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The Electronic Sting

By Farah Aziz

02 October, 2007
Countercurrents.org

The recent Live India telecast of a sting operation on Uma Khurana, a mathematics teacher at Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya in Delhi, proved to be a hoax. The alleged 'journalist', Prakash Singh who conducted the sting proved to be a fraud, and the channel showed itself as utterly irresponsible and inflammatory in content, concocting lies and fabricating evidence to nail the teacher, who was physically assaulted, almost stripped, by a violent, mostly male crowd. The police are not only booking the reporter and his accomplices, they are also investigating if the public spectacle of crowd violence was triggered by the channel, which has been banned temporarily by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry.

There have been numerous other instances where either wrong information has been aired, or the aired visuals and commentaries have been sensational. In the absence of a regulating authority inside or outside the television media, this is becoming a routine affair, with editors and owners washing their hands off the crass reportage, while nobody seems to be held accountable.

On August 28, 2007, CNN-IBN and IBN7 aired a news telecast of caste clashes between the Dalit and the Jat communities in Gohana, Haryana, following the murder of a youth from the Valmiki Samaj community, killed allegedly by three Jat youths. The commentary said — "Following caste violence in which two persons were killed and at least 20 were injured in Gohana town, the Dalit association has called a Haryana bandh on Wednesday…."

It was later revealed that this news report was based on hearsay and nobody had died in the clashes. The false report added to public rage in other parts of the state, in Sirsa, Panipat and Karnal. The same commentary was repeated on the third day of the violence and no corrigendum was aired even after it was clear that the report was wrong.

During the Gujjar agitation for Scheduled Tribe status in Rajasthan, these two channels (CNN-IBN and IBN7) aired live videos of clashes between the police and Gujjars in which 13 persons, including a policeman, were killed on May 29, 2007. Live footage of the violence in Dausa, Rajasthan, was aired on May 29, in which it was, rather irresponsibly, mentioned that many men in khaki were members of the Meena community.The same footage continued to be shown till June 10, even without marking 'File' (as is mandatory for old telecasts). This repeated telecast of the violence, even after it had subsided, later led to clashes and tension between the Meenas and Gujjars.

Some TV journalists have been accused of shamelessly inciting self-immolation to record a live video clip. The most infamous of these was the July 31, 2007 episode in Varanasi when five out of 11 physically challenged shopkeepers protesting an anti-encroachment drive allegedly consumed poison on the instigation of camera-holding media persons. Police investigations revealed that the shopkeepers were provided poison by the journalists, who got live footage.

A similar incident was reported at Jantar Mantar in Delhi, where Rajneesh Kumar, who was protesting against the alleged abduction of his wife and children, set himself on fire, reportedly prompted by TV cameras. And on August 15, 2006, too Manoj Kumar, who was protesting against the non-payment of dues by a Gaya dairy, died of 80 per cent burns after immolating himself, allegedly instigated by TV journalists in Patna, Bihar.

With the coming of so-called 'dare devil' sting journalism, cases are reported where the devil is not only exposed but artificially manufactured. The infamous Shakti Kapoor sting by India TV is one such example, where a young female journalist pretending to be an aspiring actress captured the celluloid villain on camera as he turned mushy. It was later discovered that the journalist had reportedly developed close ties with the actor to make him say particular things, and the questions asked were framed specifically to obtain those answers. The sting was conducted for the 'crime show' India's Most Wanted.

Stories of supernatural events and miracles are common these days, but they are often proved to be either fabricated or normal happenings presented in a sensational manner. "We show what sells the best," says a senior journalist of India TV. "Three things - kaamshastra, arthshastra and dharmashastra (sex, religion and economics) sell best all over the world. Since arthshastra has little to do with middle class India, we bring kaamshastra and dharmashastra stories."

This journalist also reveals how these miracles are concocted. "In August, 2007, India TV broadcasted Amarnath ka kabutar Ujjain mein, in which a pigeon was claimed to have migrated from Amarnath to the Mahakaleshwar temple in Ujjain. The show moved religious Indian viewers. Our team knew well that the pigeon's feathers were painted blue by our stringer to prove that the pigeon was from Amarnath. Of course, we are asked to create things when they don't happen naturally," he laughs, "Basically, such programmes bring in TRPs and ads," he says.

Rajesh Kumar Sinha, senior editor, Aaj Tak (earlier in India TV), who calls himself the man behind this current 'TV religious turmoil', says it's all about selling news. "Every news channel has to survive, and has to take care of their TRPs which determine the number of ads they get. People hate politicians, the new era is full of uncertainties, so people are turning to religion… they simply love to see the godly stuff, we just read their minds," says Sinha. When asked if the media is turning regressive rather than being progressive, he claims that the trend will change and all the channels will get back to hardcore journalism once they establish themselves. "We are basically trying to manoeuvre the audiences' choice and slowly, in a year or two, they will start listening to hardcore news," he says.

The fact is, 'People Meters' are installed in sample homes and these electronic gadgets continuously record data about the channels watched by family members. These 'People Meters' are costly equipments and are currently installed in only about 7,200 houses across India. So, it is these 7,200 homes that have become the deciding factor for TV channels.

Arun Sharma, media head, Airtel, says, "95 per cent of our decision to give ads depends on TRP of the particular channel. If we find that TRP of any channel has decreased, we either lessen the frequency or the length of the ad. We even stop giving ads to channels whose TRP falls below a limit."

P. Ramachandran, media advisor, Everest, conforms to the similar view, "We basically look for the prime TV channels. Sometimes we need to advertise with smaller channels with low TRP too, but we definitely don't reject the high TRP ones. This is because we know they are watched more than others," says Ramachandran.

Avinash Srivastava, corporate communication manager, DLF, also says that it basically depends on TRP, but many times they give ads to some channels like NDTV whose TRP is generally as low as 3.1, because their target audience is there too. But as far as the new, emerging ones are concerned, Srivastava assures that it depends on TRP which decides the viewership of the channel.

Referring to this business orientation of electronic media these days, Anand Pradhan, professor at the Indian Institute of Mass Communication, Delhi, says "It seems that TV journalists and editors have never heard of media ethics. Channels are run without the senior editors having much to do. They have even violated the basic norms of cross-checking any report before it is broadcast. Thankfully, the print media is not so bizarre. I will place Rajdeep Sardesai, Arun Poori, Rajat Sharma and Prannoy Roy in the category of journalists who have now basically turned into businessmen," he complains.

"In September 2006, Aaj Tak broadcast for hours a Tata Indica running on the road without a driver, leaving its audience gasping. In a day or two, the mystery was solved when it was found that the driver managed to drive the car sitting on the left seat. This is cheating," says Pradhan. "The electronic media dwells heavily upon its self-styled paparazzi and low paid stringers whose survival depends upon bringing new videos. These stringers, therefore, descend to any level of indecency," wraps up Pradhan.

 

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