed towards lower SECs and the smaller towns. They represent a mindset that’s closely mirrored by the single screen theatre audience. Their entertainment choices are more escapist in nature, with comedy and action being the driving genre, though a dose of traditional family values is always desirable.

     

    Last week, Akshay Kumar’s recent release Entertainment premiered on Zee Cinema and scored a whopping 5.5 TVR. To put it in perspective, this number is higher than the ratings of Kick and Singham Returns, the two biggest box-office grossers of this year, both in the mass action genre. It is 60% higher than the ratings of Dhoom 3, the biggest Bollywood grosser at the box-office till date. Ratings of hits like Queen and 2 States dwarf in front of Entertainment’s 5.5.

     

    Entertainment performed miserably at the box-office. It opened below par for an Akshay Kumar film and had no takers at the end of its first week, going on to be a certified flop. If you have seen the film, you would understand why. It’s a long 140-min slapstick comedy about the relationship between a man and a dog (playing the titular role). It could have been fun, but the jokes are all heard-before, and the film takes itself too seriously and tries to tell a story around an incredulous, spoofy premise.

     

    In one of the many nonsensical scenes, when the dog’s pulse drops to zero on the operation theatre table, Akshay Kumar magically revives him by a giving him a hard thump on the chest. It’s almost as if someone else made a good film about a man-dog relationship and this film decided to spoof it out.

     

    Yet, on television, all this and more is, indeed, Entertainment. Akshay Kumar is a very popular star with the masses, but his better work in recent times (e.g. Special 26) does not rate too well. But a film like Entertainment doesn’t even need a star. It has this element of sheer idiocy that is not worth the price of a movie ticket, but a good freebie for a mind that perpetually feels the need to de-stress.

     

    There has been a lot of talk in recent years, about how some films are designed for you to ‘leave your brains at home’ when you come to watch them in the theatre. I wonder where you are supposed to leave your brains when you are watching such films at home itself!

     

    In a parallel universe, in the same industry, the infotainment genre, which was largely driven by one type of programming for a long time (survival genre shows led by Man Vs. Wild) is now espousing more intelligent (though entertaining in no less measure) content. National Geographic has been actively pursuing its ‘Entertain Your Brain’ proposition with good success, with shows like Brain Games and Science Of Stupid.

     

    But even as television gets smarter on that side, mass numbers continue to baffle you at times. The irony is not lost on me. Neither is the dichotomy of it all.

     

  • Websites of newspapers have limited themselves either by laziness or having bought some spiel sold to them by owners and marketing managers, writes Ranjona Banerji

    Ranjona Banerji: No longer the future… Online journalism is the present!

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    I learn this from journalist Rohan Venkat on Twitter: “Online journalism in India, 2014: Scroll, Quartz, Quint, Catch, HuffPo, DailyO, Swarajya and at least two more to come.”

     

    To this, others have added older websites like FirstPost, NewsLaundry, IndiaSpend and then there’s MxMIndia itself. Not to forget NitiCentral, which dedicates itself to rightwing issues and opinions. Some of these contain original content others can also be aggregators.

     

    I suppose you could go as far back as a young person can remember these days and start with rediff.com… and the hoot if it’s the media you are focusing on.

     

    The upshot is that online journalism is working hard to replace the other forms. Websites attached to newspapers somehow cannot seem to match these sites. It’s not because they don’t have the staff or the resources. But it seems to be because they are circumscribed by limited ideas of how far journalism can go. Or, more correctly, they have limited themselves either by laziness or having bought some spiel sold to them by owners and marketing managers.

     

    The irony is that the talent pool is the same for other media houses and these online journalism websites. So the problem doesn’t lie there. A colleague who I worked with in DNA has just done a brilliant investigative piece for Yahoo News about how junk food is causing malnutrition in Dharavi. She says it took her about four weeks to do the story. Newspapers rarely give you that sort of leeway. Magazines do but you need only have a look at falling subscription figures to see where that road leads…

     

    Presumably, these websites have owners too and they apply their own pressures on them. Is it just that as long as you are new and small, you can get away anything but success brings its own burdens? Let’s take firstpost.com, part of the TV18 group and India’s biggest bugbear as far as the media is concerned – which side of the political spectrum you aim your darts from. Even before it was bought by the Ambanis, the website was accused – even by me – of being rightwing. And yet, even then it had carried pieces with the “other” point of view. Now that the rightwing are ruling India – or are in government at any rate – firstpost.com appears to have made a slight course correction. Criticism of the government is not uncommon and it does have a range of writers on offer.

