News programmes have suddenly become hot property and are vying for
attention with other popular programmes telecast in different channels.
All major television broadcasters are including at least one news
channel to their bouquet. The biggest headache for launching a satellite
channel is programme software for round the clock. In this juncture,
newsgathering is a major task for the 24-hour news channels. To cater
this task, the emerging electronic channels have always made an attempt
to cover all the incidents irrespective of position, location and time.
These channels not only revolutionized the concept of news on Indian
television but also changed the news formats. Before 1990s, Doordarshan
had monopolized newscast on Indian television and also turned the news
programs into a dowdy exercise. Now the private channels made the news
an essential commodity like food, cloth and shelter. The strong point of
all today’s news bulletins is their topicality, objectivity, glossy
editing and high-quality visuals. News has traveled a long way from the
DD era. From Local events to International events, breaking news to news
analysis, television soap to page3 news, every happening comes under
purview of news. In this article, we have covered some significant
changes in news broadcasting in India before and after the Gulf War.
Indian Television - Flash Back
Television
in India is undergoing significant changes in the current liberalized
environment. To understand these changes, one needs to have some brief
idea of the road covered by the television channels so far. The journey
started as an experimental basis with a financial grant from UNESCO in
15th September 1959. The makeshift studio at Akashvani Bhavan in New
Delhi was chosen for location of the experiment. The experiment started
with one-hour program, broadcast twice a week, on community health,
citizen rights, education and traffic sense etc. As far as news is
concerned, it was launched exactly six years after the inception of
television broadcasting. Daily one-hour program with a news bulletin was
served to the Indian viewers. But one major drawback of television was
that you could not enjoy the original colour of the objects because of
black and white transmission. First multi-color programme was the Prime
Minister’s address to the nation from Red Fort in Delhi on India’s 35th
Independence Day. In the same day, DD National channel was launched. The
aim of launching the National channel is nurturing national
integration, and inculcating a sense of pride in Indians. Indian viewers
also enjoyed the colored version of the Asian Games hosted by New Delhi
in their drawing room. The coverage of major events and different
occasions lend a big hand behind the infiltration of television signals
to the nook and corners of the subcontinent. Indian Government had
taken all possible steps to expand the television broadcasting
demographically and geographically. In 1983 television signals were
available to just 28% of the population, this had doubled by the end of
1985 and by 1990 over 90% of the population had access to television
signals. In 1984, DD Metro channel was added to provide an exclusive
entertainment for the urban viewers. In the beginning, this channel was
confined to metropolitan cities.
As a public broadcaster, Doordarshan presented the news in
naturalized manner. All controversial issues were pushed under the
carpet. The ruling government had a strong hold on the television
broadcasting. Doordarshan news bulletins were unable to provide the
international news to the national viewers. Objectivity had been the
first casualty as news was invariably slanted to suit the party in
power. The news was liberated from the confines of the DD newsroom and
gained in objectivity and credibility when New Delhi Television (NDTV)
produced ‘The World This Week’ in 1988. Everyone was waiting for the
Friday night to watch ‘The World This Week’. This was the only
India-based programme, which looked out at the rest of the world. The
World This Week was the best current affairs programme on the
international scenario and carried good stuff of news, which the regular
DD news was failed to carry out. This program is ranked as one of the
country’s finest and most popular television shows. In 1989, NDTV
produces India’s first live televised coverage of the country’s general
elections. The critical and commercial success of the coverage sets a
new standard for Indian television. After the Gulf War the media
panorama has changed forever.
Golf War – The Catalyst
Post-1990
satellite television in India has become transnational in nature. It
coincided with the entry of multinational companies in the Indian
markets under the Government policy of privatization. International
satellite television was introduced in India by CNN through its coverage
of the Gulf War in 1991. In August 1991, Richard Li launched Star Plus,
the first satellite channel beamed the signal to Indian subcontinent.
Subhash Chandra’s Zee TV appeared in October 1992. It is India’s first
privately owned Hindi channel to cater the interest of Indian viewers.
