You can't expect the private TV channels to do something drastically different from what they are doing. My question is, why is public service television in India in such a state? Can't it be pulled up? In Europe most of the public service TV channels are trend setters. Why can't Doordarshan be a trend setter too? Why did we have to go the American way?
Aha! back to THE BASIC QUESTIONS, Abhijitda! We had worked with you in the past to produce meaningful, educative and aesthetically pleasing TV prog... and we were proved the minority by the crass commercial channels! So many things I still want to do, yet its soooo difficult to find fundings! The whole situation is so frustrating! The viewers' taste and sensibilities are already affected by what they find in abundance in most of the channels! Could we bring a change there? In a way, Subha Das is right when he says that private TV channels will continue to operate the same way since money is and will be the deciding factor there! As an ex- Doordarshan, I feel sorry for what it has turned itself to!!!! Too bleak to comment!
Why do you just blame the organization - Doordarshan? It is the people who make the difference. Doordarshan handled Reliance World Cup Cricket, Asian Games etc. in a commendable way... way ahead of its time. Its the attitudinal change in people that has affected. Much too self centered and money driven. It has lost its identity - suffering from a crisis of grooping in the dark - neither commercial nor public service. The private sector obviously wants money as the only point of reference. In the process certain businessmen without any scrupples have taken over. I blame the public for not protesting. Why are people accepting serials and so called unreal reality shows that are ruining the society? Don't we have some concern for the future generation? The public must react. Only then the politicians will react. Only then the chain process will yield results.
Somehow this subject is too vast - I think the debate needs to be narrowed down for it to be truly effective. With globalisation, internet, availability of so many TV channels and international products available locally, our tastes have also been influenced. The bane of our society has become the onslaught of influences which were hitherto unknown. The consequence has been a definite change in public taste. While I might sound a bit pedantic, let me add another question - when you speak of 'society', what exactly do you mean? India has too many cultural divides and while it seems quite simple to cater to a general public taste in sports, it is not so easy to do that for cultural programmes as well as soaps - which seem to be the main thrust at least in regional TV. Commercialisation is the bane of all cultural pursuits, which is why literature, cinema, performing arts etc, aren't where they were even 20 years ago. Why single out television? After all, Bengali society seems to have been hit by this tremendous change & TV is only catering to its audience isn't it? Everyone looks at life only in terms of money today! Concepts of 'worth' are directly related to pay-packets and not knowledge, isn't that where the problem lies? Look at education - how many of us find really good teachers who care about their students? If education is affected in this way, other areas will automatically be affected,won't they?
We all need to move with time. Tastes have changed - sure...no arguements there. Values have changed - the debate is... for better or for worse. When Marshall McLuhan's predicted "global village" in 1967, little did he think of a complete commerce driven media industry. Rupert Murdoch and TIME-Warner have virtually turned the media into a money making machine. Global exchange of culture will certainly do a lot of good - if we take the best from each other. Consumer driven "products" are being inducted aplenty. Culture has taken a back seat. A Washington Post report states that international sales of American entertainment and software products totaled $60.2 billion in 1996, more than any other U.S. industry. No wonder with the advent of satellite culture, we've only considered the night life of the west - particularly from the Americans. Our TV products are packaged Hollywood style using Hollywood armours. Glamour is not bad - but glamour without brains ? Why did we not copy punctuality from them? Or the research that goes behind the making of a product? We copy - we have become carbon papers of various shades and colours. America gets more gold at the Olympics with less population. What do we do? We tried to use TV to educate - but relied on academics who could not think beyond the chalk & talk. TV for them was shooting the black board! The somewhat better educational programmes produced by those with brains don't get slots or cannot be seen - except statistically. As statisticians, we somehow prove that we are doing a lot - more to answer our guilt feelings. In some reality shows, the very basis of competition is being misused. Competitions build teams - not ruin team spirits. We now have weird competitions that are "paid SMS driven". Who wins ? Money wins !! And then what happens? The winner often suffer from depression once s/he realises that in the market s/he does not have a place. Why is TV ruining the very core of our culture? Why have our producers stopped to THINK?
I feel the real devil of television lies in the strength of the AV medium to captivate human attention, almost irrespective of age groups, more than any other medium. The strength of the AV medium lies in the simple fact that the AV medium is a conglomeration of all forms of expression. It uses all other media, and hence is more powerful than any other single medium. Until TV came cinema had that magic. But you had to go to the cinema, TV has come into your bedroom. It is cheaper, easier to access, and offers instant choices. Once such a technology is let lose in a market economy there is no way of stopping people from using it to make money, which in turn means a) cheaper production, compromising totally on quality, b)more production, yet again compromising quality in every field, and c) producing programs that titilate the baser instincts in humna beings: there is no gain saying the fact that in all of us lies a certain attraction towards actions that incite our basic animal instincts, the very instincts that are kept in chains to various degrees in various societies.
