High Film Centricity in Indian Television Channels - SAGE Journals

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High Film Centricity in Indian Television Channels Some Perspectives and Challenges C.S.H.N. Murthy

Journal of Creative Communications 5(3) 153–172 © 2010 Mudra Institute of Communications SAGE Publications Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore, Washington DC DOI: 10.1177/0973258612471245 http://crc.sagepub.com

Abstract A first-ever study of the content—programmes and their formats—of regional television (TV) channels of the largest south Indian state, Andhra Pradesh, working on a 24x7 pattern, has revealed the progressive decadence of public sphere and growing trivialization. The contents were singularly dependent on films and film-related materials such as songs, comedy clippings of scenes and dances for majority of their programmes, and contents as well. Grounded in the observation method (Rao 2008), the study is a simple normative, non-positivist and descriptive one, analyzing the contents and formats of the TV channels which have been divided into two categories: ‘news’ entertainment channels (as described by Thussu 2007) and the ‘other’ entertainment channels. The state of Andhra Pradesh has been taken as a case study for it has 44 TV channels, the highest in any state in India (Thomas 2010). The study has chosen five ‘news’ entertainment channels and five ‘other’ entertainment channels based on the TV rating points and advertisement tariffs besides their tie up with Tata Sky direct to home television channel. While the data obtained by both the ways confirmed that there is a 60 per cent of use of film programmes/content/titles/clippings (out of total time of transmission) in the case of ‘other’ entertainment channels, there has been about 70 per cent of the use of film content and programmes in the ‘news’ based entertainment channels. This confirms our assumption of contracting public sphere and trivialization of news content. The findings of the study have been discussed based on popular literature and scholarly works in the field as also the socio-economic and political factors responsible for such a media phenomenon.

Keywords ‘News’ entertainment channels, ‘other’ entertainment channels, films, film-based contents, film clippings, observation method, survey method, socio-economic and political implications

Introduction For quite a long time now, the 24x7 film entertainment culture has become a trend in the Indian national and regional television (TV) news and entertainment channels, sweeping aside the main commitment of

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a broadcaster to the cause of ‘public sphere’ (Habermas 1989). Be it a ‘news’-based entertainment channel (Thussu 2007) or an ‘other’ entertainment channel, cinema has become the basis for a majority of the total programmes of transmission, or the content of transmission, churned out by these channels around the clock. Right from the captions of the TV ‘serials’ to the ‘reality shows’ in the case of ‘other’ (non-news TV channels) entertainment channels to ‘news’-centric TV channels, the cinema or its content such as music, titles and songs have become the basis for formulation of ‘programmes or even programme titles’. Similarly, right from the small captions of the ‘hard news’ in the regular news bulletins (apart from the news headlines) to a film’s coverage such as ongoing shoots and interviews with film industryrelated professionals/singers/actors, cinema seems to be the singular source to supplement the titles/ content/messages. Cinema literature, cinema titles, cinema dialogues, cinema songs, cinema clichés, comedy scenes, cinema music scoring, etc., have filled up the content of regional TV channels raising some fundamental questions: will ‘public sphere’ of Habermas (1989) survive any more? If not, then, is it not pertinent at this time to know what is going on behind transforming this once most effective medium into a medium of cheap entertainment bereft innovation and imagination? Mark Deuze (2011: 139) pointed out to this fast changing television trends and consumption patterns of television by quoting Friedrich Kittler who suggested that we are becoming blind to that which shapes our lives the most. Further Deuze connotatively and positively laid an emphasis on the need to inquire into this fast changing scenario of media irrespective of who are the actors behind the transformation of this public sphere and who are responsible for breaking the walls of the public and private or local and global. Though there has not been much deep study into this aspect of media processes in India, except that of Thussu (2007, p. 7), a lot of research on these processes is going on in the West, especially in the United States (US), the United Kingdom (UK) and Europe (Hoggart 2004, p. 124; Meyer and Hinchman 2002, p. 129; Ninan 2006; Open Society Institute 2005, p. 22; Thussu 2007, p. 5; Sparks 2000, p. 10). As far as India is concerned, the research in this area is yet to take off. Though some work on market-driven journalism has been carried out on the print media (Murthy et al. 2010; Rao 2008), the ‘film convergence on TV’ in a big way, as noticed now, as a phenomenon both in the national and regional channels, has not been taken up so far.

