The Unknown Math Behind the News & Media Industry
I was having a conversation with my friend regarding the current state of Media.
Angry and Disappointed he gave me examples of some News Channels showing animations of Missile being fired, of nuclear war, and whatnot.
Why does the Indian Media make fool of itself?
Doesn’t the editor or the Media House realize that there is a lot of criticism on social media?
The reason is Business.
At the end of the day, they are in Business. Media is just another business- where you need money, to survive and grow.
The source of their Revenue is Advertisersing.
The more the TRP, the more Money will the Media Houses make.
How do you get high TRP?
By creating content for the majority of Indians.
Let us understand the audience that the Main Stream Media Channels target.
- People living in Tier 2 or Tier 3 cities
- People living in Rural India
- Middle Age People and Senior Citizens
- The section of society with no or less Internet usage.
- Average Indian- Hindi Speaking, 8 hours working, who watches the news for an hour at 9 PM. This is the prime time. A majority of Indian households watch News on Television at this time. It becomes extremely important for the news channels to hold the attention of its audience.
- And thus, creating War Rhetoric, Sensationalisation of News, Spewing hatred, and targeting Individuals/Groups/Communities/Neighboring Countries.
This is a standard code that the News Channels have cracked. This method will get a huge TRP. Huge Profits. So big the profits, that some criticism by a small section doesn’t hurt the business much.
The editors of the so-called 24*7 screaming media channels are alumni of well known Journalism Colleges. They understand the art of Journalism well. But, they understand the Business Model better.
The Average Indian doesn’t belong to an English speaking, Internet Using, fact-checking generation. For this generation, the source of News is already different.
The youth, and especially the ones complaining of the falling standards of Journalism, maybe a majority of people reading this post at this time, are the audiences that are not even targeted by the Mainstream Media Houses. Our generation consumes quality content offered by independent (to an extent) News Portals like ScoopWhoop, Lallantop, Newslaundary. The New Generation sources information from Twitter or apps like Inshorts or Newshunt.
How much ever we might criticize the functioning of such media channels, that fact is, that from the business point of view, we are an audience, which they aren’t even targeting.
Mainstream Media Channels often sensationalize an issue, create war rhetoric, or indulge in bashing any individual/group/community/neighbors, because that is what is loved. That is what gives them TRP. That is what makes them earn money. That is the business. The bad side of Broadcast Journalism is that a good journalist isn’t the one who reports well or who does a strong ground reporting. But, it is the one who could sensationalize an issue, who could scream and get the eyeballs.
A good journalist is the one who Reports News.
A successful journalist is the one who Creates News.
A good journalist is the one who brings repute to the media house with professionalism.
A successful journalist is the one who brings huge TRPs and earns money to the Media House.
NewsLaundary- I don’t like the platform much, but I do love the motto that they believe in:
When Advertisers pay Advertisers are served
When the Public pays, the Public is served.
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