Daily Times

India is going through an interesting phase, wherein the freedom of press and the ethics of journalism have been descending to lowest of the low ebb during the past few years.  It is also for the first time that these two have been at the receiving end for not performing the role for which these have been designated for. Both have been losing credibility in the eyes of viewers/readers. And these negative features of Indian journalism have also been registered by the international media rating agencies.

Rather than raising the issues concerning the people, they (media houses) have been playing anti-people tricks and games to raise Target Rating Points (TRPs) to reap great dividends by acquiring high offers of advertisements that makes them richer. Consequently, it has become quite difficult to withstand the obnoxious level of panel discussions not only on one or two TV channels, but many. Panel is brought forward on a Prime-time programme without any issue of public concern for discussion and members hurl barbs at each other. These theatrics have become a routine on several Indian TV channels at the Prime time. If the anchor does not like the dissenting comments of the panel member, he is muted and the anchor’s aggressive and assertive narrative continues to beam during the period showing the dissenter in pale light for not responding to the anchor’s prominent quarries. The panel is so designed with members, who prop-up the anchor in their question and responses and sometimes denigrates the dissenter and attempts to show him as anti-national.

Not only crying to the pitch of the throat to make a point which lacks logic, but even too frequently using derogatory language against the panel members and vice versa.   Unable to withstand the non-sense being loudly presented and hurling barbs at each other in the high-pitched discussions, one has no choice but to switch off the TV. In the words of Ravish Kumar, Executive Editor, NDTV who was conferred the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay, has mentioned in one of his Prime-time programmes on NDTV that there are anchor holding programs/discussions without any issue of concern to the public.

Many a time the level of panel discussion is too unethical and the derogatory content prevails. That is why Indian journalism was reported to be too bad and graded below the hundreds position mark by the International rating agency. During all these periods of media-crisis the pride of media persons have been hit hard that many a time professional do not identify themselves as journalists.

The last one week has also showcased an alleged manipulation of television audience data that results in unethical, undue advantage to certain channels over others.  This would classify as an unfair trade practice and is punishable under law. The beneficiary channel in this case gets a significant larger share of the advertising revenue than it currently deserves. The advertisers are cheated because of the manipulated audience numbers, they park their advertising dollars in larger numbers when in fact its actual audiences is smaller.

So far eleven (11) TV journalists and their Chief Executives and some staff members have been arrested by the Mumbai police, where the First Information Report (FIR) was registered. Many more arrests are expected, but their being close to the ruling Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), could possibly save their skin. The CEOs and officials of these channels, including India Today, Republic TV, Fakt Marathi, News Nation, Maha Movie and Box Cinema-have been accused of manipulating TRPs by illegal techniques.

BARC India is a joint industry company founded by stakeholder bodies that represent broadcasters, advertisers, and media agencies. The council uses Barometers, or in common man’s language called the “people’s meters” that have been installed in over 45,000 households for tracking TRPs. The empanelled households are classified into 12 categories, covering over 80 crore people, according to The Wire, an eminent Indian news portal.  The members of these households are given separate viewer IDs, which they are required to put on while watching television. This helps BARC to monitor which channels they watch and the duration for the same.

The Mumbai Police’s allegations against Republic TV and two other channels were based on a complaint registered by Hansa, a firm contracted by BARC to install these audience measurement meters. The channels were accused of rigging their TRPs by bribing some households to watch it, Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh had said at a press conference on October 8.

Republic TV has refuted the allegations and accused Mumbai Police of a vendetta. The channel has even moved to the Supreme Court/Mumbai High Court against the city police’s summons to its top editors including Arnab Goswami and executives, in connection with their investigation. The top court, however, on October 15 had refused to entertain the plea.

The Mumbai Crime Branch has arrested a former Hansa Research employee named Vinay Tripathi from Uttar Pradesh for playing a key role in the TRPs scam. The police have also arrested the owners of Box Cinema and Marathi channel Fakt Marathi, Shirish Shetty and Narayan Sharma.  They are making their best efforts to seek relief from the Supreme Court of India and Bombay High Court as the cases have been registered at Mumbai following the detection of the scam.

The TRP racket was unearthed after a police complaint by Hansa Research Group Pvt Ltd, the agency contracted by the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) to place audience meters to monitor TV channels watched by households.

Pressure is being built on the Mumbai police to withdraw the cases, when the police have already found substantial evidence against alleged fraud and cheating in using illegal methods by using technology to raise TRP. Thus, to manipulate the high rate of advertisement revenue, the modus operandi is to install meters at the residence of economically poor persons by paying them four to five hundred rupees a month and another two hundred rupees for expecting them to view the programme of TV channels around the clock. Poor people living, some of them in shanties and even do not understand/know English language. The money is transferred directly to their bank accounts.

Attempts are being made to protect favourite TV channels. After registering a case was referred to CBI, the CBI is under the union Home Ministry whose head is Home Minister Amit Shah.  However, the Maharashtra government is not permitting the transfer of TRP scam case to CBI. It appears that the UP government has referred the TRPs scam to CBI after a case was registered in a UP police station. Surprisingly, the accused belong to Mumbai and already investigations by the Mumbai police have been in progress and have reached at enough of an advanced stage.

During the Supreme Court (SC) discussions over the Republic TV petitions for relief, the SC pointed out “You can be a little old-fashioned with reporting. Frankly speaking, I cannot stand it. This has never been the level of discourse…There has to be responsibility in reporting…Peace and harmony of the society is what matters to the court…there are some areas where everyone must tread with caution,” a Bench headed by Chief Justice of India SA Bobde told senior counsel Harish Salve who represented Republic TV Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami.

The SC has also asked Arnab to give some assurances of being more responsible with his reporting, and will need to file an affidavit explaining how he is going to go about this, along with details of the cases against him and Republic, reported the Quint, a prominent news and opinion  website.

Concerned over the declining standards of discourse on TV news channels, the Supreme Court called for responsible reporting even as it pointed out that some journalists needed more protection as they were targeted with greater intensity.

News Broadcasters Association has urged the government to withdraw the CBI probe into the TRPs scam. The association said the speed with which the case, that involves Republic TV, was transferred to CBI raises doubts about the intentions and might lead to a witch-hunt against the media.

The NBA said it stands for the freedom of speech and expression of the media as enshrined in the Constitution of India. “At the same time, we endorse the practice of ethics in journalism and put fair and balanced reporting at the core of what we report upon,” it said. “It also reiterated that it does not support toxic content and unethical journalism.

The writer is a senior journalist and Indo-Pak peace activist