Growing Media Empire in India In a country like India—which is the largest democracy in the world with a population of over 1.3 billion, having 28 states and seven union territories—the cultural and linguistic diversity, as reflected in every form of media, is very high. Correspondingly, with growing literacy (Government of India 2011, p. 98), the print and electronic media have begun to form huge media houses having a chain of media institutions (Ninan 2007). According to Thomas (2010, p. 71), there are about 450 TV channels in India today. (Thomas, 2010: 71). As part of globalization in post-1990s, the Government of India liberalized the media policy which resulted in the proliferation of media houses, and there was a perceptible shift in the attitude of people from print to electronic media both in terms of viewership and advertising.

Journal of Creative Communications, 5, 3 (2010): 153–172

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As India represents one-sixth of the global population and nearly half of the total Asian population, the study on the content of regional TV channels assumes significance, both globally and glocally, in terms of the increasing media economy and the wider linguistic diversity found in the Asian region.

Case Study: The Largest South Indian State—Andhra Pradesh The state of Andhra Pradesh, located in the southern peninsular part of India, is considered the fifth biggest state in the Union of India with a population of over 84.6 million (Government of India 2011, p. 2). The language spoken by the people of the state is called Telugu, a Dravidian language as per the linguists’ considered view, which is the fourth largest spoken language of the Indian population. Incidentally, the state has the highest number of TV channels, numbering about 44, in Telugu. The present study deals with a sample of 10 major TV channels, of which five are solely 24x7 news entertainment channels and the five others are just entertainment channels (called ‘others’ in the article). To begin with, ETV (belonging to Eenadu newspaper group) was the first Telugu channel (1995) to come up under private sector in the post-liberalization phase, followed by the Gemini channel (initially of Gemini studios, Chennai, Tamil Nadu), which was later taken over by the Sun Network of Tamil Nadu, around the same time in 1990s. Many other channels that came into existence later were established by politicians, such as Raj TV/T News by K. Chandra Sekhar Rao of Telangana Rashtra Samithi political party and Raj Network, Studio N Television channel, established by the family of N. Chandrababu Naidu, the former Chief Minister of the state. However, the trend these channels have chosen to follow raises many fundamental questions as to why these channels began to depend on the films, or film content or film-based programmes exclusively.

Aims of the Study 1. To find out how many TV programmes are film based in the 24x7 working of every TV channel under study. 2. To get the data as to how much of 24x7 time of a TV news channel has been dedicated to filmrelated programmes. 3. To discern how the ‘other’ category of entertainment channels differs in depending on ‘film content’ from the ‘news’-based entertainment channels. 4. To find out who are influencing the decisions in the newsrooms/editors’ rooms to use film-based contents/programmes in a TV news channel. 5. To possibly interpret the trend from the socio-economic and political implications and consequences of such broadcast patterns of regional TV channels. 6. To know how sustainable such an approach is. 7. To ground this phenomenon in some possible theoretical conceptualization.


