Is sincere journalism viable?
Andhra Pradesh (AP) is going through turbulent times, ahead of the impending bifurcation of the state. The difficult times have meant reams of copy for the news channels and newspapers. All kinds of issues, protests, agitations, arrests, suicides, emergency meetings, and slug-fests among politicians have created a glut of news. There was no shortage of sensational and senseless news from the national scene either, with new contenders for the PM’s post, scams, satellites taking off to Mars and what have you.
Even as the news scene is getting richer, the news business is becoming expensive. Newsprint and television news coverage costs have shot up. Across the country several thousands of journalists find themselves out of work. Iconic newspapers have become leaner and costlier. News is more or less edged out of prime time news hours of television networks, replaced completely by discussions around some single issue of the day.
Worried media pundits are fretting about commercial imperatives overtaking news priorities further; news channels and newspapers being cornered into accepting various forms of paid content for survival. The business model of the news business itself is under the scanner.
Operating in this same ‘impoverished’ news-rich environment over the last four years, one media house in AP has been delivering distinctly different content. The Hyderabad Media House runs The Hans India newspaper and the HMTV Telugu news channel out of Hyderabad.
The HMTV channel started in February 2009. From the time the Telangana formation decision was announced by Mr Chidambaram in December 2009, the channel began a series of live shows from various districts of Andhra Pradesh called ‘Dasa-Disa’ which allowed people from all walks of life to voice their fears and expectations about the proposed bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh. Each of the weekend-shows was hosted at a different district centre, often fielding intellectuals of one region or the other to present and debate the issues from rival points of view. The shows ran for several hours, sometimes five to six hours, but generated a lot of interest in the viewers. No other channel made such an effort to create a genuine public debate involving all shades of public opinion (not just the political/intellectual elite).
A similar series of public discussions transmitted live on the channel explaining and answering queries on land rights in the state was a huge success as well. Sceptics doubted if there would be any public response to such a show. But when the series began airing, there was widespread interest. The show had a legal expert answering specific queries from callers.
HMTV regularly highlights girl-child education, facilities at government schools, and implementation of the RTE Act in the state, even on news-heavy days. Most of such issues are covered not sporadically, as event-based items but as campaigns that persistently map all angles of the issues. This works as an education both for the policy-makers and the general public.
Speaking at a UNICEF-CMS awards function of ‘Children-related Programmes on Telugu Channels’ in Hyderabad recently, the Speaker of the Andhra Pradesh state legislative assembly said that the campaign run by HMTV (and TV9) on fluorosis in some parts of Telangana drew the attention of the government to the issue and the state has taken up measures to address the problem.
HMTV has several other interesting series such as ‘Vandella Telugu Kathaku Vandanalu’ (Greetings to the hundred year-old Telugu story). In the show, the writer/actor/broadcaster Gollapudi Maruthi Rao introduces well-known writers, interviews them and discusses their writings. It is one of the few literary programmes on Telugu television, which attempts to create an appreciation for Telugu literature.
The channel introduced a folk songs programme that immediately caught the attention of the viewers who have been sated with the routine reality shows. Clones of the programme have appeared on other channels as well.
Meanwhile the ratings for Telugu channels have been seeing unbelievable swings. A channel placed at 18 for months would suddenly figure among the top 5. Top channels would slip to the bottom half of the list without any major reason for the change. Viewed in the context of the steady domination of ratings charts by channels like TV9 for nearly a decade, and the more or less oligopolistic hold of the top 5 names, this sudden radical fluctuation of fortunes is unusual and has not been explained by any analyst.
However, HMTV has been providing a genuine alternative to purely commercial fare over the last four years without playing the TRP game. It faces a serious distribution problem. It cannot afford the carriage fees charged by some of the DTH platforms like Tata Sky, which go up to Rs 4 crore a year. It is a pity that channels not only have to spend on content for ensuring good quality fare for their viewers, they are also required to shell out exorbitant carriage fees to show up on some of the DTH platforms. Reduced access to the viewers results in less advertising and less revenue for the channel.
