From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network
Bengaluru, Jan 8: The race for Television Rating Points (TRPs) has become the bane of the television media and damaged the credibility of the media, Prasar Bharati Chairman A Surya Prakash said in Bengaluru on Thursday.
The Prasar Bharati Chief, who started his journalism career in Bengaluru in Karnataka and was recently appointed to the highest point in the media domain by the Narendra Modi led BJP Government, termed the mindless chase for TRPs by the television channels as nothing but ``Blood Pressure Raising Points (BRPs).
He was speaking at the inaugural session of the ninth India Conference of the Global Communication Association with participants from the Media and Communication fields from India and abroad on the theme of 'Breaking Barriers: Creating New Communication Horizons'
Surya Prakash said some of the television news channels was having as many as eight or more panellists in their prime time media slots, with the anchor as well as the panellists vying at the top of their voice to make themselves heard during their news-hour debates.
"No other country in the world seems to have this kind of a Maara Maari on TV news channels," he said and called upon the viewers to switch over to Doordarshan if they were fed up with the private channels.
"We do not ape the West, we are very much Indian,” the Prasar Bharati chief said while describing the ethos at Doordarshan and made it clear that his focus will be to ensure the credibility of the national news channel.
Pointing out that mass media in general has been experiencing an exponential boom in the country, Surya Prakash called for "our own solutions” to meet the challenges of growth.
Echoing the same sentiments of the Prasar Bharati chief, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramiah, who was the chief guest, said some electronic media channels appeared to be in a great race to meet deadlines.
"This was why," he said, "sometimes the viewers might not see anything big in the so-called breaking news, which has often become meaningless."
The chief minister suggested that steps should be taken to curb monopolies among media houses and even private treaties. The role of the Press Council should be redefined to cover TV news channels as well, he said.
Karnataka’s Information, Infrastructue and Haj Minister R Roshan Baig and Public Works Minister H C Mahadevappa were the chief guests. Communication Consultant and former Corporate Affairs Director of Shell India Deepak Mukharji delivered the key-note address.
The inaugural session was followed by a panel discussion on "Faltering Media Social Responsibilities: Where do we go from where we have landed?," which was moderated by former senior editor of Deccan Herald P Ramakrishna Upadhya, with educationist and writer Prof K E Radhakrisha, Prof Naresh Kumar of Christ university, GCA organising secretary Krishna B Mariyanka and former political editor of 'The Economic Times' Gabriel Vaz as the other panellists.