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Breaking stories of Yamaraj, headless ghosts and the end of the world. Poor journalism might be good business for India TV. But is that enough?

Breaking stories of Yamaraj, headless ghosts and the end of the world. Poor journalism might be good business for India TV. But is that enough?

The Americans have a saying that is both cruel and pointed, ‘If you are so smart, how come you ain’t rich?’ Rajat Sharma, the game-changing boss of India TV, the tabloid sensation that has been consistently on top in TV rankings, seems to be a firm believer.

India TV is a phenomenal channel. It is so bizarre, it can only be termed unreal. And it has taken the pants off other news channels, consistently. One day, the channel promises the end of the world, and the next, it broadcasts a meeting—live, no less—with Yamaraj, the Hindu god of death. The third day, it gives outrageous publicity to the terrorists holed up in Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai. And the day after, you meet
a headless flying ghost. In between, an ageing Bollywood star is exposed, as is the film industry’s casting couch.

The list goes on. The macabre is mainstream, and the absurd is allowed right there on your TV screen at dinner time.

The ratings for India TV mean it just cannot be ignored. A daily job across news channels, including English language ones, is to see what the hell India TV will come up with next. For its part, India TV takes it easy. It has in the hinterland, at once, an audience as well as programming. The area of darkness that stretches west of Kanpur all the way to Orissa laps up the nonsense without fail.

In a semi-literate country such as India, the sensationalism this channel dishes out is a sort of information porn. It can reinforce prejudice, it can propagate myth and it can strengthen superstition. But in the end, it is only the ratings that matter. The television business is lucrative, and India TV leads the rat pack.

It does this without a secret formula. And yet, no one can quite copy the prescription. It is as if Coca Cola printed its formula on the bottle and no one could come up with a similar fizz. Can you imagine Prannoy Roy doing a story on a headless carcass flying over UP, or Times NOW reporting on a tortoise that can ensure only boys are born to pregnant women?

Without such reporting, it seems, ratings are going to be tough coming for India TV. The sneer that greeted the channel when it arrived has now been replaced by nervous laughter from the competition, given that a lot of half-baked attempts at doing what India TV does have failed. It is as if the channel holds a patent on the ridiculous.

The channel does all this on a shoe-string budget. Its reporters are paid lower salaries than are the average in the industry. What it depends on is so simple that it is amazing others haven’t caught on. Other channels depend on world-class resources such as OB vans, high-tech studios, considerable journalistic talent and lavish travel budgets. India TV has none of these.

This channel has its strength in a panel of astrologers and a bunch of junior staff googling 24/7 for aensational items. Then, of course, there is YouTube.

One can almost see what must be happening in that newsroom. A staffer types ‘bizarre’, the story comes and it’s rejected for not being outlandish enough. He retypes ‘totally bizarre’, and again it won’t do. He then types ‘fucking bizarre’ and yippee, the deal is done. In the next 10 minutes, the story is translated into Hindi with a shrieking voiceover to go along with it.

Sometime back, the astrology bureau of the channel came up with a news report on how astrology can help cure homosexuality. A week later, India TV’s Internet department misused a Reuters story. This time, though, it got caught out by the self-regulatory body, News Broadcaster’s Association. Of course, this being India TV, the channel simply walked out of the broadcasting forum.

The channel would have been funny if it was trivial. Alas, it is far from trivial. Journalistic credibility is at stake. Also at stake are possible disasters that such reporting can lead to if it is left unregulated. It is one thing to have tabloids in countries that are fully literate. To have India TV run 24/7 in rural Barabanki is quite another.

About The Author

Ninad D. Sheth