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Theoretical Issues—Some Challenges Public Sphere and Entertainment As mentioned earlier, not much of discussion on this subject emerges in any literature except in the popular works of Murthy et al. (2010), Ninan (2007), Rao (2008) and Thussu (2007, 2009 and 2010). Though Ninan (2007) has focused her study primarily on Hindi print media, some insights from her observations inter alia point to the fact that print media coverage with increasing regional supplements at the district level was better off compared to the urban-centric coverage of electronic media, with emphasis gradually shifting towards crime, cricket and celebrity. Rao (2008) found that Indian media newsrooms, especially TV newsrooms, too have come under the influence of market-driven journalism. However, to some extent, she found that the newsrooms still retained the independence to handle issues pertaining to public sphere, citing examples of Jessica Lal murder case (the humane effort NDTV launched by calling for nationwide SMS messages for justice) as well as other cases of corruption at the highest level in the government (ibid.). But in the last three years, NDTV trends have shifted more towards celebrity and cinema than the public sphere, barring a few public debates Burkha Dutt and Sagarika Ghose conduct for a limited time on the channel. This happened primarily due to NDTV’s shift towards cinema as an independent channel (NDTV Imagine) with a tie-up with popular producer and director Karan Johar. Most pertinent to the aforesaid data analysis was the study done by Thussu (2007) in his famous work, News as Entertainment, in which he described that three Cs (celebrity, crime and cricket) had become the core content of news and that the term ‘news’ had undergone a radical shift from its previous posture of service to ‘public domain’ to ‘consumption of news as entertainment’ (ibid., p. 104). Though Thussu’s reference was to the growing entertainment content in news leading to reduction in public sphere, today, the phenomenon has expanded to such giant proportions that it has affected the overall schedules of both ‘news’ entertainment channels as well as ‘other’ entertainment channels. Thussu (ibid., p. 19) pointed out the observation of Lasswell, way back in 1927, of how ‘film and television’ has got entangled from a ‘public sphere’ point of view itself. The vital role of film in managing public opinion at home and abroad, as well as propaganda overseas, was demonstrated during the war, as noted by Lasswell: ‘During the war period it came to be recognized that the mobilization of men and means was not sufficient; there must be mobilization of public opinion. Power over opinion, as over life and property, passed into official hands’ (Lasswell 1927, p. 14). The Committee on Public Information in the US liaised with Hollywood to produce patriotic films, and senior government figures were not averse to be seen with film stars, recognizing the power of moving pictures and infotainment (Thussu 2007, p. 19). The films were so successful that the German Chief of Staff, General Ludendorff, wrote in a letter to the German Ministry of War in 1917: ‘The war has demonstrated the superiority of the photograph and the film as means of information and persuasion’ (quoted in Jowett & O’Donnell 1999, p. 115). Thussu (2007) observed that this period saw the rise of mass media in the US and Europe with the press, cinema and the radio, and emerging synergies between media, consumption and politics (2007, p. 20). Walter Lippmann (1998) described this as the ‘manufacture of consent’ in a democratic mass society, driven and dependent on advertising, promoting consumerism and an idea of free choice and enterprise in an increasingly depoliticized public opinion.



