A public service broadcaster, on the lines of the British Broadcasting Corporation, is needed in the country, said Sunit Tandon, Director General, Indian Institute of Mass Communication, New Delhi, while speaking at Media Musings, a programme the Amrita School of Communication of the Amrita University had organised here on Friday.
The broadcaster should be independent of the Government control, not be a market-driving model and work with the objective of educating the public. The Doordarshan started off on the BBC model, partially fulfilled its role in educating people but it was far being a public broadcaster, said the former English news anchor of Doordarshan.
In the age of private television channels, the art of questioning was lost, said Amit Baruah, Resident Editor, The Hindu . Prime time television shows had increasingly become interrogating sessions where inspector questions people on an everyday basis.
Though the reach of the shows was far less than the importance they carried, they sometimes had a positive effect like in the Nirbhaya case were the Central Government was forced to legislate a law to protect women and children. But those channels hardly took up issues that concerned the common man like problems in tatkal booking or the role of touts therein.
Mr. Tandon complemented him saying that television studios resembled gladiatorial arenas where the anchors verbally assaulted guests and the audience enjoyed it from their drawing rooms.
Uma Vangal of the LV Prasad Film and TV Academy said that the news shows went with predictable plots and had a high decibel level.
Television shows were a great equaliser, though, said M.D. Nalapat, Editorial Director, The Sunday Guardian. They provided an opportunity for anchors and public to question politicians, who, otherwise, considered them different from the public.
In the afternoon, the media persons spoke on ‘Online media: challenge or opportunity’. Amrita School of Communication Chairperson P. Jayaram moderated the debate. The University Dean Sasangan Ramanathan delivered the inaugural address.
