Personality-based Television News

TV news format is a-changing. Quality news reporting is now thought to be just an appendage, a material to produce a popular studio-based show.

The focus is now more on maximizing the airtime and TRP returns from a good stand alone report.

Cost of production is one factor. Studio based shows cost less compared to a similar show comprising of reports from the field.

Grabbing airspace for extended prime time TRP ratings is another.
Stand alone reports , however incisive, can't be stretched for long.
News programming demands airtime by the half-hour (24 min).
Discussions and talking heads serve this purpose well.

Due to populist motives, for the most mundane or intense discussion a celebrity guest is producer's demand. Thus we find a Mahesh Bhatt, a Shobha De and a Shabana Azmi, a staple of guest lists.

The output department of a news channel is a past master in translating miniscule footages into hot property programmes. They all well know how to chisel out a popular show from a clip/byte from a common news source.
Here news is at a premium. Holding ground to the maximum period while sustaining viewer's attention is more important.

TV News anchors/news editors are celebrities in their own rights and it is only logical to cash in on their persona to gain eyeballs.

The bottom line is personality based television. Where the reporter and his report has fallen on bad days.
It's the 'news executives' based in the studio who are setting the news and programming agenda with an eye on TRP.

Charms Of Hina Rabbani Khar

Pakistan’s opening gambit has paid off well. Pakistan’s new foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar has taken India by storm,so to speak.

She is being showered with epithets as the elegant fashionista, a graceful and attractive lady and much more. But less is being heard spoken of her office and agenda.

It’s showtime for Pak’s diplomacy, and what could achieve this more than a beautiful face as it comes from a feudal, repressive society.

In the ensuing brouhaha the diplomatic agenda of Pak has taken well-intended backseat, and what is dominating the headlines are the Robert Cavalli sunglasses , the Rs. 15 lakh Hermes Birkin bag and classic pearl jewellery of the foreign minister.

It seems that the Indian diplomatic team had been so smitten by the feminine charms of the lady that they were waylaid into adopting a soft and misleading joint statement at the end of joint parleys.

More seriously, quite like earlier times, now too we find India bending backwards to engage Pakistan. And once again Pakistan has done a diplomatic encore by by its well executed oneupemanship.

Sample this :

1. The joint statement says that both sides were ‘ satisfied on the holding of meetings on the 26/11 trials’

Nothing can be far from the truth.

Pakistan is going slow on trials. Since 2009 four judges have been changed.
Small-fry are being tried. Main culprits JuD’s Hafiz Saeed, LeT’s Sajid Mir and ISI officers Major Iqbal and Major Sameer Ali have neither been arrested or questioned.

Despite P. Chidambaram’s 2010 Pakistan visit, the country has refused to hand over voices samples of arrested men to India. Chidambaram had expressed his disappointment over Pakistan’s attitude on the 26/11 trial.

True to her job, we found foreign secretary Nirupma Rao defending the joint statement.

2. After landing in New Delhi the first thing Ms. Khar did was to meet up with the leaders of the Kashmir separatist group, Hurriyat Conference.

This was equivalent of cocking a snook at India. India made a token objection in the meetings and then it was business as usual.

There was an agenda of a business détente and freerer interborder trade at Kashmir that got sanctions from India. The joint statement ignored the Pakistani intransigence on the matter.

Apparently the glamarous Hina Khar has executed her brief to the T.
A beleaguered Pakistan needed an injection of oomph in its foreign ministry to soften its image as a terrorist-state.
Sometime in the near future Ms. Hina’s destination will be Washington DC. It is here that she will earn her grades.

Return Of The Action Hero

It’s return of the action hero in Btown.
Ajay Devgan is the newest fellowtraveler on the action bandwagon. He has left behind his dark brooding image for more brash and brawn. Singham. Six packs, tattoo and flashing fists are just the way to start off, probably.

Our handful of brawny stars apparently had had their fill of mushy, emotional roles and comic caper.
The box office returns had shattered their narcissism. The script had somewhat dissatisfied them, and peer pressure woken them up. They wanted desperately to reinvent.

It all started with Gajani. The 2008 southern remake grossed Rs. 100 crore at the BO and woke up the Khans and everyone else in Bollywood.

Later a beleagured Salman followed suit with Wanted and set his career record right. Now the man has an impressive track record of hit action flicks under his belt. Wanted. Dabangg, Ready, and has Bodyguard and Kick to follow.

