We’ll reserve our comment on the question, but suffice to say that in the last 800-1000 questions that our Wizard with Words has answered, never has he ever said that he doesn’t have an answer in ‘black and white’. So let’s hear it from Dr Bhaskar Das in the June 16 edition of Das ka Dum. Read on…
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Q. You are a veteran of the news business. The mad rush for ratings and the desire to boast about spikes/ dominance is said to have led to a lot of excessive, polarised content. What’s your view? And advice? Time to stop ratings?
A. One should not throw baby with the bath water. Self- regulation mechanism seems to be not working as there is a lot of subjectivity involved. Government-imposed regulation could be stifling freedom of speech. Jettisoning new channel ratings would blur the pecking order of channels that can queer the pitch for media planning and buying. So it’s not an easy decision. Even I don’t have an answer in black and white.