This ignition followed by Sony and a little later by domestic channels
such as Eenadu, Asianet and Sun TV. Entertainment programs had begun to
occupy center stage in the organization’s programming strategies and
advertising had come to be main source of funding. Doordarshan’s earlier
mandate to aid in the process of social and economic development had
clearly been diluted. Doordarshan had faced a stiff competition in news
and public affairs programming with international channels like BBC and
CNN. Doordarshan planned to sell some slots for news programme under
sponsored category. In February 1995, NDTV becomes the country’s first
private producer of the national news ‘News Tonight’, which aired on the
country’s government-owned Doordarshan set a new landmark for Indian
television because of its on-the-spot reporting with pertinent visuals.
In the same year, TV Today Network occupied a 20 minutes slot in DD
Metro channel and aired a Hindi and current affairs programme ‘Aaj Tak’.
This programme became popular for its comprehensive coverage and unique
style presentation by Late S. P. Singh. Still we remembered the sign-up
message “Ye Thi Khabar Aaj Tak, Intizar. Kijiye Kal Tak”. Large number
of viewers across India had been watching Aaj Tak as a daily habit
because of its innovative style of news presentation. Besides that
Nalini Singh’s five-minute fast paced, condensed daily news capsule
Ankhon Dekhi, TV Today Network’s Business Aaj Tak and Newstrack was
aired on the Metro channel of Doordarshan. This is the period when
satellite channels concentrated on entertainment programmes for their
respective channels. Doordarshan was still ruled the most wanted area
‘news’.
Major Players
Doordarshan’s monopoly was broken in
1992, when private television channels infiltrated into the Indian
boundaries and entertain the viewers as much as possible. In the
beginning of 1990s, the private channels offered only entertainment
programmes. The entertainment programs include family drama, comedy
serials, children programmes, cartoons, movies, talk shows, recipe
shows, musical concerts, non-fiction programmes etc. Private
entertainment channels added some infortainment programmes to their
Fixed Point Charts (FPC). Keeping the demand of infotainment programmes
in mind, the media houses started to produce news magazines,
entertainment magazines and news programmes for different channels.
India’s premier business and consumer news broadcaster and a leading
media content provider, Television Eighteen India Limited (TV18) started
India’s first ever entertainment magazine ‘The India Show’ on Star Plus
in 1993. This emerging media powerhouse provided prime time television
content to almost all leading satellite channels in India including BBC,
Star Plus, Sony Entertainment Television, Zee, MTV and Discovery. After
The India Show, TV18 produced a weekly business news program India
Business Report for BBC World. Indian viewers had very limited options
(like public service broadcaster Doordarshan, BBC and CNN) for watching
the television news. For televised news, the viewers had to watch
Dordarshan and some international news channels like BBC or CNN. In this
race to provide more news, more information, Zee Television jumped into
the battlefield by launching the news channel Zee News in 1995. This
News and current affairs channel revolutionized the way news was
delivered to the viewers. Since its inception Zee News has endeavoured
to be the fastest to provide news, working towards a single goal of
Sabse Pahle (Always First). The other round-the-clock news channel, the
Murdoch-owned Star TV beamed its exclusively 24-hour news channels, Star
News in 1998. Star made a contract of five year with Prannoy Roy-owned
NDTV (New Delhi Television Company) to provide news content for this
news channel.
The untiring exhaustive coverage of the Kargil war between India and
Pakistan gained more publicity and attracted more viewers towards the
electronic channel. This televised conflict also sets a news benchmark
for wartime journalism. During the Kargil war, common citizens witnessed
how their brave Jawans fought despite in hostile conditions and watched
the war front live by the exclusively news channels, Star-TV and
Zee-News. The live coverage of the battlefield helped to create a
euphoria of patriotism among the Indian masses, which later facilitated
into collecting huge funds for the welfare of the families of Kargil
martyrs. Every news programme draws the attention of large number of
viewers but Kargil war attracts private broadcasters to invest more
money in the broadcasting business by launching a news channel. In
November 1999, TV18 entered into a 49:51 joint venture with CNBC Asia to
launch CNBC India. TV18 is the sole program provider to CNBC India, and
produces 12 hours of local content per day on this 24-hour satellite
channel.
