Rajdeep Sardesai on the launching of CNN-IBN

News Channels - does that create a drone in your ears, of a host of signature tunes, and the screen flickering with ‘NEWS FLASH’, ‘BREAKING NEWS’, ‘FLASH’ and the innumerable distractions that take your mind off the genuine NEWS.

Here’s what Rajdeep Sardesai the whizkid of the News Channels who had to answer the question, “Are you sure you want to do this? Where is the space for another channel, and what will make your channel different?” has to say.

–“We were in Amsterdam at a conference organized by the European Broadcasting Union. The host for one of the sessions was a Canadian anchor, and the subject under discussion was the growth in private television across the world, including interestingly enough in Russia where the first private network had just taken off. As questions were raised over whetherthe new Russian channel was being financed by Vladimir Putin, the anchor turned to me indulgenty: ‘So, how many privated news channels do you have in India?’ around 30 and growing was the brief reply. The Canadian anchor was flabbergasted. ‘My God, that’s more than in the whole of North and South America put together.’

The sheer numerical strength of television industry suggests a robustness in the medium, a growth that is unparalleled. The lates viewership datasuggests that there are over 60 million homes, and many news channels claim a ‘connectivity’ or ‘reach’ of around 80 to 90 per cent. The advertising revenue estimates for the industry are in the range of Rs 700 to 750 crore (across channels), up from around Rs 100 to Rs 150 crore five years back. In other words, there has been a 500 per cent expansion in ad revenues. Little wonder then that everyone wants a slice of the pie.

The economics of the business is in a flux. The capital expenditure to start a channel is around Rs 50-75crore. Distribution costs are rising – channels have to spend between Rs 5 to 10 crore annually to ensure they get the right band placement, and salaries are rising exponentially.

The econmics represent only part of the problem. The bigger issue is the crisis of content: is the multiplicity of channels resulting in better journalism? We would like to believe at CNN-IBN for example, without sounding immodest, that we have made a genuine attempt to push the boundaries of news journalism, that we have been much more hard-hitting and energetic in our news coveragethan what English journalism is traditionally associated with. The brief to our journalists has been clear: go beyond the soundbite, beyond the obvious and actually look for stories that need to be told.

Jeremy Paxman, the BBC newsnight anchor who described himself as the ‘endangered panda’ in the age of rolling news, says that the problem with round the clock news is that you have to keep giving the impression to the viewer that the screen is constantly buzzing, that there is always something happening on screen that will prevent the viewer from switching channels.

The result is a completebreakdown in the concept of “ Breaking News’, or for that matter, an ‘exclusive’. For example,you could have an interview with a leader across more than one channel, with every channel flashing it as ‘ only on this channel’. It’s almost as if the exclusive bug is necessary to convince the viewer to stick to the channel.

The competition has also led to what some believe is the growing ‘tabloidisation’ of the medium. I have often chosen to take refuge in what Sir Robin Day, the venerable BBC broadcaster once said, ‘Television is a tabloid medium, at its best when there is war, violence and disaster.’The most powerful images are often those that have a touch of drama: a stone thrown at a bus will always be a more dramatic visual image than an empty street during a bandh.
The rise of crime reportage on television is a reflection of television’s penchant for titillating the viewer. It also reflects how television rating points have come to govern editorial decisions in the television newsrooms, especially in Hindi news channels, where the competition is even more maddening…..

Talk to the viewers, I say. CNN-IBN is by far the fastest growing news channel in the country, so we must be doing something right. The journey, I might add, has only just begun."

*The latest score of News channels stands at 40 and still growing.