News Sense

Of late the erudite editors of Indian media houses have lost their intellectual sparkle. Sourcing, selection, prioritization, and publication or broadcasting of news items are now a matter of marketing gimmick rather than an editorial prerogative. Every morning when one looks at the front page of any newspaper, the obvious perception that pierces into ones mind is that today's editors are more concerned about sensational local news than a far-reaching story which has a national prevalence. And the same problem prevails with 24x7 news channels. The concept of breaking news is another design to trap gullible eyeballs. Circulation or TRP is more important than the content. In the rat race to become the numero uno in own domain is the new adrenaline rush that has afflicted the media proprietors.

Why the erstwhile editorial mettle has eventually reduced to a predominant “yes boss” culture in Indian media? Before economic liberalization, editors were more powerful than the collective political forces. In the eighties, it was a cliché that if there is someone in India who's the second most powerful person after the prime minister of India is the editor of Times of India, but that perception was strongly diluted in the nineties when the proprietor of that media house asked the then editor to bend a little, the editor vehemently started crawling. And that's certainly a turning point in the history of Indian media when proprietors encroached upon the sanctity of editorial decision making process.

The advent of a corporate culture in media became another anathema for editors. The conflict started slowly but certainly snowballing. The marketing and business honchos in media who in all probability were bedecked with an MBA degree from the premier management institutes of India or abroad started playing the role of demi-god. And it was quite rational for the proprietors of media to rely on those managers coterie because they were the brain behind multiplying revenue. Then the ethics and social responsibility of media took a back seat. And this culture proliferated across the board - if a news has no business sense, then it's certainly no news.

The business culture in media was so overwhelming that many bright editors left their old organization to start new media ventures with a promise that they will ensure an editor-driven organization, but it was all a tempest in a tea cup, short-lived, and improbable. Because the venture capitalists who invested in those media houses were thorough businessmen. For them profits were more important than a self-aggrandized editorial policy. The same editors who once thought leaving the old organization, where business guys took a prominence, and then starting their own venture being partnered with other guys who in their sense were editorially sensitive could be an innovative idea, were bugged by their own flawed logic. After all, businessmen are businessmen and profit is their primary motive. Who does care a fig for news sense?