     

    Scroll.in on the other hand shines because it investigates the story right under your nose if you had only bothered to look. Many of these are brilliant and also require a lot of legwork.

     

    DailyO, from the India Today stable, offers a range of opinions. IndiaSpend analyses data to reach some staggering conclusions. And Huffington Post is where so much of all this began in some ways…

     

    In that sense, these websites expose traditional forms of media for their lack of imagination and their refusal to get away from familiar and well-trodden paths. I am at a slight loss of where to include TV in all this because TV dances to another tune and websites of news channels can be far more revealing than their broadcasts. The opinion section on NDTV’s website for instance often has more heft than most programmes from most news channels.

     

    However the issue of long-term financial viability remains, especially with the online community largely refusing to pay subscription fees. The other route of income from advertising is still somewhat experimental even while it is entrenched with traditional media.

     

    Online journalism is no longer the future. It is the present. And if it can achieve so much in so little time, if I was in traditional media, I would be a little worried.

     

    **

     

    A small aside: The fight over GamerGate and perceived or misunderstood sexism in the gaming world has been largely ignored in the Indian media. If our world of gamers is so small, then we have not yet entered the 21st century or our editors are too old!

     

  • The NewsHour on TimesNow had an interminable rant from Arnab Goswami about how the Congress party or sympathisers of the Congress party refused to come on his show discussing the Robert Vadra case, notes Ranjona Banerji

    Ranjona Banerji: Are you serious, Mr Goswami?

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    Robert Vadra, son-in-law of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, opens a gym. At the press conference, a reporter from the news agency ANI, asks Vadra about his land deals which are under the scanner. Vadra in answer says “Are you serious” three or four times, pushes the mike away, then says “Are you nuts” and instructs his security to get rid of the footage.

     

    Arrogant, entitled behaviour on the part of Vadra? Definitely? End of the world life-threatening stuff for the TV journalist or the media in general? Definitely not.

     

    And yet, in the frenzied hysteria that is now TV news, we must hold a primetime “debate” on Vadra’s behaviour. It is not clear exactly what there is to debate. Vadra behaved badly and dare one say it, foolishly. It is hard to take any other position. This does not make for a good debate. So instead, on the NewsHour on TimesNow you have an interminable rant from Arnab Goswami about how the Congress party or sympathisers of the Congress party refused to come on his show. Apparently, they would rather go to other channels which will field questions bowled underhand. This is an interesting allegation. All channels other than Times Now subscribe to the Trevor-Greg Chappell school of bowling?

     

    I have to confess however that I was so amused watching the carefully manufactured outrage on Times Now over Vadra that I did not bother to check any of the others. Did they also froth at the mouth? Or did they bowl underhand to Congress spokespersons? Did they also believe that a terrible line had been breached affecting the safety and security of Indian journalism?

     

    Because there was nothing to debate however Goswami and the NewsHour meandered here and there – in full-throated Bianca Castiofiore glory of course – as they talked about how hurt journalists felt to some foaming about how dare someone not answer a question put to them by a journalist. (Man, how rich we would be if we had even a mere rupee for every question someone refused to answer.) The debate could not even tell us how much action was going to be taken against Vadra on his shady land deals and untoward favours handed to him because no authority or political dispensation has come clear on it yet. Before the general elections we were assured that Vadra’s special privileges would go but even that doesn’t seem to have happened…

     

    Anyway, Sambit Patra of the BJP informed us that he feels it in his heart that his party will do something. Patra’s heart is I presume a better weathervane on such matters than Goswami’s hurt?

     

    It’s impossible to use the word “seriously” right now, but you know, wouldn’t it have been better if the media had made Vadra a laughing stock? ANI could have gone that route and we could have been merrily laughing away at Vadra’s immense ego, his apparent inability to understand that mum-in-law no longer runs the country and the most fun of all, made chutney out of rich brats who think they’re entitled for no reason?

