By IANS
Mumbai : Money seems to have become a critical factor for Indian TV news channels as they go about doing their daily coverage of events, panellists at FICCI-Frames 2008 said here.
The panellists comprised senior television journalists.
In a lively debate, most of the participating journalists spoke about the changing paradigm of news coverage and how the viewers react to news.
Is the line between news and entertainment blurring? Panellists including former CNN bureau chief in India Satinder Bindra agreed news and entertainment cannot go hand in hand.
“If the trend continues of mixing news with entertainment, there may be a small-time gain but, ultimately, it will be a long-term pain for the news broadcasters,” said Bindra.
Taking a dig at the breaking news and exclusive story phenomenon among the news channels, Bindra said that by doing all these, news channels were losing the most important thing called credibility.
Executive editor of Hindi channel NDTV India Sanjay Ahirwal lamented the fact the Hindi journalism in the country has touched its lowest ebb and especially that the Hindi news channels have to self-regulate themselves in terms of selecting news.
“Hindi journalist will soon become a thing of past if `Rakhi Sawant’ continues to rule the airtime of Hindi news channels,” he said.
G Krishnan, CEO of TV today network, agreed that the news on the TV channels was degenerating everyday, but added that “in order to catch maximum eyeballs, you have to show sleazy news”.