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NRI News Gulf NRIs Feel That Indian TV News Channels Need Regulation Bahrain, May 4, 2007, 2006 GulfÜbased NonÜresident Indians (NRIs) agreed that Indian
Satellite TV news channels, in general, adhere to “ensuring
the objective presentation of news and fair and unbiased comments”,
and also “respecting human rights and dignity”. About
70 percent of the respondents to a recent survey agreed with these
statements. However, the TV news channels are considerably deficient
in “treating controversial public issues in an impartial and
dispassionate manner”. They are also not very successful in
“promoting communal harmony, religious tolerance and international
understanding”. They should have focused more on these issues
as the present times are very critical where all sorts of extremism
are taking roots, especially religious ones.The finding also shows
a lack of creativity in their presentation and also not responding
to their social and commitment and responsibility. These findings
are reported in a study titled “A Survey of Perceptions of
Gulfbased NonÜresident Indians (NRIs! The study was carried out by Dr. P.L. Joshi, a well known Professor at the University of Bahrain and supported by Sweta Joshi, Bahrain and J. Hemalatha Kuwait. A questionnaire was sent to 1291 NRI’s in an online survey in six countries of the Gulf region. A total of 274 responses were received and 222 questionnaires were usable. NDTV (English) Aaj Tak, Starnews and Zee News, all Hindi news channels, were included in this survey as these channels are available to Indian viewers living in the Gulf region. Of the total responses, 31.5 percent were from Bahrain, 18.5 percent from U.A.E, 15.3 percent from Kuwait, 14.4 percent from Saudi Arabia., 11.3 percent from Oman and 8.6 percent from Qatar. Many of the respondents are senior executives, managers, academics, business persons, and housewives. The survey was commenced on October 1, 2006 and ended on January 31, 2007. NDTV has emerged as the most popular news channels among the Nonresident Indians (NRIs) living in the Gulf region. More than 85 percent of the respondents stated that NDTV is their favorite channel. About 81 percent respondents agreed that NDTV adheres to four, out of the six cardinal principles of broadcasting.They strongly agreed that NDTV is considered to be a responsible news channel by having a variety of programs, experienced anchors and hosts, and semblance of professionalism. More than 81 percent respondents stated that NDTV adheres to:
However, a few respondents stated that NDTV seems to be leaning towards certain sections of society and are proÜgovernment. Aaj T! ak (Hindi channel) is another favorite channel. Only 49 percent of the respondents stated that Starnews is their favorite channel, however, Starnews seems to be a favorite channel for female respondents. Only 32 percent stated that Zee News is their favorite channel, but 50.24 percent were neutral in their preference. Furthermore, a majority of the respondents strongly agreed that none of the news channels really cover news, views and other programs related to NRI’s. They would like the government to start an exclusive TV channel devoted for 25 million NRIs living around the world. About 75.7 percent of respondents were also in favor of bringing regulation on the TV news channels in India but without impairing their innovation and integrated functioning. It also seems that most of the TV news channels focus their news stories and analysis mainly on four Cs namely Corruption, Criminals, Celebrities, and Cricket, thus giving a somewhat stereotyped news and analysis to the viewers. The respondents also commented that sensationalization, trivialization, and tabloidization (Page 3 journalism) are very common in the news stories of most of the channels. Language of many anchors seems to be usually closer to “over exaggeration” and body language usually is hyper. Many news channels, in most cases, have been presently following the ‘report and forget’ policy. Many respondents stated that the “Desh Videsh/National Reporter” program of Starnews appeals to them. On the other hand, a few of the TV news channels have been overburdened with news related to celebrities such as AAAAS (Amitabh Bachchan,Aishwarya Rai,Abhisheik Bachchan,Amar Singh, and Shahrukh Khan) in order to woo their viewers and improve their Television Rating Points (TRP).This is all trivia and fluff and some commented that it often looks to them that some of the news channels are the main medium of mouthpiece for famous and rich people only.
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