     

    What I found intriguing about the Vadra clip is that before he started on “Are you serious” he was babbling some rubbish about his gym and its machines and got confused about what it did to your muscles. Now there was a clue to take off on…

     

    Yeah, I’m serious. And possibly, nuts.

     

  • BARC can do well to discourage this artificial segmentation by not providing any of these handles (GEC, Youth GEC, etc.) in their planning tools, and even prohibit their data bureaus, as and when they come up, from doing the same, writes Shailesh Kapoor

    Shailesh Kapoor: Time to Redefine ‘General Entertainment Channel’?

    By Shailesh Kapoor

     

    Though largely an uneventful year for Indian television content, 2014 has seen some channel launches, after almost four years of status quo. Zee launched Zindagi mid-year, followed by Sony’s launch of its third GEC Sony Pal, and later this month, Epic goes on-air. We all know that Zee has its second (or third, if you count Zindagi) GEC in the incubator.

     

    Classically, back in the 90s, a channel was called a GEC (General Entertainment Channel) if it had something for everyone in the family. It was “general” enough to have a mix of content that should cater to a fairly generalized collective need. The term GEC is India-specific and was perhaps coined by the advertiser community to give a handle to the set of mass channels that existed at that time.

     

    Over time, as the number of ‘GECs’ increased, advertisers and planners started using GEC 1 and GEC 2 as reference terms for the top ranked and second tier GECs.

     

    However, look at things closely the way they exist today, and you would know that it’s time to question all the parlance surrounding the term ‘GEC’. Here are some thoughts, for example:

     

    1. Zindagi’s offering is anything but ‘general’. In fact, it’s a very differentiated, specialized-content based channel. Even if it did 100 GRPs, could it ever be called a ‘General’ Entertainment Channel with such content?

     

    2. The same argument applies with even more force to Epic, where the offering is catering to a content need that’s incredibly sharp and therefore, irrespective of its audience size, niche.

     

    3. Sab TV’s content filter (light-hearted family entertainment) is very specific as well.

     

    4. More than 95% original programming time on Star Plus today goes to fiction content targeting women audiences. Is that ‘general entertainment’?

     

    5. Movie premieres, that were a core part of the GEC offering in the 90s, are now increasingly being seen on movie channels instead. Does that make the GECs less ‘general’?

     

    It may seem a matter of semantics, but the implications of these semantics can be substantive. By clubbing all channels airing fiction and non-fiction content as ‘General Entertainment Channels’, we have created artificial segmentation of the content market. Channel V today is far more general in its offering than Sab TV is. But because it was historically a music platform, it has clubbed into another artificial category: Youth GECs!

     

    Now all this would not matter if the cost of getting 1% audience to watch your ad on all channels were the same. But it is not. CPRP (Cost Per Rating Point) wildly fluctuates across these artificial categories. GECs have a distinctive advantage over most other Indian language channels in this regard. And this advantage borders on being unfair.

     

    BARC can do well to discourage this artificial segmentation by not providing any of these handles (GEC, Youth GEC, etc.) in their planning tools, and even prohibit their data bureaus, as and when they come up, from doing the same.

     

    And while I wait for that to happen, I leave you with a question: Think hard and name the one Indian channel that you think has the most ‘general’ entertainment to offer to the country at large. Ask the question around too. Some of the answers may surprise you.

     

  • Exaggeration is often an essential in a journalist’s armoury but there is a palpable feel of apprehension, writes Ranjona Banerji

    Ranjona Banerji: Is there reason for anti-Modi journos to fear being targeted?

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    How far has journalism fallen in India and how much of this fear of falling is bogus scare-mongering and how much is real? Certainly, Delhi journalists who have not genuflected or at least cuddled up to the establishment are frightened. Senior journalists talk in extremes – from fear for their collective kneecaps to suspicions that their phones have been tapped. Exaggeration is often an essential in a journalist’s armoury but there is a palpable feel of apprehension. Some people mention that they were under the scanner of the previous establishment and definitely the misuse of Section 66A of the Information Technology Act and actions against cartoonists were big black marks against UPA 2.