After the huge success of news programme ‘Aaj Tak’, TV Today group
launched a 24-hour Hindi news channel with the same name ‘Aaj Tak’, in
December 2000, which covers India with insight, courage and plenty of
local flavour. Within 11 months of its launch, Aaj Tak emerged as
India’s number one news channel and was awarded Best News Channel award
from Indian Television Academy Awards. Some mega events apart from
regular interesting items (such as Kandhahar hijack, September 11
attacks, Afghanistan war, attack on Parliament, Iraq war, Godhra carnage
and riots) have driven up the viewership. As time passed, NDTV’s five
years contract with Star group for outsourcing of news and related
programming expired on March 2003. With the expiry NDTV forayed into
broadcasting business by simultaneously launching two 24-hour news
channels; NDTV 24X7 – English news channel and NDTV India – Hindi news
channel, which targets the Indian diaspora across the world. News crazy
Indians received more news at faster speed from different channels. Any
unusual happening can be caught by the television camera anywhere form
Rastrapati Bhawan to bedroom. The power of TV journalism was become more
visible by the major sting operations like Operation West End and
Shakti Kapoor Case. This style of investigative journalism has brought
about a change in the way we look at news, amidst new notions of
editorial freedom. The world’s largest family ‘Sahara India Parivar’
launched a 24-hour national Hindi news channel, Sahara Samay, in March
28, 2003. It is the first ever city-centric satellite news channels
covering 31 cities in India with their own city news bulletins. Keeping
the demand of news in mind, the Union cabinet approved the proposal to
convert the DD Metro to DD news in a meeting held on 3 October 2003.
Consequent to these decisions, DD-News channel was launched on 3
November 2003. You might have noticed that the news channels are
language specific. But DD’s news channel contains the round the clock
news bulletins in Hindi/ English are also telecast twice a day on the
National Network of DD National.
‘Aap Ki Adalat’ fame Rajat Sharma, Sohaib Ilyasi, the man behind the
highly successful ‘India's Most Wanted’ and Taun Tejpal,
editor-in-chief of Tehelka roped together and launched a free-to-air
Hindi news and current affairs channel India TV on May 20, 2004. Indian
viewers had more expectations from this channel. The much-awaited news
channel hopes to set itself apart from the existing ones by setting new
benchmarks of responsible journalism. Speaking on the occasion of the
launch, Rajat Sharma, chairman, India TV, said, “We aim to change the
way broadcast news reporting is being conducted in the country. India TV
will set new benchmarks by maintaining international standards of
responsible and credible news reporting. We will stay away from graphic
depictions of violence and sensationalism of news. We will uphold the
viewer's right to correct information and their right to truth and
verity. India TV is not just a news channel, it is a movement.” NDTV as a
pioneer in Indian television news, set to create a fresh revolution in
high-quality business news with the launch of NDTV Profit. NDTV launched
this 24-hour business channel on January 17th, 2005.
There is no saturation point in launching of news channel, just
booming like sky as the limit. Entertainment channel to infotainment
channel, infotainment channel to news channel, news channels to business
channel and Business channel to lots more. Now the satellite channels
become more topicality with international standard. When we are talking
about topicality, CNBC TV18, the only business channel, continues to be
the medium of choice for India’s decision makers, affluent audiences
across the country since 1999. It has set the pace for the growth in
number of television channels by launching a 24-hour consumer channel in
Hindi called ‘ Awaaz’. This news channel focusses on empowering
consumers on decision-making related to investment, saving and spending.
All the programmes are catering to consumers across different walks of
life, which included personal finance; variety of markets including
commodity, stocks, savings etc.; small businesses; education &
career guidance; and verticals like health, shopping etc.
