Category: DAS KA DUM

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Q. When an entity says it has received a few hundred thousand or million views, do you take it at face value? Or do you look at it with scepticism?

A. In today’s post-truth world, where tech has the potential (including AI and deep fakes) of making anything possible, I can imagine that with one genuine post, there would be many more fake posts or data points that could be generated.

In view of this, it better to cross-check such claims with a mound of salt. If one has to evaluate such a claim first authentic and quality decision-making , one has to check the source, the track record of the claimant specially with peer users, if any. Besides, the availability of metrics like engagement and their quality are more efficacious in evaluating their usage. In a commoditised data and claims space, it would be prudent to be wary of any cacophony of hyperbole claims of relevant audience penetration.

If you wish to access the archives, please go to the Das Ka Dum tab on the website’s top navigation bar or click here: https://www.mxmindia.com/category/columns/das-ka-dum/

Q. With the rapid rise of the influencer culture, where every opinion is up for sale, do you think journalism is at risk of losing its integrity, or is this just the natural evolution of media in the digital age?

A. Losing? I thought it was past continuous — not an apprehension of a future tense. We form a part of a minority who might be construed as pseudo-intellectuals who can differentiate between fact and fiction. The teeming millions are innocent enough to gloss over such so-called subtleties.

News, in all formats, is dished out to audience to enable them to know how to think. So, it’s rarely to inform audience.

Noam Chomsky’s observation on media has come true as it inspires all news dissemination: He who controls the media controls the minds of the public.

I find uncanny relevance to what Chomsky used as five filters that influence media:

1. ownership
2. advertising
3. official sources
4. flak, and
5. marginalising dissent.

So why tie about what’s happening in news today? Just apply one’s sense of authentic source before forwarding mass weapons of prevarication.

Having said that, I must say that due to lowering of renter barrier, a lot of digital news/ content sources is better than a lot of legacy media as their content don’t want us to get manipulated into a specific line of thinking. It helps audience to develop multiple perspectives. The challenge for them is to gain traction and manage subscription, both SOVD or AVOD. I am sure with the entry of GenZ/ Alpha generation, which has different values, attitudes and lifestyles,  adoption of digital news consumption would only grow and the one to many legacy medium’s influence would further dwindle.

If you wish to access the archives, please go to the Das Ka Dum tab on the website’s top navigation bar or click here: https://www.mxmindia.com/category/columns/das-ka-dum/

Q. With the line between news and entertainment blurring, do you think infotainment is diluting the substance of journalism, or is it a necessary adaptation to capture audience interest in a fast-paced world?

A. The die was cast quite some time back, when tech replaced/ complemented authentic readers of content to be an algorithm-based trendspotting/ pattern recognition and predictive modelling of human behaviour. The introduction of anthropomorphism has only multiplied this trend.

Your observation of blurred line of news and entertainment is so valid— news channels, digital platforms like Meta, WhatsApp, YouTube, paid content, lack of investment in quality content, etc have contributed to this realisation. The real casualty is the ‘TRUST QUOTIENT’ of news content generators, and in a creator economy, they are available dime a dozen.

The unfortunate part is that from non-news platforms, entertainment/ timepass might be a dominant logic of consuming their content, but for pure-play news platforms, the blurred line of news and entertainment will only erode the credibility quotient of news.

If you wish to access the archives, please go to the Das Ka Dum tab on the website’s top navigation bar or click here: https://www.mxmindia.com/category/columns/das-ka-dum/

Q. A study on happiness found that only 23% of A&M&E employees are happy. From your experience, are our people really so ‘dukhi’?

A. I have a very different view on happiness. I don’t believe that organisations can deliver it to individuals. It’s not a Swiggy order.

Happiness is inside-out and not outside-in. One has to find one’s own happiness.  I am not denying the existence of allegedly toxic environment in many organisations (not unique to A&M&E industry only). It can happen as a culture or due to poor/ insecure leadership, etc. One can’t wish that away.

In fact organisations are not conditioned to take care of the happiness quotient of individuals, though enough platitudes are uttered to address that. These days, even social media, I understand, contributes to growing emotional alienation of individuals.

The only way to handle this growing malaise is to inculcate self-awareness and be incharge of one’s emotional health and defy external negative forces to influence one’s internal thermostat.