     

    But there is a more sinister atmosphere whirling around the national capital these days. The fact that none of those who praised and sang hosannas to the current prime minister when he was still a hopeful have benefitted has also increased the shivers. Was it all worth it? Did we go far enough? Or do we now have to start being slightly more objective? The future is intriguing to say the least, especially to those of us who stay away from Delhi often more out of choice than circumstance.

     

    **

     

    Meanwhile journalism as entertainment is flourishing on TV with Times Now leading the charge. Almost a month ago, Tehseen Poonawalla, who serves as Congress spokesperson on TV, held a piece of paper over his face, during a debate on Robert Vadra’s land dealings, which said, “I have the answers… but he just won’t let me speak”. ttp://www.thenewsminute.com/socials/278

     

    Then this week, Poonawalla apparently asked some uncomfortable questions about Arnab Goswami’s relations in the BJP and also called him a “supari journalist”. Poonawalla was asked to leave the show. The whole episode was edited out of the online version of Newshour as well. Poonawalla and friends are yelling blue murder about this assault on free speech and now there’s a petition on change.org to get Times Now to air the complete version.

     

    Interestingly, Meenakshi Lekhi, then BJP spokesperson got Goswami’s “never ever never ever ever” treatment after she accused him of taking money but was allowed to continue on the show.

     

    **

     

    We now have various kinds of journalists depending on which side of the political spectrum you fall. If you are not a rightwing supporter or a fan of Narendra Modi, you could be a “newstrader” (coined by the prime minister himself apparently) or a “presstitute”. If you are a fan, then you’re a “supari journalist”. You could also be part of paid media, media lies, media crooks and if you are female, then, well, you take your chances by even being alive.

     

    **

     

    There’s much speculation about which media house is tilting in which direction and the general consensus seems to be that most are going right. But the most intriguing of all remains The Times of India which remains centrist. However, it remains consistently faithful to its commitment to dumbing down. The web maybe full of opinion sites and opinions in general but it is almost impossible to find the venerable newspapers edit page online. Everything comes under the heading of “blogs”. Which, if you think about it, is so last century.

     

    **

     

    Those who have done any writing on gender sensitivity or gender issues, please do send your entries to the Laadli media awards. Please go to laadli.org for details. The last date is November 15.

     

  • Arun Jaitley takes over Information and Broadcasting from Prakash Jawadekar because he is seen as having better connections in the media.

    Ranjona Banerji: Will sucking up become worse in Delhi now that the ‘bureau chief’ is incharge of I&B?

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    The Hoot is doing a survey on the role of social media on journalists and people who use it as a news source or to share stories. It is worthwhile to go to the website and answer the two minute survey. Given the rising influence if not power of social media, studies are required to put its reach into perspective.

     

    Social media gains in significance as “mainstream media” in India at least flounders between flattery and objectivity. You can therefore forget scepticism. Even the bogus heroics of celebrities posing with brooms purportedly to “clean India” is reported with breathless excitement, except for a few exceptions which have told us how garbage is being brought to places just so that it can be moved around by politicians and celebrities.

     

    Meanwhile, the man known as “bureau chief” in Delhi gossip circles has been relieved of the defence ministry and given Information and Broadcasting instead. Arun Jaitley has good friends in the media and this presumably made him a better bet than Prakash Jawadekar. If you are a conspiracy theorist this makes you wonder about government control of the media. (Not, it must be pointed out that the UPA in its second avatar was any better, especially the way Kapil Sibal went after people with the Information Technology Act.)

     

    But it is also true that journalists, senior and junior, in Delhi have appointed themselves as government spokespersons and sometimes take it upon themselves to explain and justify government policy. One assumes that they are trying to make Jaitley’s job easier out of friendship and concern?

     

    However, the fact that the BJP and Jawadekar discussed the pointlessness of an I&B ministry has been lost in all the rah-rahs. No party wants to give up any ground when it comes to controlling the media.

     

    While on the subject, does anyone know what happened to the big talking Markandey Katju who was going to revolutionise the media and educate journalists? Last heard of, he was ranting about corrupt judges from a decade ago but I have at least not heard of any journalist who was taught anything by the Press Council of India chairman except perhaps how to laugh out loud.

