When I watch TV I really doubt the much talked about Indian television promise first-hand and obviously want to turn it off almost immediately.
There is no meaningful content, no entertainment just that we all together insanely end up burning so many megawatts of electricity for nothing. Watching TV is becoming a most frustrating act on display with every passing day.
While the exponential growth in the number of TV channels is amazing, the vast majority of the content is pathetic, so say mildly. There is lack of quality programming in all the three major content categories:
news & information, sports, and entertainment.
News & Information:
The state of this category is most shocking. In my younger days my parents will ensure that I listen to News
Broadcast everyday to learn about the events happening across the world and how they will affect our nation or the world itself.
Listen to our news and it seems we are a nation with no priority or a road map at all. Amidst the Nuclear Deal the more important news is Sai Baba giving darshan at somebody’s house or how tears were used to light up the divas with divine power.
When they write the programs then why not simplify the Nuclear Deal for everyone to understand so that it’s a collective intelligence instead of political agenda being manipulated.
The meaning of “breaking news” is that they simply have just another pushed-to-insane-level-something-news-like for us. This on top is bundled with unnecessary and most of the times distasteful sensationalism.
Certainly Ethical standards of Journalism are pitiful. Or how else while covering tragedies involving deaths; instead of showing any dignity for the dead or for the family who are suffering, journalists have a heart to get that exclusive interview/footage. And what are those questions that they ask anyways? Investigative journalism needed to expose the truth has apparently become secondary.
Let Amitabh Bacchan go to Temple in the morning without covering it in leading national news channel, and that’s perfectly fine with all of us isn’t it? On the other hand give us content that helps us become meaningfully informed citizens, tough?
Sports:
Sports in India = Cricket.
Sad but true.
Yes of course we do cover other major sports events as well. There is coverage of soccer and tennis that coincides major global sporting events (European Cup, Wimbledon, etc), but the inability of India to produce world class sports persons in any mass sports except cricket will continue to restrict wider advertiser interest & therefore media focus in developing Indian sports programming beyond cricket.
GEC: General Entertainment
So who is whose fifth wife? Actors left but characters stayed, thanks to plastic surgeries.
Was there ever an original plot??
India is yet to see TV drama franchises of the quality of Lost, 24, Heroes, which attract record audiences in the U.S. season after season. Granted that it can cost up to $3M to produce a single episode of these programs, I believe the economics will certainly work out well in India given the growth in its television industry and a deep demand amongst audience who are thirsty for quality entertainment options on the television.
Not to forget that GEC category already gets the largest share of the TV advertising dollars in India.
The quality of content is so sad that recently all GECs lost huge audience to IPL where all the big matches were strategically and purposely scheduled during the prime time evening slots… Any learnings?
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