News/Politics Nexus - Vilification of Truth

In the last 7 years, India has witnessed a clear divide between the Left-wing and Right-wing ideologies in politics. The ascent of Narendra Modi and BJP has turned what remained a thin line between the two, into a deep void. And this divide is not restricted to politics anymore. It has made its way into the mindset of the major chunk of the population of our country. And the tool used for this incision is the News; in any form, be it Newspapers, Magazines, Television, or Social Media. However, TV news, it seems, has had the most direct and drastic impact on the political behaviour of the viewers, primarily because of the following reasons:

1. It is a visual medium, which is scientifically proven to be more effective in arousing the interest of the people as compared to written words.
2. It has a wider reach than any other medium, its viewership is not dependent upon the literacy of consumers
3. One can always shift to another channel if the story being covered is not to their liking.

Everyone wants the news; everyone is interested in it. People want to know what’s happening around them. Even if they are not the primary audience, they try and get their share of news from those who follow it. No one can hope to remain untouched by this 24/7 news around us. And this news creates the narrative for our political thinking. The way this news is presented, which side of the story is shown, acts as the driving force for our political narrative. Gone are the days when the news was broadcasted only through the state broadcaster and a handful of newspapers and magazines. Now the people have a plethora of options in front of them. And the audience can choose which side of the news they want to hear.

1991 was a landmark year in the history of India. The Indian economy was liberalised and the country opened itself to the world. A slew of changes was seen in the way business was conducted in India. Licence Raj was abolished and private share in the business started increasing aggressively. In short, a lot of changes happened in the economic corridors of the nation that resulted in a big influx of private investment in a wide array of sectors. And one of the biggest beneficiaries of this change was the News and Digital Entertainment sector. 

According to data, till 1991, there was only one television channel in India; Doordarshan, the public sector broadcaster. However, by 2005 there were 200 digital channels in India, a number that went up to 600 in 2010 and 800 in 2012. And of these 800 more than 400 catered to news and current affairs. Indian public was suddenly bequeathed with a plethora of content on their television sets, with non-stop entertainment and 24/7 news.

But, like every boon comes with a hidden curse. This 24/7 news and entertainment also came with a similar curse. The TRP wars. What started as a competition for better content and presentation soon became a fight for acquiring more viewers for their shows. And this war did not keep itself to the entertainment channels. Slowly it spread to the News channels. The content and the way of presentation of the news started changing. News presentation became an art, and the news presenters became actors, who started creating unique characters to distinguish themselves from the herd. The persona of news anchors became so important that slowly but steadily, news anchors became more important than the news itself. Soon every news channel was revolving around a certain personality cult and the entire news narrative was created around that cult. News channels today are identified by the editors who present the prime time news at 9 p.m. every night, instead of their names. 

But this was only the first step. The personality and the style of news delivery of a presenter can fetch a limited TRP. To generate greater TRPs the news channels had to come up with a solution and soon they found it. And this was the ugliest turn of this TRP war, the politicisation of the News. News channels realised that if they present the news in its plain form, they will only attract the viewership of actual followers of the news. However, if they started presenting news from a certain political perspective, they get to tap a big chunk of the viewers who share the same political ideology. And they do it by abusing their political inclinations.

Soon, every News Channel aligned itself to a political ideology and their entire content reflected that association. If ‘A’ news channel collaborated with the leftist ideology, then ‘B’ aligned with the Right-wing. And slowly this change made way for a more sinister ploy for generating TRP, at the cost of real news, when even the ideology based news gave way to pure Political Party - News Channel collaboration. And today we have reached the stage where we can find the same news being broadcasted at different networks, at the same time; but with different and opposing narratives. It is up to the viewers to choose which side of the story they want to hear, and although ironic it is creating loyal viewership for the networks. The news is no longer about the facts, it is about propaganda. Any news can be twisted and turned according to the political narrative it wants to present, and the viewers it intends to target.

Every news channel is presenting its narrative with such aggression and with so much noise that it forces you to believe that their’s true version and the rest all are fake.

The biggest loss in this war for TRPs and political stances are Truth and Rationale. No longer we get the news where you can look at the facts presented to you in their true form. Anyone who is exposed to news in any form today, cannot be expected to toe the middle path of apolitical mindset. The loyalty would tilt either towards the left or towards the right. You believe what you see and what you hear. But if what you see and what you hear is being controlled by an agenda, it becomes impossible for you to remain unaffected. And this tilt ranges from slight, to moderate, to the extreme. Just think about the catastrophic effects this would have on our future generations. In short, the news channels today are stealing our right to truth. I am not saying that they don’t show the truth. But they twist it to such an extent that it becomes unrecognisable. 

Today only those can afford to be unaffected by this politicisation of news, who don’t follow any news.

So, should we continue to let these news channels, mould our political narrative, or is there a light at the end of the long dark tunnel? I say there is still a flicker of hope left for us. 

First of all, we have to distance ourselves from taking any news at its face value. We have to train our minds to analyse the news that we hear or read to get the real news. This means distancing the ideological colour from the news. We need to see the news in black and white, the way it is meant to be presented, sans any colour. 

Secondly, we have to stop watching a news channel or reading a newspaper or magazine just because it follows the narrative that we want to hear. News is not entertainment, it is truth and hence should be presented or watched without any spices.

Third, read and hear all the sides of the story. Listen to all the narratives, even if you don’t agree with them. Because to decide one’s course of action, all the alternatives should be explored and deliberated upon.

Media is considered to be the fourth pillar of our society and if this pillar starts to show cracks, it will destabilise our foundations. Like the other three pillars i.e. Executive, Legislature, and Judiciary, it should also remain independent. Media has the power to influence our thinking. And if this power is corrupted, then it can coerce the thinking of an entire generation and shall interfere with free will.

Hence, the true, rational, and apolitical news mustn't fade into oblivion. It should remain as an option for our future generations. The news that leans neither to the right nor to the left is the right of the public and it should not be tampered with. Under the noise of screaming news anchors, lies somewhere crouching, the actual news. We need to look for it and empower it so that it can empower us.