Seeking News On News
When Rajdeep Sardesai quit NDTV, speculations were sky high about his next venture. What was he thinking? Locking horns with NDTV - the selfconfessed holders of virtue of Indian News on TV? Then you had the rhetoric of "Do we need one more news channel?". Of course we do. We need as many as they can throw at us. So long as they take stands on issues and go beyond anchor-sitting-behind-desk mode. Headlines Today is an almost-crappy channel anyway.
Well, Rajdeep Sardesai has been attacked quite a few times before. Remember Thackeray spewing venom and choice insults at him? Then there's the allegation that's he yet another commie and fawns over the Congress much like the rest of NDTV. While we get Star News and NDTV in the UK, we don't get Sardesai's newly launched CNN-IBC (though I think there's some pay and watch option!), and I was wondering what the reactions in India are to the channel and its coverage? Is it really journalist-oriented as it claims to be?
I can see that they want their website to be more participatory. They have podcasts (well only two to date), free video feeds, RSS feeds, blogs run by individual journalists and editors (with comments enabled on both news articles and blog posts). They're even encouraging some kind of citizen journalism. While the content is nowhere as rich as NDTV's, I frequent their site pretty regularly now.
So, what's the dirt on this one? :)
Well, Rajdeep Sardesai has been attacked quite a few times before. Remember Thackeray spewing venom and choice insults at him? Then there's the allegation that's he yet another commie and fawns over the Congress much like the rest of NDTV. While we get Star News and NDTV in the UK, we don't get Sardesai's newly launched CNN-IBC (though I think there's some pay and watch option!), and I was wondering what the reactions in India are to the channel and its coverage? Is it really journalist-oriented as it claims to be?
I can see that they want their website to be more participatory. They have podcasts (well only two to date), free video feeds, RSS feeds, blogs run by individual journalists and editors (with comments enabled on both news articles and blog posts). They're even encouraging some kind of citizen journalism. While the content is nowhere as rich as NDTV's, I frequent their site pretty regularly now.
So, what's the dirt on this one? :)
posted by neha vish at 15:32
4 Comments:
I don't know if you read The Hoot (http://www.thehoot.org/), but they have an interesting article on an interview that Sonia Gandhi gave on the two channels, CNN-IBN and NDTV.
http://www.thehoot.org/story.asp?storyid=Web5917618176Hoot123120%20AM1913&pn=1
The good thing about the CNN-IBN launch is the competition to NDTV. However, CNN IBN's nowhere near NDTV right now (for me at least) and I think it'll take time getting there. IBN's got one big gun in Rajdeep, but NDTV has more than one (Barkha Dutt & Nidhi Razdan for example, if you want to leave out Prannoy Roy). Plus, NDTV had a head start and they're an established brand, so they'll take time to topple.
The downside of this whole thing is that both channels fall over each other about Exclusive this and Exclusive that, which gets tiresome after a while. NDTV remains my primary TV news source but CNN-IBN's the second choice. I've never quite got used to Headlines Today.
The Times Group is adding its own TV channel to the mix, so I'm sure it'll be interesting times. Tabloid TV maybe?
NDTV has been in the business for a long time even before they went on air with their independent offerings NDTV 24/7,NDTV India and NDTV Profit. As the organisation driving the news channels of Star they catapulted these channels to the top tier of viewership ratings. Prannoy Roy's special programmes before,during and after major elections established his reputation as a psephologist to reckon with. Do we remember him as an anchor in the weekly show 'The World this Week' on Doordarshan ?
NDTV sans Rajdeep has many saleable stars in their own right. I think their reputation and popularity stems from the brand value of their anchors. I recall a hoarding put up by NDTV prior to their IPO which has their instantly recognisable anchors and newscasters standing together. we could tell their names. In that sense the journalists took the centrestage.NDTV is right up there on the pecking order of television news channels.
I have been to IBN's site and watched the free video. There is always room for those who seek to raise the bar. Not convinced though about their positioning though. Time will tell..
NDTV is a trend-setter though !
Thank you for your comment on my first article for GV! happy New Year from Panama! Hugs,
Melissa
For long, NDTV was the only English news channel for Indians. Later came India Today's Headlines Today, and now CNN-IBN. We are soon going to see a fourth one: Times Now.
Being a journalist and very much involved in the day-to-day dynamics of mass communication, I feel we are only getting richer with the increased choices.
There has to be variety; and all of us won't like all channels. But the availability of choice is what pleases me the most.
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