Another news channel was finally launched into the already cluttered
news space in Indian television. Jagran TV Pvt Limited's news channel,
Channel 7 up-linked to the air on 27 March 2005. The channel has been
set up to cater to the vast Hindi-speaking audiences, already being
targeted by a slew of news channels. Channel 7 developed every programme
with a bid to cater to all types of audiences and not just
pre-dominantly male audiences who get attracted towards news channels.
Regional Leaders
To
cater the interest among the Indians, Doordarshan televises programmes
in Hindi and associate Official languages. It has launched a number of
Regional Language Satellite Channels (DD - 4 to DD - 11 and DD - 13) and
telecast programmes in Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Malayalam, Marathi,
Kannada, Telugu, Kashmiri, Oriya and Tamil. The Regional channels
relayed by all terrestrial transmitters in the state and additional
programmes in the Regional Language in prime time and non-prime time
available only through cable operators. The Doordarshan regional
satellite channels telecast major news programme with some entertainment
programmes.
If you think about the private regional channels, they have followed
the path of the Big brother (i.e Doordarshan). They are neither
completely entertainment channel nor exclusively news channel. They are
following the middle path and claiming themselves an infotainment
channels. The private channels televise through the state dominant
languages. Rising advertising revenues and increasing numbers of viewers
have provided the impetus for many big players to enter into the
business. Some regional media leaders like ETV, Sun TV, Asianet have a
strong grip over the regional market. Some major players tried their
luck in different states. Zee television has three regional channels;
Zee Marathi, Zee Punjabi and Zee Bangla. Star Network entered into
Tamilnadu by launching Star Vijay, one of the most popular entertainment
channels in India broadcasting in Tamil. Besides that ETV Network is a
part of the well-established Ramoji Group, has created 12 dedicated
infotainment regional channels. ETV network is the source of rich
entertainment of eight different languages. Those are: Telugu, Bangla,
Marathi, Kannada, Oriya, Gujarati, Urdu; and Hindi to viewers in Uttar
Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh. Every ETV Network channel
focuses exclusively on its audience’s unique cultural identity, its
aspirations and its distinct socio-political character. Let us think
about the south Indian language Telugu, there are around twelve
satellite channels are roaming around the sky with different taste and
different flavour. These channels include three news channels, one
song-based channels and rest are infotainment channels. When we
confine ourselves into news, three channels (ETV2, TV 9 and Teja News)
exclusively devoted to news programmes.
Sahara India Pariwar is proud to have five news channels as the
bouquet of Sahara Samay. These channels are: Sahara Samay NCR, Sahara
Samay Mumbai, Sahara Samay Bihar & Jharkhand, Sahara Samay Madhya
Pradesh & Chattisgarh, and Sahara Samay Uttar Pradesh &
Uttranchal. Sahara Samay has already managed to gain a loyal audience in
India through a bouquet of National & Regional News Channels since
its launch. These channels are youthful and vibrant channels targeting
students and women, besides that hardcore news stuff. The regional news
channels covers the entire spectrum of genre with specific programs on
lifestyle, fashion, food, shopping, health and fitness, sports,
education, career and city issues, besides giving user-friendly
information on traffic updates, city events, train and air timings, etc.
Now national news channels cannot confine its boundary to national
level. They cannot ignore the regional news because of the stiff
competition form the regional cannels. Regional news channels are
entering into the competition with a strong will power and also with an
aim to portrait regional issues in national and international level.
Conclusion
Now
the television industry becomes more specific. In this competitive
market, channels are targeting specific viewers. News channels attract
more viewers beyond their target by producing interactive and
interesting programmes. Every channel needs to do an extensive research
on different concepts and different themes to attract more viewers and
in the same time more advertisers. After all, advertisements are the
bread and butter for the channels. With increased consumer preference
for news programmes, television news channels have grown faster than
other niche channels. News channels are booming just like sky as the
limit. Those days are not far away, when we will get satellite news
channel for every major city in India. Staying in abroad, we can update
ourselves about all the happening of our hometown. Now news is not
restricted to political happenings. It will be extended its limit to
every unwanted and hided corners of the society. At last we can reach
in the conclusion that anything, which is strange or disgusting, is
news. There are no rigid rules, which defines news.