Badshah Khan didn’t wanted to be left behind too. Enough of buddy Karan’s tearjerkers. He has pumped his own dough in his ambitious project Ra 1, and will follow it up with Farhan Akhtar’s Don 2.

Perfectionist Khan is donning the role of a dishum dishum cop in Reema Katgi’s cop caper. He will also be seen in dark shades of character in a hardcore action role in the third installment of the Dhoom franchisee.

Saifu Miyan nowadays is busy shooting desi James Bond in his home production Agent Vinod.

Original action hero Akshay Khanna will come a full circle with his action flick Rowdy Rathore.

So who is left behind….??
No one. No one wants to be left behind.

Action …maara maari….which was uptill now thought be a B and C centre draw has become a raging urban phenomenon…a multiplex draw.

The actors are getting back their money’s worth for the time spent in gym. Six packs are the new uniform and tattoos are just adding to the lucky charm.
So you have Sanju Baba sporting a new sheath of muscle and eye-hurting tattoos all over for his Kancha Cheena role for Johar’s Agnipath remake.

Action sequence have also got a new birth. They have become more stylized. The shots, cuts and edits have become more snazzy.
The stunt masters of the yore who were grouped till yesteryear in a qaint and ludicrous credit title of ‘’ Thrills’’ have moved on to become action choreographers or action designers.

Even directors are succumbing to the charm. They are stealing thunder by ‘designing action’ and appropriating action credit title. Check out Rohit Shetty’s extra credit score in Singham !!.

It won’t take any skills to predict that the next round of scripting will be around the action hero. Special effects, Sci-fi themes, item numbers and star cameos will be thown in good measure to hook the moffusil and the metro audience.

Mumbai Bomb Blasts

Once Again In Mumbai :

Once again Mumbai has been rocked mercilessly by killer bombs.

Once again terrorists have ripped the city apart by blood, gore and fear.

Once again police have found themselves holding the short end of the stick.

Once again politcians have sung the same old rhetoric-rhyme.

And once again Mumbaikars have suffered for no cause of their own…..


Since the March 12, 1993 bomb blasts this has been the 13th.
The unlucky 13th.
Whichever way you count.

If there is a method in this madness, then let the terrorism analysts explain it.
To the untrained mind and eye an old pattern runs through all the post-blasts breastbeating.

Here’s my checklist.

# 1. Once again there is blame-game on the intelligence failure. Once again reports surface that the central intelligence agencies had informed the state intelligence in advance and the state had failed to take action on it.


# 2. Once again politicians speak off-the-cuff on the attacks and create controvery. If after the terror attack at the Taj Hotel the then state home minister R R Patil put his foot in mouth by saying that ‘such small things happen in big cities,’ then now Rahul Gandhi has shot his mouth by saying ‘one percent margin for terror attack is always open.’


#3. Once again Government reiterates its resolve to go strong on terrorism, and to nab the culprits at the earliest.

#4. Once again Pakistan offers sympathy and shows solidarity in fighting terrorism.


#5. Once again paens are sung in media about the never-say-die spirit of Mumbaikars. Casting aside fear and grief city folks are back to work the very next day. (well, what else can they do. Sit at home ?)


#6. Once again Bollywood is in news !! The celebrities are all over castigating and condemning the attack.

#7. Once again right after the blasts terrorist groups are named. This time it is Indian Mujahideens. However no concrete evidence is there for pinpointing the group.


# 8. Once again media does routine stories on the blast.
Terrorism analysts/stratagem gurus of all hues surface in panel discussions.
Exclusive reports become a TRP game of TV Channels.
Newspaper editorials adopt academic postures on terrorism and preach policy to government from their ivory towers.


#9. Once again fashionistas and page 3 die-hards grope for their candles for that condolence march.

# 10. Once again some smart-alec in Bollywood announces a movie on the blast……


And once again Mumbai lives to die…….once again…..

Katrina Kaif : Life & Times of a Bollywood Cat

She is the smartest of the Bollywood cats. She knows well that though the proverbial cat may have nine lives but Btown’s glamour furries live only once to meow. So Katrina lives as if Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara. And claims every crown tinsel town has to offer.

Gossip mill has always pointed out that Ms. Kaif is no innocent babe, in fact she is a smart operator. Well nothing wrong in that. In the cat-eat-cat world of moviedom one needs beauty plus brains to move ahead.

Her detractors point that Salman Khan was used well and proper by her to reach the present starry heights.