So, an uncontrolled TV medium means being flooded with programs whose only aim is to make more money by catching more eye-balls. No amount of good wishes is going to stop this.
What I learn from exchanges with friends in various other countries, is that the situation is nearly the same every where. Across the globe, now we have an onslaught of a peculiar mono-culture, produced and hyped by large corporations, particularly those producing FMCGs, with only one goal: to enhance consumer capitalism. TV has been largely usurped by these corporations, through either direct ownership, or via advertisement support, and is being used as yet another effective tool to popularize the consumer culture. (This culture does not belong to any particular society, and is certainly not a product of "globalization". Of course what does "globalization" mean is another debate. I strongly believe in this era of "globalization" our kids are learning lesser and lesser about the vast diversity that constitute the "globe". Indeed the audacity of reducing the "globe" to a handful of Anglo-saxon cultures/countries in the name of "globalization" stuns me.) I do not expect privately owned channels to be anything more or anything lesser than that.
What's the solution: In terms of the big picture, nothing. For the foreseeable future I don't think the nature of mainstream TV programming will change.
One solution could be applying more government control on TV, as Priya Ranjan Das Munshi so eloquently argued (last year?) at a program in Kolkata Press Club. I was there, and he made an excellent case for controlling private TV channels. Unfortunately gatekeeping works as long as the gate-keeper's capability and intentions are right. Who will vouch for that? We had witnessed Doordarshan being turned into Rajiv Vision. Do we want the same to happen to other private channels as well. I wouldn't.
The only solution seems like this: If you can't control TV, control yourself. Like in every field, there will always be some small amount of good programs in TV also -- even if as show pieces. Try and watch those only. Very weak, I realize, and not quite realistic (Could I stop my kids from devouring Harry Potter films with all their senses, while stoutly rejecting Sukumar Ray?), but that's the best I can think of.
I was going through an article written by Peter Mukerjea on the importance of made-for-TV award shows. On watching some of the award shows and some of the so-called reality TV shows, the first word that comes to my mind is not the importance but the impotence of these shows. They cannot even leave a mark behind – forger about recall values. I will not dare to comment on the treatment and the content part of these shows. They not only underestimate the basic intelligence of the viewers but also are harmful to the society. I am using the word harmful because I feel they are creating images that will motivate the young minds to go for inferior deeds. The show concepts are like rotten vegetables cooked with a lot of spice in the form of glamour. I specially want to mention the dance and song reality shows. To fight for the TRPs, the channels are leaving no stones unturned. And these stones often include celebrities well passed their youth in so far as professional standings are concerned and I wonder why they agree to expose themselves. I also question the producers of such programmes to rely on jury members who have no ear for songs. It is like a judge who is still a student of law. It is often a matter of shame that these so-called well past youth celebrities behave like immature kids for a position - even after out of tune presentations. The event managers too have the great capacity of inviting an audience that do not care to have any knowledge whatsoever of either the song or the singer.
Copying the EBU musical awards or similar such programmes have become a trend but the kind of research that goes behind producing of an EBU show is absolutely missing in our copies. Forget about the production … with a flycam and a jimmy jib, all we need is to go around and create a visual awe. The producers on the panel need hardly work since many of the cameras are recorded in isolation for post production. These so-called reality shows have become money making machines for the producers of the channels at the cost of young talented youths who often suffer from severe depression and frustration soon after the finals. The so-called voting by the audience is only fooling the viewers. In most cases, these are pre-decided and even the winners are pre-selected. And SMS is another money making racket.
Having been a part of the best of television productions here and abroad, I find it extremely humiliating for the production crew to be adhering to the whims of the producers. Where has creativity gone? Where is the pride of the creator? It is a mere money game at the cost of young people and the cost of the society at large.
I am very happy seeing Abhijit Da in action. This is really the Phoenix rejuvenating. And I still believe that break will come from the person who created the TV in Kolkata
n my mind this is what ails TV - Lies, sensationalism, lack of respect as a human being, voyeurism and lack of social responsibility. Oh, not to mention, money (thru TRPs) rules.
This in the long run will result in a society that thinks anything goes. No concept of boundaries.