     

    **

     

    The Press Institute of India and the International Committee of the Red Cross give away awards in humanitarian journalism. I have been privileged to be one of the jury members. While it is heartening to see the number of stories done on the subject in India especially in conflict zones like Kashmir, the Naxal areas and even the problems faced by Tamils in Sri Lanka, it is equally disheartening to see that almost none of them find their way into national newspapers. It is as if we prefer to sit in our artificial bubbles and self-consciously refuse to know what is happening around us.

     

    One cannot blame glamour news here for distracting us. We are looking at news editors and editors concentrating on government announcements and pretending that that is news while ignoring ground realities.

     

    **

     

    There has been speculation in the world of cricket journalists on whether Sachin Tendulkar’s newly released autobiography, “Playing it My Way” will only get unparalleled praise or some criticism as well. But once you get past the excitement of the launch itself and the pre-release controversy over Greg Chappell, there has indeed been some mild criticism.

     

    It will be interesting to see how the big names in cricket journalism respond to the book.

     

    **

     

    There has been some sad commentary on twitter that none of the political and media gossip handles which bear the legend “Lutyens” managed to reveal any details about the Cabinet reshuffle that happened in Delhi recently.

     

    Sad though that is, I am not unfollowing any. If nothing else, they are amusing!

     

  • Organisers of press conferences do feel that they will be discriminated against if they do not offer freebies, writes Ranjona Banerji

    Ranjona Banerji: Anyone not seen journos at press confs not scrambling for gifts?

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    So here’s an intriguing story. Some journalists in Odisha are up in arms because they found Rs 200 in cash in envelopes handed to them at a press conference held by Parliamentary Standing Committee for Urban Development, headed by MP for Puri, Pinaki Mishra of the Biju Janata Dal. About a dozen journalists, apparently appalled at being bribed, have filed a First Information Report against Mishra and BJD MLA Maheshwar Mohanty for trying to bribe the media to get “favourable coverage”.

     

    Now the first instinct would be to applaud such honest behaviour and such moral outrage, surely? How often do journalists take such a stand and go so far as to file FIRs against politicians? Indeed.

     

    Then reality sinks in, if you didn’t start laughing outright. Because if you read the rest of the story, when the Parliamentary Standing Committee for Urban Development held a press conference in Bhubaneshwar and handed out envelopes with Rs 300 in them, nobody protested and nobody returned the money. Even in Puri, of the 53 journalists present, 15 returned the money and the rest took it. The organisers claimed the money was not a bribe but a conveyance allowance.

     

    Hands up any of you who have been to press conferences and not seen journalists scrambling to get the “gift” or fighting with the organisers that the “gift” was not enough? Through the 1990s, after liberalisation, these gifts, especially in the business world, included cash in thousands, shares, discount vouchers, suit lengths, white goods – and all this at press conferences only. We’re not even talking about gifts that were delivered home. There used to be jokes at the time about business journalists who got family members married based on the “gifts” they received!

     

    The fact is that too many in our tribe can be corrupt and “press conference” journalists have a high level of expectation. Organisers do feel that they will be discriminated against if they do not offer freebies. We have done this to them by our high demands and not the other way around.

     

    Another cynical thought springs to mind: were some journalists in Puri upset because Rs 200 is an insultingly small amount? Like handing out crumbs with the clear implication that the organisers see journalists as mendicants, happy with anything put into the begging bowl? It must be remembered that even roadside and traffic light beggars have high standards in today’s India and will return loose change if it is an insultingly low amount.

     

    And then there are those journalists at the upper end of the food chain: The ones who help with Cabinet positions and lobby for industrialists. They don’t go to press conferences but for all I know won’t even say no to Rs 200 in an envelope because even that is better than no money. Media managements are involved in or indeed have spearheaded “paid news” but there journalists who concur and those who run their own rackets.

     

    Therefore, much as I admire these Puri journalists who have taken umbrage at what appears to be a bribery attempt, I cannot forget all the terrible things I know and the worse stories that I have heard about colleagues and peers. We have been our own worst enemies and we have been again with all those journalists who did walk away Rs 200 or Rs 300 richer in Puri and Bhubaneshwar, completely nullifying the impact of the protestors.