An affair that probably started during the making of Maine Pyaar Kyun Kiya (2005) and ended on rocks in 2010. There may be a grain of truth in it, or probably the love cycle could have happily coincided with Katrina’s karma.

In 2003 Kat was fresh from the debacle of Boom. Then in 2005 Maine…happened.

People noticed Katrina in the film and she rode the wave of success with Sallu by her side.Namaste London, Welcome, Partner, Singh Is King…are but those few movies that spelled success for her during this period.

Salman was her soul partner all this while. For a newbie, a British model, a flop actress, a non-hindi speaking heroine, the support of the Khan must have mattered most.


But let’s not take it away from the lady. Katrina had loads of oomph. Pass-grade histrionic abilities and a good star friends (Akshay Kumar for one).

And she had that fire in her belly. She had seen life. In a family of eight siblings. In a working mother. In modelling in London. So she fought to make it big.

She worked hard on her Hindi.( Now she doesn’t gets her lines dubbed. She speaks them herself in Hindi). Worked hard on her relationships. And made the grade.

She never wanted to get tied down in sentimentalities of a love relationship. For her career was prime. That’s why when still in relationship with Salman she did sizzlers with Sallu’s sworn foe John Abraham in New York.

Then she went ahead and did films with Ranbir and painted the town red with talks of her romance with the Kapoor Junior. That again showed her independence.


Later she sighed her desire of working with Badshah Khan !!!

Clearly Salman had outlived his utility in her life.

Now she is the hot property of Yash Chopra camp. But hey, even here she has kept her steel intact and said no to biknis.
For a girl who dared and bared all in Boom that’s quite a resolve.
But that’s the sort of branding she wants now on her image.


Katrina Kaif is now in the phase two of her career.
She is single. An actress with no camps. Lots of helpful male costars.Darling of masses.
And has both cerebral and masala directors panting to sign her on the dotted lines.

With such a beautiful setup no wonder she is living as if Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara.

Beware of Indian Rupert Murdochs

Media Baron Rupert Murdoch has been caught with his pants down. The phone hacking scandal at News of the World has laid bare the mercenary approach of Murdoch to news. It also has brought to light his damn-care attitude for law of the land and news ethics.

Well, the gumption of the baron is not unfounded. He has known to be chummy with the Big Guns of power. His proximity to British prime ministers is legendry. He has ostensibly discussed policy matters with them in close door parleys.From Margaret Thatcher to David Cameron, he has been a buddy to all.

And he has changed sides from Labour to Conservatives with a alacrity that doesn’t defies logic. For he knows well which side of the bread his butter is.And it is this proximity that is giving the Tories nightmares now.

The scandal is escalating to embrace the ruling British Establishment. As things stand Cameron’s former director of communications Andy Coulson was the editor of the tabloid when the hacking incident took place. This can have politically damaging consequences for the prime minister.

Though Murdoch has decided to shut shop at the News of the World it is seen more of a damage control exercise to stem the image loss of the company and go through the paces of successfully buying out of BskyB TV the revenues of which is nine times more than the shamed tabloid. So it is actually a good business decision with a cherry topping of ethics.

The trans-Atlantic media moghul has now become an epitome of the Satanic Fourth Estate. His business empire spans United States, Europe,Australia and Asia. Currently he is the 117th richest person in the world.


In India News Corporation’s Star India is present across the television value chain, directly or through strategic stakes, in content. It has presence in Anand Bazar Patrika Group, Balaji Telefilms, till recently, Star Network and in distribution networks of Hathway and TataSky.

That’s enough hold on the news jugular.

But in India Murdoch is not the only one who has a grip on the media jugular. Domestic players have also gone far in the game.

The cross media holding laws of the land are not in tune with international standards. This has led big corporates to acquire media holdings in different platforms like Print, TV and Web. In the process small media players are having a tough time. Many are condemned to compromise to survive. This trend has sinister implications for monopolistic practices.


The self-serving nexus of corporates and the politicians are well-known. With corporates holding the rein of media groups probability of news getting maniputated gets high.


Though FDI is specifically restricted in domestic media holdings, the amount of foreign money in Indian media is as high as 40%.

There has been a spurt in the growth of regional TV channels in the country.
Most of it is being launched by Industrial Groups. Media is being considered as one of the verticals of the business. Symbiotic relationship between regional media and local commerce is a comfort zone which is serving both the parties well.


The overt actions of the media are all too palpable. It has a fairly positive note. Media has been directly acting as a pressure group over judiciary, politicians, police and the civic authorities.

However the hidden agenda is the subtext in which one should read into.