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‘Infotainment’, according to Thussu (2007, p. 20), is a ‘neologism’ which emerged in the late 1980s to become a buzzword, a handy catchall for all that was wrong with contemporary TV. It refers to an explicit genre mix of ‘information’ and ‘entertainment’ in news and current affairs programming (ibid.). Supporters of popular communication paradigms suggested that such a genre mix expands and democratizes the ‘public sphere’. It has been another argument that sex, scandal, disaster and celebrity have been intrinsic to modern journalism since its inception, and discourses counter to this trend are simply pessimistic (Hartley 1999). Thussu (2007, p. 8) defined ‘global infotainment’ as the ‘globalization of a US style ratings-driven TV journalism which privileges privatized soft news—about celebrities, crime, corruption and violence— and presents it as a form of spectacle, at the expense of news about political, civic and public affairs’. Though Thussu’s (2010) work is based on his comparative study of Bollywoodization of Indian TV channels, especially of Hindi (which is considered a lingua franca in India in connecting all the federal states, though this is not recognized as a national language of the country), with that of the US and European channels, the study did not focus exclusively on the permeation of film culture taking a centre stage in almost all the programmes in the Hindi and regional channels (Thussu 2007, p. 99). He further did not notice that the regional channels which had more film industry support, such as Telugu and Tamil, than Hindi had more such convergence or synergy of genre mix in their programming, making it difficult to separate the ‘public sphere’ from ‘entertainment’. Though, to some extent, Hindi channels have attained a degree of saturation of its programmes with the film content/film-based programmes (Thussu 2010), regional channels like Telugu/Tamil have centralized the film/film-based content as the ‘core content’ around which all the programmes are being made and remade. In short, Thussu (ibid.) could not predict the emerging trends that film/film-based programmes are going to be the main staple food for all categories of the programmes on Indian TV. Further, Thussu (ibid.) did not discuss as to why these media houses are transmitting such content and who actually prevailed in the selection of content and news decisions in the newsroom. However, in the West, Hardy (2010, p. 52) identified ‘cross media production’ as an emerging market phenomenon, the aim of which is to look beyond simple cost savings by bringing in conglomeration and integration to provide a source of profitability from the exploitation of new opportunities for crossselling, cross-promotion and privileged access (Herman & McChesney 1997, p. 54). He further added that rather than being welfare maximizing, ‘social’ or ‘real’, such gains are private and pecuniary (Herman 1999, p. 46). In addition to exploitation of such ‘synergies’, there is increasing use of joint ventures amongst the largest global media firms (Hardy 2010, p. 52). According to Hardy, this resulted in monopolizing the media power through synergies (ibid., pp. 52, 68, 108). The study is carried out at the intersection of the ‘convergence’ or ‘synergy’ where ‘pure form journalism’ (news and public domain) mixes up with the ‘entertainment’ (film-centric programmes) and the lines drawn earlier between the two boundaries are gradually effaced, which may aptly be described as ‘vanishing media’ (Deuze 2011) or ‘television may not be television any more’ (McRae 2006). As such, the present study intends to document not only the extent to which the film culture has permeated the TV programmes in regional languages, but also proposes to dwell on the socio-economic and political implications/consequences of why such a ‘convergent’ approach to ‘media content’ and ‘media messages’ has been chosen, and whether such an approach helps sustain the regional TV channels in terms of media and political economy. Therefore, this is a first-ever attempt, from an Indian perspective,


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to study the complex media issue involving ‘convergence’ of ‘journalism and entertainment’ as a ‘synergy’. The present study, confined to regional channels exclusively, endeavours in part to make a reasoning of the current situation in terms of possible socio-economic–political factors that are seemingly responsible for this phenomenon.

Methodology The study is basically descriptive and analytical, and is based on observation method (Rao 2008) of the programmes of TV channels using a ‘construct week’. The findings given later are thus based on an analysis of TV programmes of ‘two construct weeks’ for two consecutive months, February and March 2011.

Observation Method As for the observation method as a tool of research in broadcast journalism, I have adopted fully the method followed by Rao (2008, pp. 193–206) in her research on broadcast journalism. However, I have used a ‘construct week’ to study under the ‘observation method’ to make the observation of TV channels more systematic and consistent. Two consecutive days in each week (for example, Monday and Tuesday in one week and Wednesday and Thursday in the succeeding week) have been chosen as days to study the TV channels in the sample. Likewise, four weeks have been chosen to ‘construct’ a week of seven days. The study has been repeated for the next four weeks in continuity to develop another ‘construct week’. The chosen sample of channels has been watched for their programmes and their content between 7 a.m.–10.30 p.m. Total hours of transmission under study per week was 108.30 hours. Table 1 offers the total filmcentric programmes across the TV channels under study and unscheduled film-based/film content programmes. Table 2 offers the percentage of transmission time of the film-centric programmes in TV channels under study.

Definitions of the Operational Terms 1. Film-centric/film-based: It is defined, for the purpose of this study, ‘as a TV channel using any film-related content such as using film titles for TV serials/programmes, comedy clippings from the films, film songs, fights/stunts in the films, or film dances, including showing a full length film for a duration of 2 hrs 20 minutes, making of films or studio round-ups, etc.’. 2. Entertainment channel: According to Oxford English Dictionary, infotainment is ‘broadcast material which is intended both to entertain and to inform’. According to Thussu (2007, p. 8), this new news cannibalizes visual forms and styles borrowed from contemporary TV commercials and MTV-style visual aesthetics, including fast-spaced visual action, in a post-modern studio, computer-animated logos, eye-catching visuals and rhetorical headlines chosen from films/film contents. Journal of Creative Communications, 5, 3 (2010): 153–172