     

    This is our shameful ongoing story.

     

    http://indianexpress.com/article/india/politics/orissa-journalists-lodge-fir-against-bjd-mp-and-mla-over-attempts-to-bribe-them/

     

     

  • Despite 50 top brands in the country that target children actively, the day increasingly finds little resonance, writes Shailesh Kapoor

    Shailesh Kapoor: Is Children’s Day losing media significance

     

    By Shailesh Kapoor

     

    Today is Children’s Day. Unlike many other branded days – such as Mother’s Day, Daughter’s Day, Father’s Day and, of course, Valentine’s Day – Children’s Day is an indigenous event, observed on the birth anniversary of Jawaharlal Nehru.

     

    But like most festivals and special days, the genesis becomes less important over time, than the actual celebration. Children’s Day, however, suffers from both genesis and celebration issues.

     

    Have you seen any significant TV commercial or print ad around Children’s Day? Or any special episodes of TV shows themed around this day? Some kids channels have planned specials of their existing shows, but those are destinations where every day is Children’s Day anyway.

     

    We have all seen the media exploitation of Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day and the likes over the last two decades. Brands have used these specials to peddle offers or simply communicate their brand message in a more contextual environment.

     

    But with Children’s Day, very few such efforts are visible. There are at least 50 top brands in the country that target children actively. And the parent-child bond (especially the mother-child) is a part of many brand messages. Yet, Children’s Day finds no resonance.

     

    Is it because over time, the awareness of this occasion has reduced amongst the children themselves? That, indeed, is one of the reasons. But it also begs the question, because if media can create awareness of non-existent properties (where was Father’s Day a decade ago?), it can surely revive a traditionally strong one.

     

    I suspect this has something to do with the indigenous vs. foreign difference. In MNCs, brand plans are often made globally and then adapted for local execution. Children’s Day would never feature in such a plan. And if some key brands choose to ignore it, the momentum will never build enough to create the threshold the day needs to become ‘marketable’.

     

    But there’s another aspect that could also be leading to this, and that’s the one that bothers me more. Indian entertainment businesses (both television and films) have always treated the children segment with a sense of tentativeness. It’s been the orphaned target group, left to find its entertainment in cartoons, while all the content innovation happens for the adults.

     

    In India, a kid can watch animation content till the age of 12, and then graduate straight to a Saathiya or a Roadies. There is no in-between, barring an odd show like CID or Taarak Mehta. The only channels we research kids for are the kids channels. Everyone else is happy catering to 15+.

     

    Much as this may seem ‘correct’, it creates an impact that is extremely worrying. Kids channels are heavily under-indexed on advertising revenues and hence cannot afford original live-action productions with any sense of scale. As a result, over the last two decades, Indian kids have little content variety on offer. Even as a housewife tries and balances as many as 10-12 shows in a day, her child has adjusted himself to just one or two shows, which he will now watch for the next three years, if not more. You don’t need to be a child psychologist to know that the long-term damage here can be fairly substantive in nature.

     

    It’s time for the top GECs and film studios to challenges themselves. There is immense commercial opportunity too. But is there enough will to dip into it?

     

  • Why have courts and lawyers and judges when we have the media and TV panel discussions? After all, we listen to gossip, we "investigate", we have sources

    Ranjona Banerji: Which top TV anchor will win Modi’s Best Fan competition?

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    This is the question for the Indian media. Why should we bother with courts and lawyers and judges, when the nation has us? If we decide that N Srinivasan of the ICC and formerly of the BCCI is guilty then who on earth are the courts to say otherwise? We listen to gossip, we “investigate”, we have sources, so why are we any less than the police or lawyers or judges or any other part of the prosecution system? We also manage to get ahead for years without any knowledge of The Law which only proves that you don’t really need it.

     

    Which reporter has not decided that X was guilty because the police inspector he drinks tea with every Thursday said so? Lives and relationships are built on trust. Who cares what the courts will say at the end of the day? We know better.

