The business model of TV news is broken and that is why the television news channels are indulging in character assassinations and witch hunts, journalist-turned-Trinamool Rajya Sabha member Sagarika Ghose said in Parliament on Tuesday, calling out public broadcaster Doordarshan’s reported contract with news anchor Sudhir Chaudhary.
Ghose did not name Chaudhary in her Parliament speech, but she reposted a video clip of her speech on her X handle with the line: “Today in Parliament, I called out @sudhirchaudhary and the TV news factory of hate and lies.”
Here is what she said on the floor of Parliament, calling for a revamp of Doordarshan:
“New media technologies are shrinking the world. India's unique identity as a vibrant democracy rooted in diversity and pluralism is an asset to the international order and needs to be projected on the global stage,” she said.
“This can only happen if our national broadcaster Doordarshan aspires to becoming truly world-class. The network Russia Today is rapidly expanding and taking the message of Russia to the world. Networks like Al-Jazeera are using government funding to project the Arab voice in the world.
“Doordarshan can play this role, but for this it needs top-class, modern content and management. Seven decades after Independence. India deserves a truly world-class public broadcaster as envisioned in the 1990 Prasar Bharti Act,” she said.
“Sadly though, Sir, there are reports that Doordarshan has entered into a lucrative contract with a private individual who indulges in deeply divisive and incendiary and hatemongering language on television and who has faced two jail terms on criminal charges of extortion,” she said, without naming Chaudhary.
“It is highly disturbing to note that individuals with these terribly tainted records can become part of our proud national broadcaster,” she said.
A number of publications including The Indian Express have reported that Doordarshan is entering into a Rs 15-crore contract with M/s ESSPRIT Productions Pvt Ltd for Chaudhary to produce a daily show to be aired weeknights on Doordarshan. Supporters of the move call it much-needed revamp of India’s public broadcaster.
“Sir, I've been a journalist for 35 years and it's tragic to see the trivialisation and character assassination and sensationalism that is today practised in television news. Today, almost 400 licensed news channels are competing for the lowest common denominator,” Ghose said.
She raked up the hounding of Bollywood actress Rhea Chakraborty after the death of fellow actor Sushant Singh Rajput.
“Four years ago, news channels ran a motivated campaign against a film actor. Today that film actor has been proven innocent. All those accusations have been revealed as baseless. But who will give back to Miss Rhea Chakraborty those years of humiliation that she endured at the hands of the media? The question arises, how can news media channels be made more responsible and accountable? Media owners will soon be called out on the floor of Parliament,” she said.
“Rogue anchors are a disgrace to journalism. We know that the business model of TV news is broken. So is this the new way to make profit, to unleash lies and more lies and fakery?
“Sir, had the privilege of serving on the News Broadcasting Standards Authority, which was chaired by the distinguished jurist, the late Justice J.S. Varma. Justice Varma would say the media should be free and responsible, not irresponsible and censored,” she said.
“The NBSA lacked teeth and any statutory power. However, today an independent media industry body that upholds global standards of professional broadcasting and journalistic fairness is urgently needed.”
She added: “So I would just like to say that today the model of advertising-funded television news is rapidly imploding. Therefore, it is for this reason that the media is engaging in character assassination, the media is engaging in a witch hunt against individuals, and the media is engaging in hate…”