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High Film Centricity in Indian Television Channels Table 1. Total Number of Film-centric Programmes and their Time in TV Channels (sample of study) Per Week (p/w)

No. of No. of film No. of No. of *Unscheduled No. of Total time Name of No. of serials magazines/ film-based reality film news/film reality shows dedicated for the TV films with film promos programmes shows (film programmes (film dances) film-centric channel p/w titles p/w p/w p/w songs) p/w (p/w) p/w programmes p/w Other Entertainment Channels ETV Gemini Teja

16 16 35

11 15 ----

3 1 3

3 5 5

1 1 ----

10–15 15–18 ------

1 -------

66–67 hours 73–75 hours 96 hours 30 minutes 65–66 hours 30 minutes 36 hour 30 minutes–37 hours

MAA

14

5

3

3

2

18–20

1

Zee

8

6

1

2

----

15–16

1

-----------------

-----------------

12 12 12 12

24 18 12 12

-------------------

96 94 90 93

--------------

76 hours 75 hours 72 hours 74 hours

-----

-----

12

16

------

90

-----

72 hours

News Entertainment Channels TV9 TV5 Sakshi Gemini News ETV2

Source: Author’s research. Notes: (a) All the TV channels have been analyzed for their content between 7 a.m.–10.30 p.m., based on the scheduled programmes. Midnight to 7 a.m., the programmes were mainly film only and were not taken into count as 90% viewers do not watch them. (b) The film content in the news channels shown under various columns in the table is exclusive and dedicated programme which could be codified. (c) * The film news coming up in the middle of the news programme, as explained in the article, was codified as unscheduled category of film news/programme, and the total time estimated was an approximation than exact recording as it was appearing unexpectedly and was too high than the dedicated programmes content in duration, including repetitions.

3. News channel: A news channel is basically one which has the primary mandate of transmitting/ informing ‘news’ which is concerned more with ‘public service’ domain (Habermasian sphere; see Habermas 1989) and has more ‘news’ transmission content in its 24x7 format per week day. 4. Other channel: An other channel is defined as the one which offers more entertainment programmes as its basic mandate rather than transmitting the ‘news’ or affording space for public (Habermasian sphere; see Habermas 1989). 5. Convergence or synergy: An intersection of journalism and entertainment—an evolving genre of format: It is a point of intersection where ‘journalism’ and ‘entertainment’ are together offered in both the categories of TV channels. It means the other entertainment channels do offer news bulletins, news magazines and news story analyses, apart from serials and reality shows. Hardy (2010, p. 42) referred to this as ‘synergy’ or ‘cross media production’, an emerging paradigm in the West, in keeping with the liberal democratic and neo-liberal, post-modern and consumer welfare. Journal of Creative Communications, 5, 3 (2010): 153–172

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Table 2. Percentage of Transmission Time of the Film-centric Programmes in TV Channels (sample of study) Per Week (p/w) Name of the TV Channel

Percentage of transmission of film-centric programmes in TV channels under study (p/w)

Other Entertainment Channels ETV Gemini Teja MAA Zee News Entertainment Channels TV9 TV5 Sakshi Gemini News ETV2

61–62% 67–68% 88–89% 60–61% 33–34% 70–71% 69–70% 66–67% 68–69% 66–67%

Source: Author’s research. Notes: (a) Total estimated time of TV programmes under content analysis per week is 108.30 hours (rounded off to 108 hours for calculation). (b) All the TV channels have been analyzed for their content between 7 a.m.–10.30 p.m., based on the scheduled programmes. Midnight to 7 a.m., the programmes were mainly films only and were not taken into account as 90 per cent viewers do not watch them.