     

    Part of the problem is that the media likes to create public opinion through perception rather than fact and the electronic media’s panel discussions are conducted on the lines of trial courts, where all participants have to explain themselves. Which is why you have to admire the professionalism of some TV anchors in India like Karan Thapar (on Headlines Today) and Nidhi Razdan (on NDTV), who somehow manage to stay clear of the “I am the judge-jury-executioner” style of their colleagues and peers.

     

    As for N Srinivasan’s guilt or innocence…

     

    **

     

    The Times of India is locked in a little battle with Aligarh Muslim University over a story the paper did on female undergraduates wanting better access to the Maulana Azad library. The vice-chancellor made some comments that he must now regret about girls in the library attracting more boys and there being no space, compounded by the principal of Women’s College saying that there would be disciplinary problems if girls were allowed in the library.

     

    In these fractious times, it did not take long for this to become a Hindu-Muslim, fanatic, liberal, rightwing, leftwing issue. Now the Times of India has made it a freedom of speech issue, after the university apparently said it would no longer subscribe to the newspaper.

     

    This is a saga full of ironies. The first and most obvious is that all the defenders and challengers have forgotten the female students who asked for access in the first place. The second is that the “secular” brigade decided that the rights of a minority university trump the rights of its female students. The third is the rightwing usually anti-minority brigade has jumped in to defend the rights of the students even though they trample on the rights of women at other times. And the fourth is the spectacle of the Times of India making this into a freedom of expression issue.

     

    Enjoy!
    http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Muzzling-the-media-AMU-behaving-like-an-ostrich/articleshow/45184776.cms

     

    **

     

    I have a question for India’s sports journalists. I know that there’s plenty excitement in the world of cricket. But I seem to be missing some juicy inside stories about the two tennis leagues which have descended on India. The Indian Premier Tennis League promoted by Mahesh Bhupathi seems to have got all the attention, possibly because it has bigger names. But now we have the Champions Tennis League promoted by Vijay Amritraj. There was a time when Bhupathi and Amritraj were ranged together in the politics of Indian tennis and both opposed to Leander Paes. Now Paes seems to be in Amritraj’s League?

     

    What is going on boys and girls? If you want some clues on how to write tabletop pieces with gravitas even if they are based on gossip, please do check reports on the current clash between Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka which are all over the British media.

     

    **

     

    I have not watched coverage of the prime minister of India dancing through Australia but Twitter informs me that Rahul Kanwal of Headlines Today has won the Best Modi PR agent award, beating both Barkha Dutt of NDTV and Arnab Goswami of Times Now. Will feathers fly as a result? Who will win during the PM’s next foreign trip? How fierce is the competition between these stars? Will we ever know?

     

    Naah. Let’s just have fun watching them tripping over each other. I feel like I’m living a MAD magazine comic strip…

     

  • It’s almost as if the newspaper owner is saying to you, "please please don’t bother to read this. Just rush out and buy a flat or flat screen TV instead", writes Ranjona Banerji

    Ranjona Banerji: Ads and Ads before you get to Page 1

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    I know we should have got used to it by now, but isn’t there something remarkably silly about having to wade past six or seven pages of ads before you read the front page of a newspaper? It’s almost as if the newspaper owner is saying to you, “please please don’t bother to read this. Just rush out and buy a flat or flat screen TV instead.”

     

    It is true that I write this on the assumption that a newspaper’s first priority is to sell news and it is entirely possible that this is a daft and naive notion. After all, in the olden days, front pages of newspapers used to be a collection of tiny classifieds and when you look at them now, they provide a certain historical perspective. Today’s newspapers could be trying to do the same thing. It is not necessary to understand the times we live in or times past only through headlines like “Japan attacks Pearl Harbor and then declares war on U.S.” (The Gettysburg Address, Special War Edition). You could understand as much about the world at war and rationing from this Brylcreem ad from 1946, “Brylcreem By Jove!.. some chaps are lucky! There’s such a shortage of Brylcreem that a chap who does get a bottle is indeed in luck. When you are one of the lucky ones please make your bottle of Brylcreem last as long as possible.”

     

    There, you have it in a nutshell. From the shortage of Brylcreem you can extrapolate to hard times which could be caused a number of things and why not war which would mean nations fighting each other and might as well be World War II.