These manifest in highlighting of select political personalities, paid coverage during elections, downplaying important news, stressing chosen party positions and furthering of business agenda of the mother corporate.

Radiagate was just an aspect of this subversion.

So in the end of the day it is not some trans-Atlantic Murdoch that we should we wary of, but our alarm should be our own desi media moghuls.

After the phone hacking scandal voices are being raised in Britain for an independent media watchdog.

In India the case for a impartial an effective media watchdog is even stronger.

Growing relevance of social media

June 30, 2011 marked the second annual social media day.Also around that time two important happenings marked the social media news space.

News Flash –
· July 6. Facebook announces integration of Skype into their platform, allowing Facebook users the opportunity to video chat with their friends.

· July 1, 2011, Boston – Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s personal fortunes have soared following GSV Capital’s recent stake in the social networking site. He is now worth more than Google founder Sergey Brin and Larry Page.

· June 30, 2011. Google.com launches GooglePlus, a new social networking site aimed at the wildly popular and lucrative Internet market.


These significant news stories have highlighted the growing importance of social media in the global domain.
Social media refers to a group of internet-based applications or mobile technologies that make social communication interactive. Social media is characterized by its penetrative global reach, easy accessibily, instant communication and relatively permanent form of content.

The birth of social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn etc have revolutionized the way communication is enabled and information is transmitted.

Today the growing significance of social media is clearly apparent in our daily life- situations. Understanding it will make it easier for us to use it to our advantage.

Social media is the new social revolution tool. Early this year when Libya was churned by political unrest its citizens took to microblogging in a large way to raise their voice and heighten international awarness against domestic repression. Soon people of Egypt, Tunisia followed suit to rise against their respective dictatorial regimes. Results were quite forthcoming. World nations joined hands in diplomacy, sanctions and military action against the regimes.


Social media has become a tool of personal branding as well. By blog posts, podcasts, eBooks, webinars, linkfests and the like people are establishing their presence in the webspace. This is helping in building and projecting one’s profile. Job search,business and social networking get only butressed by such personal brand building.

In the business sphere social media is helping companies in brand building, marketing and customer-networking at minimal costs. In the US adoption of social media by small businesses has doubled from 12% to 24% in 2010.

Social commerce is getting a fillip on sites like ebay,Gumtree and DoneDeal.
Marketing is getting increasingly aggressive and targetted by using games and contests in this space. Viral videos have gone viral and youtube has become the next big thing after television ! !

At such a time when social media is growing and innovating exponently to remain illiterate of its potential is to miss an important bus in life.

Jaago Re Manmohan Singh

Supreme Court has gone proactive once again. Today it has taken the government and all by surprise.

In a laudable move Supreme Court has instituted a Special Investigative Team to counter the black money menace.

Retired Justice Jeevan Reddy has been appointed as the chairman, and the Team has given wide-ranging powers to investigate. The Team will report to the Court.

Three points have been raised by the Supreme Court in the matter.
1. Centre didn’t submit the required documents to the Court.
2. Large amounts of black money is getting siphoned abroad, making it a issue of national security.
3. Centre has been asked to disclose the names of persons against whom proceedings has been initiated.
The move puts the government in the back foot. It’s been a while now since the government has been dragging its feet over the matter.

It had maintained that the process of setting up an institution for enquiry into the black money problem is cumbersome and will take time.

The government also didn’t waste much time in nipping the anti-black money campaign kicked by Baba Ramdev.

With corruption charges now scorching and searing the faces of leading leaders of the government ,much was expected from the ‘squeaky-clean’ Manmohan Singh. His lethargic attitude on the issue has taken the ball from his court.

Manmohan Singh’s government now faces the ignomy of being placed in the dock by the Supreme Court, and being wrested of power to investigate and take action on the issue.
It has also given the opposition fuel for fire-power in the parliament session which starts one month from now.

An already embattled Manmohan Singh has been really cornered by his own lackasdaisical attitude.
It also raises questions about the motives of the government in going-slow over initiating strong action on the black money front.

Already, action had been initiated very late against the 2G scam culprits, and that too after much media and opposition prodding and pressure.

Mr. Singh’s laid-back approach is now proving to be a millstone in the neck of UPA 2. No wonder voices are being raised against his style of functioning.

National scene if getting hotter day by day. Team Anna is raising the heat on the government. National elections are in 2014. Uttar Pradesh elections are next year. Corruption and black money, may in all probability, become the nails in the UPA 2 coffin.