Sample For the present study, the following Telugu TV channels, out of total 44 TV channels, have been chosen based on their then prevailing TV rating points and advertising tariffs besides their tie up with Tata Sky direct to home television for the two categories. 1. Entertainment channels under the other category: ETV (Eenadu–ETV group), Gemini (Sun Network), Teja (Sun Network), Zee and MAA (Movie Artists Association). 2. News entertainment channel category: TV5 (Shreya Broadcasting Pvt. Ltd), TV9 (Associated Broadcasting Pvt. Ltd), ETV2 (Eenadu–ETV group), Sakshi (Jagati Publications Pvt. Ltd) and Gemini News (Sun Network).

Units of Analysis The entire film content being shown on the TV channels has been divided into the following units of analysis. 1. Serials (only pertaining to the variable: title of serials borrowed from film titles). 2. Reality shows (variables: music category; dance category). Journal of Creative Communications, 5, 3 (2010): 153–172


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3. 4. 5. 6.

Birthday greetings (variables: film clippings of scenes/songs). Comedy scenes (variable: film clippings). Film promos (variable: film trailers). Interviews with film celebrities (variables: new films on release; stars’ birthdays; industry legends: past and present; and film award winners’ interviews) 7. Film round-up or film magazine (variables: audio-video release functions; success celebrations like platinum/gold disc). 8. Special programmes on films—about film directors, producers, actors, singers, music directors, etc.; celebrating the birthdays of actors/veteran actors and singers, both from Telugu and Hindi cinema. 9. Unscheduled programmes (variables: film award functions; sponsored interviews in news casts; and other special programmes as audience response at the theatres on the day of release; etc.).

Categories The above-mentioned units of analysis have been grouped into the following categories for the purpose of the coding and estimation of inter-coder reliability. 1. 2. 3. 4.

Episodic serials—using film titles, film dialogues as titles. Films—regular screening of full films on small screen. Reality shows—using film titles, film songs both for dance or song performances, etc. Promos–film marketing activities in the form of interviews, phone-ins combined with the film clippings or songs, audio releases, press meets, platinum disc celebrations, success meets, etc. 5. News bulletins—using film titles as hard news mini titles, background scoring, film shoots round-up, interviews with celebrities (directors/actors/music maestros) in the newsroom, giving film music/song scoring to the crime/political stories, birthday greetings to the celebrities, etc. 6. Others—birthday greetings for the ordinary citizens, comedy film clippings, film award functions, etc.

Reliability of the Study Inter-coder Reliability—Holsti and Scott’s Pie Though the study is primarily intended to be a qualitative one, I conducted simple Holsti (1969) test for percentage of agreement for inter-coder reliability for the consistency of coding of the 20 per cent of the total sample content (of selected variables) chosen under various units of analysis. I obtained 98% for Holsti’s agreement and 0.70 for Scott’s pie which is a reasonably good value for inter-coder reliability according to Banerjee et al. 1999. Since this is an exploratory study, based on observation and other scholarly works as secondary sources, I proposed to formulate the following research questions. Journal of Creative Communications, 5, 3 (2010): 153–172

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Research Questions 1. What are the main reasons for the growing penetration of film culture into both ‘news’ and ‘other’ entertainment channels? 2. To what extent the growing interests of politicians in TV and film industry professionals in politics is influencing the content of TV channels to focus more on film-related content? 3. Does the increase in film-related content affect the public sphere in news only or the entire schedule of programmes? 4. Does the current dependence on film/film-related materials help the TV channels to sustain for long? 5. Will it be possible to explain this strange dependence of TV channels on film culture exclusively within a theoretical conceptualization?

Analysis and Discussion Growing Penetration of Film Culture into Regional TV Channels Indeed, there is no dearth of creative people in these TV channels to generate innovative programmes, independent of film/film-based content, which have public utility and consumption. Yet, the question that stares at us is: why do these channels want to lead such a parasitic existence solely depending on the film-based programmes/content? One possible answer is that Telugu film industry churns out films in a neck-to-neck competition with Hindi film industry (see Tables 3 and 4). Second, both Telugu and Hindi film industries have highest global markets for the new films being produced. Further, the remakes of Telugu to Hindi and vice versa, besides Telugu to Tamil and vice versa, are highest (see Table 5).