     

    I extrapolate from this week’s papers therefore that people are rushing out to buy many cars and white goods. However, things may not be so good because fancy stores like The Collective at the Palladium in Mumbai’s Phoenix Mills are offering “cash back” on every purchase of Rs 30,000. If people who spend Rs 30,000 on clothes and accessories need discounts, then the economy could be in better shape. I can also guess that all this shopping is because of an important festival.

     

    Thus I can bypass the entire newspaper to get an idea of the news. Brilliant! Something to think about the next time you complain about that news channel that takes ad breaks…

    So Happy Diwali and Happy Shopping!

     

    **

     

    I continue with the theme I picked up on last time and wonder more and more about the future of mainstream media. It is so possible to remain connected and aware without bothering to delve into either. I don’t know if these means a rethink by those who work in it – no, not idiotic conferences filled with management graduates with more jargon than sense but real thinking. Or, we should just ride the trend and see where it takes us? After all, the need for news remains. And the medium no longer matters so much – with due apologies to whatisname.

     

    **

     

    Ben Bradlee, 93, the editor of Washington Post who directed the Watergate coverage, died on Tuesday. He had been called the “last of lion-king newspaper editors”. As any journalist knows, there can be no great story without a great editor. Do we have any great editors left in India? Or only great brand managers?

     

  • The race for the coverage of #WarzoneHisar was between Times Now and Headlines Today and the winner was Arnab Goswami. No one, absolutely no one, can do TV outrage like him, writes Ranjona Banerji

    Ranjona Banerji: Arnab Goswami, the King of Outrage!

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    #WarzoneHisar said TV news or more specifically Times Now which had eight reporters over 10 days covering six angles. Or something like that, maybe it was 10 reporters over six days covering eight angles. I all know for certain is that there were more reporters than angles.

     

    The story itself was not a joke of course. One of India’s innumerable “godmen” decided to duck the law and hide in his “ashram” in Hisar, Haryana. He was protected by thousands of his followers and his own private army which attacked the police with petrol bombs and acid pouches among other weaponry.

     

    It was a marvellous display of the might of the TV media against the lathis of the Haryana police and the varied armaments of Rampal’s Private Army. And even if several mediapersons did get beaten up by the police, was there any doubt about who would win in the end? The race was between Times Now and Headlines Today and the winner, undoubtedly, was Arnab Goswami. And not just because of 100 reporters, 20 days and 13 angles. But because NO ONE, absolutely NO ONE, can do TV outrage like him.

     

    I also however realised my severe shortcomings in not having an Oxbridge education (note to parents: how could you be so mean?). I did not realise that when all the participants in a TV panel discussion yell and scream at the same time, the technical name is “open debate”. Clearly, in the past I have been so mesmerised by Goswami’s shiny hair and stentorian tones that I have missed this phrase completely. But he said it the other night, “Come, Popsy, come Topsy, come Bubbles, come Biggles, join in, this is an Open Debate.” They always do and then we have the Great Indian Cacophonic Orchestra in front of us and I hit mute on the remote. But at least now I know.

     

    More seriously though, the media has a great role to play in debunking these charlatans and frauds who hoodwink the gullible and use their political connections to flout the law. More exposure on TV please!

     

    **

     

    In an aside, was fascinating to see Rahul Eeshwar (I don’t what he does exactly, but he is called an “author” and activist and usually speaks up for his idea of Hinduism) take one position on NDTV (Bad bad bad Rampal) and a slight shift on Times Now (Not so bad Rampal). Maybe he thought why should Subramanian Swamy have all the fun with Arnab Goswami?

     

    **

     

    And while on Subramanian Swamy and Arnab Goswami, have you heard this? If not, do it now! And you have, why not again?

     

    **

     

    And then there’s the issue of mediapersons being beaten up by the Haryana police. Has the response from the police, the governments, media organisations been sufficient? Apparently not, from what one has seen. It was discussed on TV briefly but since then, the behaviour of the Haryana police is evidently being seen as par for the course if you are reporting in India’s badlands.

     

    Unacceptable? No question about it!