Hyderabad Media House launched the daily newspaper, The Hans India, in July 2011, riding on the back of its successful foray into news television. The paper publishes from 5 centres in Andhra Pradesh: Hyderabad, Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam, Tirupati and Warangal, representing the five major regions of Andhra Pradesh – North Coastal Andhra, South Coastal Andhra, North Telangana, South Telangana, Rayalaseema. The paper sells at a cover price of Rs 3 on week days like all other English newspapers in Hyderabad, except The Hindu, which raised its cover price to Rs 4 recently. The paper sells at the actual cover price unlike some of the big newspapers, which subsidize the subscription by offering an entire year’s subscription for as low as Rs 350. It is another matter that they increase the cover price after capturing the market! The Hans has entered its third year and will get ABC figures this year. But the broad estimate of circulation is around 80,000.
The newspaper began with similar objectives as that of HMTV. From its earliest editions, The Hans India also carved a unique niche for itself. The newspaper was carrying parallel campaigns on its columns to complement its campaigns on HMTV.
In the recent past, it ran a series of articles on lack of toilets in schools in Andhra Pradesh, called ‘Toilets Please’. The second campaign was that of the Right to Education Act. So far nine prominently displayed page one/ last page (broadsheet) articles have appeared on RTE. This is in addition to the edit-page articles. Most of the pieces are well researched and evidence-based. ‘Bhoomikosam’, the land-rights campaign was another such effort of the paper.
The Telangana movement and the political turmoil in the state were at their peak during this time. But the newspaper found prominent place for these issues, and provided persistent coverage.
The Hans India is the only newspaper that is carrying the full text of the Andhra Pradesh State Reorganization Bill 2013 over several days on its op-ed pages. At a time when full information, more than opinion, is required for people to calibrate their responses to the political developments in the state, this is a remarkable effort.
This brings us to the issue of ownership, editorial judgement and the freedom exercised by the journalists. The ownership of the Hyderabad Media House is similar to other media establishments in Andhra Pradesh. The core business of the chief promoter of the channel and newspaper is chit funds, infrastructure and real estate. The management of the media house has hired senior media professionals and seems to keep its distance from the editorial issues, giving full freedom to the journalists.
Both HMTV and The Hans India have garnered a considerable reputation for their neutrality and responsible journalism. However, both the paper and the channel seem severely strapped financially at a time when advertising revenue is hard to come by, leading to retrenchment of some senior journalists (over 60 years of age) from both HMTV and The Hans India. The media house is hiring younger journalists to fill the vacancies arising out of the exit of seniors.
Commercial viability remains problematic. National media policies that determine the cost of newsprint, or fail to regulate escalation of carriage fees, undermine media houses that are attempting to play a responsible role. Some media houses that sensationalize and trivialize news but manage the rough and tumble of the local cable market for ensuring last mile reach, survive better. Such a business model is a paradox: to earn more advertising rupees, the channels first spend heavily to manoeuvre themselves next to top-rated channels by paying cable operators. The channels’ ‘healthy’ survival has little to do with the quality/relevance of content and more to do with street aggression and deep pockets.
Aided and abetted by the ratings game, the advertising industry prefers to be blind to this. Just as the advertising industry continues to prop up essentially violent and exploitative content in entertainment, they also provide the oxygen for news channels that dumb-down and peddle non-news.
The relationship of the source of funding of media enterprises to the kind of journalism that it engenders is not always easily deducible. The case of Hyderabad Media House is illustrative of this. If the owners have an enlightened view of journalism and its role in society, and value the professional integrity of journalists, worthwhile journalism still stands a chance. One knows that such a fortuitous combination is an exception rather than the rule in media industry.
The time is perhaps ripe for media houses to experiment with business models that are less advertisement-dependent and more subscriber-dependent. It is also time for the regulators to find ways of providing a fair business environment where socially responsible media can survive without difficulty.
Disclaimer: The author writes a weekly column for The Hans India.
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