Table 3. Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC)-India: Details of Films Released after Censor: 2000–2010 Year 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 Total

Hindi

Telugu

Tamil

243 230 218 222 244 245 223 258 248 235 215 2,581 (38.41%)

143 206 167 155 203 268 245 241 286 218 181 2,313 (34.42%)

157 196 178 151 130 136 162 148 175 190 202 1,825 (27.17%)

Source: Courtesy CBFC Annual Reports 2000–2010 (compiled from the data for Hindi, Telugu and Tamil films only).


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High Film Centricity in Indian Television Channels Table 4. CBFC—Number of Films Released between 2005–2010: Hindi, Telugu and Tamil S.No.

Year

Hindi

Telugu

Tamil

1 2 3 4 5 6 Total

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

245 223 258 248 235 215 1,424

268 245 241 286 218 181 1,439

136 162 148 175 190 202 1,013

Source: Courtesy CBFC Annual Reports 2000–2010 (compiled from the data for Hindi, Telugu and Tamil films only).

Table 5. CBFC-India: Details Showing the Dubbing of Films from One Language to the Other during 2010 Language Hindi Tamil Telugu Bhojpuri Chhattisgarhi English Oriya Malayalam Bengali Total

Mumbai 3 16 18 1 2 2 1 2 1 46

Kolkata Chennai – – – 1 – – 1 – – 2

7 – 32 – – – – – – 39

Ban

Thi

Hyderabad

Delhi

Cut

Guw

Total

4 2 7 – – – – – – 13

– – – – – – – – – –

3 – 11 – – – – – – 14

– – – – – – – – – –

– – – – – – – – 3 3

– – – – – – – – – –

17 18 68 2 2 2 2 2 4 117

Source: Courtesy CBFC Annual Reports 2000–2010.

Film is a matter of mass consumption in Andhra Pradesh. Most of the films are shot either with popular heroes like Nagarjuna, Venkatesh, Gopichand and Ravi Teja, or with their sons, film stars like Ram Charan Teja (son of megastar Chiranjeevi), Nag (Son of Nagarjuna), Jr NTR (grandson of NTR) and Mahesh Babu (son of superstar Krishna). Almost all their films draw huge crowds for audio releases and platinum disc releases, or highest first-week grosser function, etc. Apart from these, Hyderabad being the capital of the state as well as the place where the film industry is located, regular award functions are held either from the state side or from the side of private cultural organizations. Most of these, together with films, offer a lot of ‘entertainment news’. Making of films and weekly round-up of ongoing film shoots, etc., add further to the staple food of the TV channels. In emerging economies, as Thussu (2007, p. 21) has pointed out, profits become a priority than business ethics. It is not only a phenomenon of the Third World, but even the other two worlds, which have established market economies of high order, are not an exception to this. Jenkins (2006) in his book, Convergence Culture, concludes with the following lines: Welcome to convergence culture, where old and new media collide, where grass roots and corporate media intersect, where the power of the media producer and power of the media consumer interact in unpredictable ways. Convergence culture is the future, but it is taking shape now. Consumers will be more powerful within


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convergence culture—but only if they recognize and use that power as both consumers and citizens, as full participation in our culture. (Jenkins 2006, pp. 258–259)

