Observing Television - A Blog on Broadcast Media

BUDGET AND ELECTIONS

admin — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 08:55:30 +0000

Budget and elections are two events that pushes television channels on an overdrive. Every channel remotely connected with news tries to milk the audience which wants to know more as the budget and election results unfurl. TRPs are made or lost during these events and not surprisingly channels want to grab the eyeball and make [...]

IS BEING HARSH OKAY?

admin — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 16:05:07 +0000

My article on Indian Management November issue talks about the particular style of dealing with subordinates in a harsh style. IS BEING HARSH OKAY?

KUDOS TO INDIAN MEDIA BEFORE VERDICT

admin — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 10:25:31 +0000

As I write this blog post, I know anytime now the court is going to come out with its verdict on Ayodhya. Obviously there is tension and worry but the media is also highlighting the efforts being made to maintain calm after the verdict. This is a big deviation from its usual image of trying [...]

GET THE NAME RIGHT!

admin — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 06:44:20 +0000

Is it Tamil or Tamizh? How would you pronounce the name Nymacheringa? Is he or she the President or Secretary or Head? How would you truncate a big name or Designation to fit into the screen? Issues that television news channel have to deal with everyday. Every channel has developed its own style-book. A style-book which need not always be [...]

THE HORRENDOUS NO LONGER SHOCKS

admin — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 16:15:25 +0000

ARE TV JOURNALISTS RUDE OFF CAMERA?

admin — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 05:36:59 +0000

Popular Sony serial CID recently portrayed a TV journalist as a rude character. How correct is the portrayal? Having been a TV Reporter for many years and having interacted with many, I got into a bit of analysis on this subject. Television Journalists interact with the famous and powerful people. Soon their audience starts recognising [...]

LEARN WITH RIGHT ATTITUDE

admin — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 05:15:35 +0000

I was pleasantly surprised by the participants of a workshop I conducted in Myanmar for their only public-private partnership channel MRTV-4. The worshop brought a huge change in the outlook of the 60 strong young professionals. The workshop conducted on behalf of Asia Pacific Institute of Broadcast Development (AIBD) was aimed at exposing the participants to latest programming styles [...]

CAN POSITIVE STORIES GIVE TRP?

admin — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 06:25:05 +0000

Shock your viewer! Keep him worried! Depress the housewife who sees the turmoil ridden soap. These seem to be the general guidelines to get TRP. Negative news sells, but what about positive stories, what about stories that give hope and happiness. Of late I have started hearing remarks which could be worrisome to some of [...]

DON’T BLAME TRP!

admin — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 11:14:02 +0000

Everytime the ethical line is crossed by a TV journalist, TRP and the need to grab eyeballs is given as the reason. Take the recent case of the two Gujarat regional TV Channel’s journalists who allegedly goaded a man to immolate himself in front of the camera, would you say the channel did this for TRP… Would you say news channels don’t [...]

CRYING AND DYING ON CAMERA

admin — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 04:49:37 +0000

'Kids, people crying and dying in front of camera are great television'. Where does one draw the line between what is ethical and what is required to create an impact on authorities?