The new God Cult on Indian Entertainment Channels

Well god are the newest entry to channel rivalries, no I m not talking about viiting temples or astrology sessions before shows. This time god is been packaged off in form of content on almost all of the major channels. We have ‘Jai Ma Vaishno Devi’ on 9X, ‘mata ki Chowki’ on Sahara, etc.
It’s like one channel decided to TV a new genre on viewers and all the others caught-on to mint the gold in this. Though there have been certain off and on attempts by channels before to cash in on such concepts before but this the major attraction is sale of God for TRPs and viewership, which is no less than a cult following. India has always bee a very religious land, and television has always been a major escape from reality and to entertainment. Now the channels have got their Midas touch by combining the two for its viewers. But well gimmick or no gimmick, no one complains as finally we are getting some quality content on TV.
Recently NDTV imagine launched there new campains to promote their show “Ramayan”. The TVC shows how present day TV content has taken its toll on our younger generation’ values and morals and then comes in “Ramayan”- ek acchi aadat.
Well though I know that the campaign is just a way to woo the audience emotions yet what it showcases is infact a situation based in our real life situations. So if the channel’s gold digging attempt is actually able to inculcate some’Acchi Aadat’ in the younger generation of the country then we don’t mind thee overdosage of such programs on the television.

Media- Industry or Profession? Both?

Being a journalism student, we often sit in classes and read about media ethics and responsibility and other such ‘heavy duty’ words. And well for most of us these set the general precedent of entering the field of media and journalism. We come here with certain “aadarsh” and hard head- strong ideas…. like to bring out the truth and help the society and its people. But well often we see the direction in which this field is heading to especially since the advent of the ideas like- 24 hour news channels, breaking news and sting operations, etc. at 1st these brought a very positive energy and light into the field. However, slowly and steadily, the positivism started to ward off and this became a mere game of TRPs, viwership and advertisements. Sensationalisation and yellow journalism became the new set of rules here to achieve success. In our classes, we often have guest faculty who are eminent personalities from the media industry coming in and talking to us about the ‘on the job’ scene and media as a profession as well as an industry. We often get into the discussion of what is ‘ethical’ and what content is considered as for public good and welfare, etc. Even amongst ourselves when we get into a discussion on the same issue. We get stuck on one point- if we are working in an organisation and we are asked by our editor to cover a story that we know is a mere mean of sensationalism and only for TRPs then what will we do. Will we be ready to get sacked and easily replaced for refusing on a bout of consciousness or go ahead and do what is asked because the editor asks us to do so?
I do not know about others but an honest confession that I would like to make here is that I would go ahead and cover the story. A bout of consciousness will not get me very far in this “media industry.” Here I am quite replenishable until and unless I niche a position or status for myself that is hard to be fulfilled or replaced. With a media institute at every nook and corner of the country and fresh batch of students passing out almost every month, it will not be difficult for any media organization to fill up a vacancy in less than a fraction of seconds (literally).What should I follow the profession or the industry? I guess following the profession in the industry is a case for lucky few only. The only thing that is left in this field are people who are trying to make industries out this profession.