R Rangaraj Pandey, a leading journalist in South Indian News Media space. Having served in some of the largest media platforms for more than two decades, Pandey is on a sabbatical, exploring his other area of interests. In a quick chat with Swaminathan Balasubramanian, for MediaNews4U, he shares his insights and expertise as a TV media professional and his views on changing audience behaviour towards News, challenges in a newsroom and emergence of social media.
Excerpts:
You are in the television medium for past 6 years. What are the key transformations you witness from viewers point of view in terms of demanding content?
Being in the television industry for the close to six years, after decades of experience in Print Media, I feel that the content has to be factual. Winning the trust of the common man is most important, as they believe that the channels are fair and genuine in disseminating the information to the people. We can even see viewers recollecting certain incidents that are based on the content aired on a News channel. Thus, the trust is more important and the responsibility of the channels raises even higher to bring out the trust worthy News to uphold the credibility of the channel and gain the trust of the audience. Thus, the most trusted news channels or an individual news personality gains huge audience and viewership. Factual content plays a vital role and it is the thumb rule for any channel to survive. Presenting the fact in a news channel should be the priority and what comes later is the presentation. Of course, at times, adding spicy content or ways of telling to enhance the content in between the News can be done provided it does not deviate from the fact or dilute the content. Thus, I firmly believe, content is the mother or boss and how it is delivered is the master stroke.
You might have been going around and meeting people from different walks of life. How are audience reacting towards growing no of private channels in Tamil Nadu.?
Yes. Obviously the scenario of multiple channels are welcomed by the audience. As of now, almost more than a dozen channels are available. Before Parliament election and 2021 assembly elections more than 5 news channels might be entering Tamil Nadu market which is a healthy trend . Viewers are smart enough to identify the channels and news personalities who present fact. Only those who are fair and factual can survive. But we see there are few channels already doing great in that domain and few others are struggling to survive. It is not only because of investments but also the facts and how they communicate and deliver the news from the studio to the living room of the common man.
As a celebrated news journalist from private News Channel, what is your view on the content format of Doordarshan. Are there takers for them?
It is sad that the Doordarshan(DD) content is not accepted by larger audience. Despite the fact that the DD is a mouth-piece of the government, we cannot deny the fact they give a plenty of useful and constructive information for common citizen. Nowadays, we can see news channels carry more views than news which will lead only to further confusions. So, i will say only by increasing the footprint of channels like DD, the country will come out from false, fake and exaggerated news. And it is our[viewers] prime duty and responsibility to support channels like DD and improve healthy viewership.
How much importance you think TV channels in Tamil Nadu provide for non-political content? Like recent trends like start-up, personal finance?
There is not much importance for such content in Tamil Nadu news arena other than Politics, Cinema and Sports. This is not the situation only in Tamil Nadu but also happening throughout the country. This is the main challenge we are facing. I would say the problem is with the choice of viewers . Since the viewers are focusing mostly on Entertainment rather than News. Even in the news, they confine themselves with Cinema, Politics and Sports alone. Viewership behaviour has to change 360° towards Business, Information, Medical, Health, Education and other productive, constructive content. Failing to do so will result in TV’s nick name of idiot box will remain same.
You might have interacted with other journalists from other channels from various languages and various national TV channels. What are the ways, the challenges in terms of content and grabbing the viewers differ from Tamil channels..?
Most of the channels are focusing on crime, personal News relating to some individuals. Today, Sensationalism is the main agenda of most of the channels to get more number of viewers. As I said earlier, there are more views than news. Certainly this will help to get more viewers to them but that will not help us for a constructive nation like India. Of course, undoubtedly viewers also have to change their mentality. I see many channels are in the number one position not because of their credibility but there is no right alternative.
There are plenty of social media channels had come and advertisements are moving towards them. Moving forward, how you compare the content consumption by audience only in TV or through both the medium?
Your question has the answer. Social media has become a major threat to mainstream media as social media is having enormous flexibility and freedom. You can watch your show at your convenient time and place either in big screen or even in mobile. There is no need of any dedicated time to watch a show. Also, even in other form of social media, people had started writing on their own. Each and every individual is now an editor and opinion maker. Another 5 to 10 years is going to be a tough challenge for mainstream media. As of now, credibility is the main issue of social media. But if it streamlines itself and if lot of factual, correct and perfect social media channel emerges ,then this is going to be the future phenomena of media.
- I am in the news field for the past six years. It is more evident that the content has to be factual as far as news is concerned .Winning the trust of the common man is most important ,as they believe that the channels are fair and square and genuine in sharing across information to the people. Common man used to say that , ‘the news was telecasted in the particular channel itself” .. so the trust is more important and the responsibility of the channels raises even more higher to bring out the true news to prove the credibility of the channel and gain the trust of the people. So the most trusted news channels or an individual news Personality gains huge Audience and viewership. So fact plays a vital role and it is the thumb rule.. how you present the fact doesn’t matter.. but whether it is the fact or not is the point. Adding some spicy things to enhance the stuff in between the news can be done to make the news even more effective, provided it does not deviate from the Fact or dilute the content. So content is the mother or boss and how it is delivered is the master stroke….
2. Yes.. obviously the situation is most welcome here. As of now almost more than a dozen channels are available. Before Parliament election and 2021 assembly election 5 to 7 more news channels may arrive in Tamil Nadu. It is of course a healthy situation. People are shrewd enough to identify the channels and news personalities who are close to the fact. Only those who are free..fair and factual can survive.. But we see there are few channels who are doing great and few others struggling to survive. So it is not only because of investment but also the facts and how they communicate and deliver to the living room of the common man…
3. I see this question as a satirical approach ..it is sad that the Doordarshan contents are not taken in larger manner. Despite the fact that the DD delivers news that are supporting the government and not carrying any news against them, we cant deny the fact that they give a lot of useful and constructive informations for common people. Nowadays we see news channels carry more views than news which will lead to a lot of confusions. So i will say only by increasing channels like DD the country will come out from false fake or exaggerated news. And it is our prime duty and responsibility to increase viewing channels like DD and improve healthy viewership.
4. There is not much importance for contents in Tamil Nadu news arena other than Politics cinema and sports. This is not the situation only in Tamil Nadu but also happening throughout the country. This is the main challenge we are facing. I would say that this is not the problem of news channels but of the viewers. Viewers are focusing mostly on entertainment rather than news. Even in the news they confine themselves with cinema politics and sports alone. Viewers behaviour has to change 360° towards business, information, medical, health, education and much more other productive, constructive things or else the TV s will be called as idiot box only but for different reasons.
5. I may not be the appropriate person to answer the question you ask, but still I will try my level best. Most of the channels are focussing on crime, personal news relating to some individuals. Sensationalism is the main agenda of most of the channels to get more number of viewers. As I said earlier there are more views than news. Certainly this will help to get more viewers to them but that will not help us for a constructive country. Ofcourse and undoubtedly viewers have to change their mentality. I see many Number one channels are there not because they are free fair and honest but because there is no right alternative.
6. Your question itself has the answer. Social media has become a major threat to mainstream media as because social media is having enormous flexibility and freedom. You can watch your show whenever and wherever you want either in big screen or even in mobile. There is no need of any dedicated time to watch a show. People have started to write on their own. Each and every individual has become editors and opinion makers. Another 5 to 10 years is going to be a great challenge for mainstream media. As of now credibility is the main issue of social media. But if it Streamlines itself and if lot of factual, correct and perfect social media channel emerges, then this is going to be the future phenomena of media.
