Indian Traditional Media In The Age of Google, Facebook, Twitter and Other Social Media

I was listening to panel discussion consisting panel members like Rajdeep Sardesai and Arnab Goswami on YouTube other day and it left me amused (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9w9bgAdFYXM). These people were discussing about the role of media in creating a wave in favor of Shri Narendra Modi, who is Prime Minister of the country now. Why I was amused listening to them because, in this discussion, journalist brigade were smacking with certain kind arrogance about their status. They seems to be still living in the elitist era where level of education in the country was low and flow of information was restricted in the country. They seems not to acknowledge the fact that India’s literacy rate has increased over a period and this is same country, which boasts more than 900 million mobile connections, more than 150 million board band connections, more than 100 million Facebook users and many thing more. What remains intriguing that their eyes are fixed on some 27% of the population of the country, which comes under deprived class. Though, this number can’t and must not be overlooked, remaining 73% now will dominate the decisions and can’t be ignored at all. Had traditional media played the role they are supposed to, they would not have become so irrelevant. Social media, especially Facebook and Twitter and numerous blogs against the media personalities indicates the kind of anger against the way traditional media has been taking their responsibilities to the result. As a commoner and as a news content consumer I think there are certain things where traditional media has gone horribly wrong and there are few results awaiting them.

First, I am going to enumerate where they have gone wrong.

1)      Traditional media, especially English media in the country is elitist: India is the country of 29 states and 22 official languages and one language which binds the entire country together is English; language of our erstwhile rulers. A good command over English language is definitely an advantage in the country and it gives a certain kind of superiority complex to its master, but another true reality is that India still lives in 29 states and speaks 22 official languages along with many other dialects. Traditional media in general and English media in particular make people believe by their role and activities that they are conscience keeper of this country and they have got the legitimate right over the opinion of countrymen and country should believe and behave in the way they think, write and speak. This has led the common man of this country to start venting their feelings though words on social media and blogs. If you start stifling the voice of mass, then they will shout back at first opportunity given to them. Look at the picture below and the fifth search result; I just typed ‘Barkha’ in Google and see what I got as result. It means, there are problems which traditional media is not ready to acknowledge.

2)      Traditional Media is media is not sticking to their main role and that is ‘reporting’: Though newspapers have still maintained some kind of sanctity and editor’s viewpoint gets place in editorial page only or gets prominence on certain days like Saturday and Sunday, but television has taken the news presentation to different level. They do recite the numbers which matters to the country in their programmes but choose to ignore its impact on the behavior of country as a whole. Taking the first point forward, more than reporting the news, which is supposed to be their main activity and role, they work more towards manipulating the news. Go to YouTube and you will find hundreds of videos, which are uploaded under deriding titles for famous journalists. You switch on your TV in prime time and you will find prominent news anchors organizing the courtroom drama and pronouncing verdicts, forcing their stand point not only on the invited guest speakers but intended target, i.e., on us, the viewers. As I mentioned in the opening paragraph that if 27% is a reality of this country, then 73% is also a reality, more than 900 million mobile connections, more than 150 million broadband connections and so on and so forth are also the reality of this country. These numbers are having a great impact on character and behavior of this country, which traditional media is choosing to ignore. These people, who form this huge group, are young, educated, aspirational, and have a place to voice their opinion and coalesce to make it a firm demand and they did it very emphatically in this parliamentary election.

3)      Traditional Media gets too close to power: Though it is known as fourth estate in the country, but they are exhibiting the character of being subset of ‘legislator’ more. They do get benefited by their proximity to power and they can’t just claim it as wrong public perception. After all, someone’s general and dominant behavior leaves the scope of perception and most of the media channels do give a perception that they are forcing their intellectual agenda and agenda of their political masters on the common people.

What is stored in future?

Coming back to the video in question, my impression of three main journalist panelists is that they still believe their role in not just reporting but manipulating the news. So, what they are not seeing:

1)      Common man is angry with them: As I have mentioned earlier as well that there are hundreds of video dedicated to deride famous journalist and there are thousands of blogs and articles calling them names. What these famous journalists are not seeing that this is not just criticism of their activism, but continuous snub of an opinion, a view point which exists in the country and as a reporter, their role is to bring out different points of view and not to pass a moral judgment. Once you start doing so, you start manipulating the opinion and by doing to so, you can make only one group happy.  

2)      Point of communication does not necessarily start from them now: Earlier, traditional media was privy of all news broadcast, but that is not happening now. With laptop, mobile or desktop in their hand, Blogger, Wordpress, Tumblr etc as an available tool, every individual has become a journalist and they are voicing their opinion and they are doing it free of cost.

3)      A direct line has started between two intended parties of the communication: A communication is complete when one party communicates in either written or verbal or gesture form and other intended party understands it in the same manner correctly. Till now, traditional media was playing the role of intermediary between these two parties(legislator, executive, celebrities on side and common men on the other), but situation is changing very fast. Now, we have President, Prime Minster, Ministers, Celebrities etc on Facebook and Twitter, directly interacting with their target audience and facing their questions directly. Though it is still in nascent stage, but it will mature very fast and this will trim the role of traditional media even further. In fact, recently concluded proved this fact with thunderous impact. Megastar Amitabh Bachchan interacts with his audience directly through his blog on tumblr, his  Facebook page and Twitter handle. Now, traditional media has not much to report about him, because he answers most of the queries of his fans through direct communication itself. Prime Minister’s office directly reports about different meetings and developments taking place there. PMOIndia boasts more than 3.3 million ‘Likes’ on Facebook, which means direct communication is established between 3.3 million Facebook users and Prime Minister’s office. Considering the huge size of country’s population, this number seems to be very small, but I am not talking about today, I am talking about 4-5 years down the line; imagine what will happen then.

4)      Users are creating more news than earlier: Twitter had five billion tweets long back, Facebook had billion plus photographs on long back, Google answers billions of queries every month, more than 72 hours of video and not all the tweets or photos or status updates or videos from traditional media channels. In fact, traditional media channels are having limited participation at these places. So, down the line few years, there will be more user created news items than media created news items.

If traditional media continues to ignore these points, they will soon fighting for their relevance in this country. Already big print channels outside this country have started giving the work of distribution to Facebook and Google, whether they like it or not, and many print newspapers have shut their shop and gone digital. Social TV will start taking place of traditional news channels and citizen journalists will be sending news through videos shot using their high definition mobile cameras and I am not talking about any science fiction.