Let us get straight to the point.
India ranks 142/180 countries on the Press Freedom Index.
Media is said to be the fourth pillar of a democracy. It keeps the other three pillars (legislative, executive and judiciary) in check.
The fact that India's ranking is so poor is alarming!
This got us thinking and we dug deeper to understand how the Media Economy works.
Sit tight, be a responsible citizen, and read on.
The role of media for a common man is two-fold:
Bring information from far corners of the country and help us know what’s going on where; and
Ensure that there is transparency in the way the other pillars function and have healthy debates around policies and decisions that affect our lives.
Yet, open any news channel today, and you will find someone covering some minister's daily routine, while someone else has invited the UP CM’s barber and is interviewing him.
Gone are the days of watching intellectual debates around policy and economy on television.
Masala Media
A long time ago, there was a government-controlled news channel called Doordarshan. Even today, the way the channel delivers news has not changed much. They just state the facts and are done with it.
Once the sector opened up, other media companies started reporting as well as analysing the news. They started telling people the implications of certain policy moves.
Today, we are in a state where these news channels have become a 24x7 Ekta Kapoor show. There are very few discussions around policies and very few people engaging in real journalism (digging deep and then reporting).
Media houses have gone from reporting what we need to know, to presenting what will sell.
They aim to produce content that will keep an average viewer hooked. That's it.
Let’s call this the Masala-Media.
It's All About the Money
As citizens of a democracy, it is our duty and right to ask questions.
So, now that we have identified the problem of Masala-Media, let's try and get to the root of it.
Why do the channels show us only Masala-News?
Because it gets them higher views.
What happens if they get more viewers?
Their TRP (Target Rating Point) increases.
What happens if TRP increases?
The rate that they can charge for showing ads between their shows increases.
Damn! So, at the end of it, it is all about the money?
It seems so.
Economics, at the very base, is the study of incentives. Give a person the right kind of economic incentives, and you can manipulate their behaviour to your will.
Media houses make most of their money from advertisements. This directly depends on the number of viewers it engages. Hence, they have all the incentive in the world to keep producing what sells.
On top of that, “All news houses in India barring international media groups like Star are owned or affiliated to one or the other national (BJP and Congress) or regional parties (DMK & SP).” - The Politics of Indian Media Houses.
Now, let us look at the advertisement revenue earned by two (contrasting) media houses, NDTV and TV Today from 2012-2020:
Clearly, Team Orange has the upper hand in revenue growth than Team Blue. Team Orange started lower but is now earning 2X the revenue of Team Blue.
But, let’s give them the benefit of the doubt - maybe they are spending more on producing great content, and hence earning more revenue?
Umm... here, take a look:
NDTV is spending twice as much on production expenses (as a %age of revenue) than TV Today Network is. Lower production spending implies a lower number of reporters and researchers employed to do deep research and analysis.
As the production costs decrease, the quality of the news depletes.
So, why are some news channels flourishing, even by spending lower amounts, while others are suffering?
Here’s the data on how much the news channels charge for 10-second ad slot:
The company that spends the most on content has the least rates. Interesting.
And what determines these rates? Target Rating Points (TRP) and Television Viewership Ratings. More the number of people watching a particular channel/show during a particular time, more its TRP.
And more the TRP, more the amount of money a channel can charge from potential advertisers.
Weekly TRP data for Top 5 Hindi news channels:
That’s right. Republic Bharat is high on TRP.
So, the current economics favours serving the masses not the content that they need, but the content that they want.
Here’s a great picture showing what is aired on our televisions these days:
And reporting on the economy is on no one’s list. It seems like our fellow citizens no longer care about what’s happening in the economy. Or are they just being fed dopamine-induced and adrenaline-fuelled bullshit?
Who is at fault?
Well, we'll let you decide.
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Click here to get the research data (we believe in transparency, and it's your right and responsibility to question our sources).
Disclaimer: The authors’ opinions are their own, and ReadOn has nothing to do with it. Obviously.