What television is doing today, Muhammad bin Tughluq had done it many years ago. It is moving the weak television population to the garbage dump. It is brain storming the young to commit crimes. It is ruining family relations. It is screening vulgar films to catch more eyes. My wife watches but denies watching these. It degrades her in public. But she and her friends discuss on phone. Having lived in Bengal for more than two decades, I love the Bengali culture. My wife is from Bengal. What she watches disgust me. In a recent music show, she could not decide who to support. A boy and a girl from the opponent party were asked to sing a duet. The audience was asked to give marks. The concept is against the Gita. Even if they were relatives, in a war or a competition they have to fight. How can they be in the same team? That is cheating and not giving the best. In another serial, there is a lady character that plays the role of a villain. In life, she must be a villain. She injects bad blood to the audience. It will affect the weak and influence them. God help this society
I am getting mails from friends in the media. They, do not want to write directly in the blog. I wonder why ? Well, without revealing their identities, I'd like to answer some questions raised. My ex colleague & friend from Chennai asked me how I'd have reacted to the LTTE reports. You know me - I would have asked direct questions to our Government spokespersons. Was it because of the elections that we hesitated to help Srilanka - our close neighbour ? Did we miss an opportunity to prove the strength of our friendship ? Did we indirectly help Pakistan & China to grab this opportunity for long term effects ?
My colleague & friend from Assam tells me that NE is becoming the hub of new channels. He wants to know why ? Well, my friend - its money. Simple. Money to earn or money that needs to change colours. Some channels here too are on the verge of closing down. Yet some new ones are in the horizon. The reasons are the same.
I sometimes wonder why those in media business don't care to invest in new platforms. When satellite TV came, our media gurus described it as a "rich man's" toy - not a threat to the rich cultural tradition of our country. Today, satellite TV rules. We, habitually are a laidback lot. Or do we knowingly let our competition overtake us? I will resist from commenting. The new platforms like TDMB is creating waves in Korea. It has been described as usherin in the 4th revolution. Will it overtake web TV ? Perhaps. It is time for the powers that be to take notice of the new trends...or go to sleep.
The comment which has gone under Moni is actually mine. I don't know how this happened!
ReplyDeleteYou can't expect the private TV channels to do something drastically different from what they are doing. My question is, why is public service television in India in such a state? Can't it be pulled up? In Europe most of the public service TV channels are trend setters. Why can't Doordarshan be a trend setter too? Why did we have to go the American way?
ReplyDeleteAha! back to THE BASIC QUESTIONS, Abhijitda! We had worked with you in the past to produce meaningful, educative and aesthetically pleasing TV prog... and we were proved the minority by the crass commercial channels! So many things I still want to do, yet its soooo difficult to find fundings! The whole situation is so frustrating! The viewers' taste and sensibilities are already affected by what they find in abundance in most of the channels! Could we bring a change there? In a way, Subha Das is right when he says that private TV channels will continue to operate the same way since money is and will be the deciding factor there! As an ex- Doordarshan, I feel sorry for what it has turned itself to!!!! Too bleak to comment!
ReplyDeleteWhy do you just blame the organization - Doordarshan? It is the people who make the difference. Doordarshan handled Reliance World Cup Cricket, Asian Games etc. in a commendable way... way ahead of its time. Its the attitudinal change in people that has affected. Much too self centered and money driven. It has lost its identity - suffering from a crisis of grooping in the dark - neither commercial nor public service. The private sector obviously wants money as the only point of reference. In the process certain businessmen without any scrupples have taken over. I blame the public for not protesting. Why are people accepting serials and so called unreal reality shows that are ruining the society? Don't we have some concern for the future generation? The public must react. Only then the politicians will react. Only then the chain process will yield results.
ReplyDeleteSomehow this subject is too vast - I think the debate needs to be narrowed down for it to be truly effective.
ReplyDeleteWith globalisation, internet, availability of so many TV channels and international products available locally, our tastes have also been influenced. The bane of our society has become the onslaught of influences which were hitherto unknown. The consequence has been a definite change in public taste. While I might sound a bit pedantic, let me add another question - when you speak of 'society', what exactly do you mean? India has too many cultural divides and while it seems quite simple to cater to a general public taste in sports, it is not so easy to do that for cultural programmes as well as soaps - which seem to be the main thrust at least in regional TV.
