By IANS
New Delhi : As the fate of the Broadcast Bill hangs in balance and the boundary line between news and entertainment blurs, leading broadcasters and journalists Saturday engaged in a spot of introspection as they debated social responsibility of the media and the ethics of sting journalism.
The debate focussed on market pressures driving TV journalism in India, which often end up trivialising and ‘dumbing down’ news and the need to balance the scramble for higher TRP ratings with public responsibility.
“The job of the television is to present the changing face of India. Who are we to decide social responsibility? We are not keepers of public morality,” Prabhu Chawla, group editor of the India Today group, which runs Hindi news channel Aaj Tak, said in a debate aired on Doordarshan Saturday night.
Chawla vehemently denied his channel was indulging in sensationalism to pump up its popularity.
Rajdeep Sardesai, managing editor of CNN-IBN, underlined the need for balance but argued that one or two freak instances of irresponsible reportage can’t be used to tar the entire profession.
He blamed Hindi news channels for fuelling the TRP race that often leads to sensationalism and stories that encourage superstition. “We are not irresponsible. Hindi TV channels are stuck in the TRP race.”
However, Sardesai said the job of the journalist was to hold “a mirror to the world and not to be a social activist”.
Chitra Mudgal, member of the public broadcaster Prasar Bharati Corporation, lashed out at the relentless dumbing down of journalism and sought to expose the flawed logic of TV impresarios who assume the audience want to see certain programmes that may be in bad taste. “You are feeding us rotten potatoes and trying to get (us) addicted to them,” she said acerbically.
Baljeet Singh Lalli, chief executive officer of Prasar Bharati, made an impassioned plea for public service broadcasting before flagging off the debate on “Indian Television and its public Responsibility”.
Alluding to a recent sting operation that sought to entrap a school teacher and show her as forcing girls into prostitution which was later discredited and another one in which some people posing as journalists tried to blackmail a politician, Harish Gupta, veteran print and TV journalist, questioned the rationale of such methods of investigative journalism.
“Is entrapment investigative journalism? The CBI, the FBI and even Delhi Police doesn’t have the right to resort to entrapment unless there is a third objective person present when a sting operation is conducted,” he said.
Sardesai agreed that a “crisis of credibility” is stalking journalism and sought to place the blame on the editor’s door.
“Reporters have conscience. It’s the editors, who along with the marketing people are responsible. Editors are doing everything except journalism,” he said.
The government was keen to introduce the Broadcast Bill in the monsoon session of parliament but did not as broadcasters opposed the content code saying such a step would shackle the media’s freedom of expression.
Information and Broadcasting Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi has indicated that the draft content code for news and current affairs that forms a part of the proposed bill would be shelved in favour of a self-regulatory code by the broadcasters.