In India, the drive from suburbs to the city can be a long one. Even six-lane expressways are choked to their capacity. And then you have to navigate the narrow roads of the city’s old parts. For millions of city dwellers, this is a daily drill. You cannot do much about the traffic. How does one keep himself/herself busy? Some are talking to their loved ones on phones, others are sleeping, and almost everybody is checking his or her smart phone every now and then.
The high common factor among all the commuters would be the radio. Whether they are actively listening to it or not, most commuters are tuned into a radio station. Anybody who has studied radio journalism, or radio as a medium of communication, knows that one of the major advantages the medium enjoys over others is the flexibility it gives to the audience to engage in other tasks.
On one such long journey from Gurgaon to Delhi 6, I heard two Radio Jockey’s make a parody on a political leader. Personally, I felt it was in bad taste and could be construed as damaging the reputation of an individual. It reminded me of the incident almost 7 years ago whena Delhi based RJ’s remarks against Indian Idol singer Prashant Tamang triggered violence in the north-east. Ask any crime reporter about the need and importance to blur the image of a rape victim or to blur scenes of horrific crime. Or ask any editor, about the importance of the word, ‘alleged’ in a story. That radio and television are both mediums of mass communication, there are certain responsibilities which are intrinsic to them and the people who are part of it. Ever since Government of India allowed private operators to run radio channels in the country, they have been generous and largely non-interfering. While they did not give them license to run news and current affairs based programmes, no government, be it UPA or the NDA, imposed any restrictions on what they air or regulated content. This was left to the radio stations to decide. Even in this election, besides news channels, the discussions that RJ’s had with the ‘common man’ on the radio shaped public opinion and influenced electoral outcomes.
Today, with the new government signalling its intent to allow radio stations to air news and current affairs based programming, something which had been in the cold storage for a very long time, I am a little concerned about the preparedness of radio channels to deal with this animal called, ‘news’.
That radio channels would put together a team of trained journalists for news is a given. However, there is a need to think and deliberate about news and current affairs content on radio and to ensure that while there is a freedom of speech and expression, it is not insinuating, that the RJs or the radio station is not imposing theirviewpoint on the audience and more importantly, systems to tackle paid news are built in before.
Consider, sponsored content. On a news channel when a sponsored content is rolled out, you have a small icon on the screen that says so and is usually present throughout the show. Similarly, for advertorials, it is clearly written that it is marketing content. Has anybody thought about radio? Will there be a voice every minute saying that this is a sponsored discussion/programme? At the moment, a lot of such content is obvious to professionals who work in media and communication industries, but not necessarily for the average listener. And when you open up the space for news and current affairs, the stakes are higher. Paid news is an even more complex challenge.
At the moment, content on radio stations raises two questions. One, have the station owners developed certain internal guidelines to monitor what RJ’s and programme producers put out on the station. Second, are there some built-in checks in the system and are they effective. My own experience says that there is no standard and it varies from station to station. Some are cognizant of the line, others trespass is often. As the government considers opening up news and current affairs to private radio stations, I believe it mportant for the latter to demonstrate some degree of readiness and an ability to take on the responsibility. It will also help ensure that the medium is largely self-regulated, which I am firm believer in.On a lighter note, I wonder how delightful will it be to listen to TV news channel discussion on radio. I tune out!