Commercialisation is the bane of all cultural pursuits, which is why literature, cinema, performing arts etc, aren't where they were even 20 years ago. Why single out television? After all, Bengali society seems to have been hit by this tremendous change & TV is only catering to its audience isn't it? Everyone looks at life only in terms of money today! Concepts of 'worth' are directly related to pay-packets and not knowledge, isn't that where the problem lies? Look at education - how many of us find really good teachers who care about their students? If education is affected in this way, other areas will automatically be affected,won't they?
We all need to move with time. Tastes have changed - sure...no arguements there. Values have changed - the debate is... for better or for worse.
ReplyDeleteWhen Marshall McLuhan's predicted "global village" in 1967, little did he think of a complete commerce driven media industry. Rupert Murdoch and TIME-Warner have virtually turned the media into a money making machine.
Global exchange of culture will certainly do a lot of good - if we take the best from each other. Consumer driven "products" are being inducted aplenty. Culture has taken a back seat.
A Washington Post report states that international sales of American entertainment and software products totaled $60.2 billion in 1996, more than any other U.S. industry. No wonder with the advent of satellite culture, we've only considered the night life of the west - particularly from the Americans. Our TV products are packaged Hollywood style using Hollywood armours. Glamour is not bad - but glamour without brains ? Why did we not copy punctuality from them? Or the research that goes behind the making of a product? We copy - we have become carbon papers of various shades and colours. America gets more gold at the Olympics with less population. What do we do? We tried to use TV to educate - but relied on academics who could not think beyond the chalk & talk. TV for them was shooting the black board! The somewhat better educational programmes produced by those with brains don't get slots or cannot be seen - except statistically. As statisticians, we somehow prove that we are doing a lot - more to answer our guilt feelings. In some reality shows, the very basis of competition is being misused. Competitions build teams - not ruin team spirits. We now have weird competitions that are "paid SMS driven". Who wins ? Money wins !! And then what happens? The winner often suffer from depression once s/he realises that in the market s/he does not have a place. Why is TV ruining the very core of our culture? Why have our producers stopped to THINK?
I feel the real devil of television lies in the strength of the AV medium to captivate human attention, almost irrespective of age groups, more than any other medium. The strength of the AV medium lies in the simple fact that the AV medium is a conglomeration of all forms of expression. It uses all other media, and hence is more powerful than any other single medium. Until TV came cinema had that magic. But you had to go to the cinema, TV has come into your bedroom. It is cheaper, easier to access, and offers instant choices. Once such a technology is let lose in a market economy there is no way of stopping people from using it to make money, which in turn means a) cheaper production, compromising totally on quality, b)more production, yet again compromising quality in every field, and c) producing programs that titilate the baser instincts in humna beings: there is no gain saying the fact that in all of us lies a certain attraction towards actions that incite our basic animal instincts, the very instincts that are kept in chains to various degrees in various societies.
ReplyDeleteSo, an uncontrolled TV medium means being flooded with programs whose only aim is to make more money by catching more eye-balls. No amount of good wishes is going to stop this.
What I learn from exchanges with friends in various other countries, is that the situation is nearly the same every where. Across the globe, now we have an onslaught of a peculiar mono-culture, produced and hyped by large corporations, particularly those producing FMCGs, with only one goal: to enhance consumer capitalism. TV has been largely usurped by these corporations, through either direct ownership, or via advertisement support, and is being used as yet another effective tool to popularize the consumer culture. (This culture does not belong to any particular society, and is certainly not a product of "globalization". Of course what does "globalization" mean is another debate. I strongly believe in this era of "globalization" our kids are learning lesser and lesser about the vast diversity that constitute the "globe". Indeed the audacity of reducing the "globe" to a handful of Anglo-saxon cultures/countries in the name of "globalization" stuns me.) I do not expect privately owned channels to be anything more or anything lesser than that.
What's the solution: In terms of the big picture, nothing. For the foreseeable future I don't think the nature of mainstream TV programming will change.
One solution could be applying more government control on TV, as Priya Ranjan Das Munshi so eloquently argued (last year?) at a program in Kolkata Press Club. I was there, and he made an excellent case for controlling private TV channels. Unfortunately gatekeeping works as long as the gate-keeper's capability and intentions are right. Who will vouch for that? We had witnessed Doordarshan being turned into Rajiv Vision. Do we want the same to happen to other private channels as well. I wouldn't.
The only solution seems like this: If you can't control TV, control yourself. Like in every field, there will always be some small amount of good programs in TV also -- even if as show pieces. Try and watch those only. Very weak, I realize, and not quite realistic (Could I stop my kids from devouring Harry Potter films with all their senses, while stoutly rejecting Sukumar Ray?), but that's the best I can think of.
I was going through an article written by Peter Mukerjea on the importance of made-for-TV award shows. On watching some of the award shows and some of the so-called reality TV shows, the first word that comes to my mind is not the importance but the impotence of these shows. They cannot even leave a mark behind – forger about recall values. I will not dare to comment on the treatment and the content part of these shows. They not only underestimate the basic intelligence of the viewers but also are harmful to the society. I am using the word harmful because I feel they are creating images that will motivate the young minds to go for inferior deeds. The show concepts are like rotten vegetables cooked with a lot of spice in the form of glamour. I specially want to mention the dance and song reality shows. To fight for the TRPs, the channels are leaving no stones unturned. And these stones often include celebrities well passed their youth in so far as professional standings are concerned and I wonder why they agree to expose themselves. I also question the producers of such programmes to rely on jury members who have no ear for songs. It is like a judge who is still a student of law. It is often a matter of shame that these so-called well past youth celebrities behave like immature kids for a position - even after out of tune presentations. The event managers too have the great capacity of inviting an audience that do not care to have any knowledge whatsoever of either the song or the singer.
ReplyDeleteCopying the EBU musical awards or similar such programmes have become a trend but the kind of research that goes behind producing of an EBU show is absolutely missing in our copies. Forget about the production … with a flycam and a jimmy jib, all we need is to go around and create a visual awe. The producers on the panel need hardly work since many of the cameras are recorded in isolation for post production. These so-called reality shows have become money making machines for the producers of the channels at the cost of young talented youths who often suffer from severe depression and frustration soon after the finals. The so-called voting by the audience is only fooling the viewers. In most cases, these are pre-decided and even the winners are pre-selected. And SMS is another money making racket.
Having been a part of the best of television productions here and abroad, I find it extremely humiliating for the production crew to be adhering to the whims of the producers. Where has creativity gone? Where is the pride of the creator? It is a mere money game at the cost of young people and the cost of the society at large.
I am very happy seeing Abhijit Da in action. This is really the Phoenix rejuvenating. And I still believe that break will come from the person who created the TV in Kolkata
ReplyDeleten my mind this is what ails TV - Lies, sensationalism, lack of respect as a human being, voyeurism and lack of social responsibility. Oh, not to mention, money (thru TRPs) rules.
ReplyDeleteThis in the long run will result in a society that thinks anything goes. No concept of boundaries.
Disgusting television
ReplyDeleteWhat television is doing today, Muhammad bin Tughluq had done it many years ago. It is moving the weak television population to the garbage dump. It is brain storming the young to commit crimes. It is ruining family relations. It is screening vulgar films to catch more eyes. My wife watches but denies watching these. It degrades her in public. But she and her friends discuss on phone. Having lived in Bengal for more than two decades, I love the Bengali culture. My wife is from Bengal. What she watches disgust me. In a recent music show, she could not decide who to support. A boy and a girl from the opponent party were asked to sing a duet. The audience was asked to give marks. The concept is against the Gita. Even if they were relatives, in a war or a competition they have to fight. How can they be in the same team? That is cheating and not giving the best. In another serial, there is a lady character that plays the role of a villain. In life, she must be a villain. She injects bad blood to the audience. It will affect the weak and influence them. God help this society
I am getting mails from friends in the media. They, do not want to write directly in the blog. I wonder why ? Well, without revealing their identities, I'd like to answer some questions raised.
ReplyDeleteMy ex colleague & friend from Chennai asked me how I'd have reacted to the LTTE reports. You know me - I would have asked direct questions to our Government spokespersons. Was it because of the elections that we hesitated to help Srilanka - our close neighbour ? Did we miss an opportunity to prove the strength of our friendship ? Did we indirectly help Pakistan & China to grab this opportunity for long term effects ?
My colleague & friend from Assam tells me that NE is becoming the hub of new channels. He wants to know why ? Well, my friend - its money. Simple. Money to earn or money that needs to change colours. Some channels here too are on the verge of closing down. Yet some new ones are in the horizon. The reasons are the same.
I sometimes wonder why those in media business don't care to invest in new platforms. When satellite TV came, our media gurus described it as a "rich man's" toy - not a threat to the rich cultural tradition of our country. Today, satellite TV rules. We, habitually are a laidback lot. Or do we knowingly let our competition overtake us? I will resist from commenting.
ReplyDeleteThe new platforms like TDMB is creating waves in Korea. It has been described as usherin in the 4th revolution. Will it overtake web TV ? Perhaps.
It is time for the powers that be to take notice of the new trends...or go to sleep.