First and foremost, most of the TV channels in Andhra Pradesh have links, through direct or clandestine investments, with politicians or industrialists turned politicians. For instance, Sakshi TV channel was established by Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, the only son of late Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy, who during his first five-year tenure as the Chief Minister of the state, was alleged to have allowed diversion of billions of rupees of public money by big industrialists as investments into his son’s companies as a quid pro quo (cash for the benefit of allotment of SEZs, lands and water, mining leases, etc). It has been alleged that to some extent such money was then invested in establishing Sakshi newspaper, besides the TV channels—Sakshi and Indira. Similarly, ETV (TV of Eenadu newspaper group) owner, Ramoji Rao, has interwoven interests both in politics and films for he owns the world famous Ramoji Film City (a la Hollywood), which was modelled on the lines of Hollywood industry, besides having his own filmmaking unit called Usha Kiran Movies which has so far produced over 25 films (low budgeted) that were distributed through his own distributing agency called Mayuri film distributors. Incidentally, Ramoji Rao has always had a stake in the decision-making process of the government during the 25 years rule of the Telugu Desam Party, which is in the opposition now (Thomas 2010, p. 75). In the post-globalization era, many politicians have become investors in the media and the film industry and they wanted to make quick bucks, says Thomas (ibid., p. 73). Much of the innovation and planning of new programmes cost the channel a lot of money, which, in turn, can be recovered only through sponsors and advertising. This requires, again, a well-organized marketing department. Except ETV, none of the present Telugu channels has such a widely organized marketing network. Some TV channels like ABN Andhra Jyoti, TV9 and NTV were established by former journalists, who too had investors from the realm of politics and films (TV5). Further, by choosing always film-based programmes/ film content, the owners wanted to boost the prospects of the film industry which has been going through a slow phase due to piracy and heavy budgets involved in the film making. In our observation, TV9 offers the maximum film content, followed by Sakshi, TV5, ETV2 and Gemini News. Again, in terms of carrying the promos, TV9 leads in the telecast of promos with directors/ producers/actors of new films and film reviews at the same time. It has a famed special programme called Panchavataram, which is hosted by a famous TV anchor, Suma, in which she does the role of five Sumas, donning different roles, and critiques the newly released film. Some of the serials using ‘film titles’ have been produced and directed by the veteran film directors like K. Raghavendra Rao and Dasari Narayana Rao who occupied Guinness Book of Records for having directed over 100 films in Telugu. Television channels like Gemini, ETV and MAA TV are classic examples for this phenomenon, with Gemini leading the others. Low investments, low number of anchoring/voice over people and low number of programmers with least planning and budgetary limitations, coupled with investors from film industry and the political parties of all hues, the regional TV channels obviously lost the ability to implement the ideal Doordarshan (public sector broadcaster) model any longer, as I tend to depict in Figure 1 for the purpose of this study. Even now, Doordarshan, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha TV channels offer far less film-centric news and programmes in their prime telecasts or sub-telecasts and have retained the popular ‘public sphere’ model of the early 1980s. Another evidence in support of the nexus between media owners and politicians stems from the fact that these channels, both ‘news’ channels and the ‘other’ entertainment channels, have entered into tie up


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Doordarshan (Goverment TV)

Film Entertainment

Public Sphere

Figure 1. Government-run TV Channel Model of Public Sphere versus Entertainment till 1990 (globalization) Source: Model developed by Murthy (2011).

between themselves, largely as a measure of convergence culture (Jenkins 2006), and it has been shown publicly on the small screen as ‘partners’ of support. As such, the participants emerging victorious in various ‘reality shows’ of the ‘other’ entertainment channels are being interviewed and encouraged to


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sing and dance, or do anything of their choice, during the ‘prime news hour’ programmes of ‘news’ channels also.

Political and Film Industry Owners Act as Chief Editors The editorial departments of the content/news of these TV channels have been overridden by the decisions of the owners whose main interests, as elaborated earlier, have been entangled with the promotion of film industry due to their preoccupation and investments in film industry. Also, some of these owners are former journalists/politicians, or both, who did not have any interest in serving the ‘public cause’ mainly. The newscasts no longer show the editors’ names or the teams that produced the news bulletin. The culture of showing the news team immediately after the telecast of news bulletin died long ago after Doordarshan ceased to exist as the main broadcaster in India post-1990s (see Doordarshan model in Figure 1). Further, most of the non-prime news bulletins end within 5–10 minutes of starting and the rest is consumed by film-related content, such as making of a particular film, or shoot round-up or gossip about heroes or heroines. Gottschlich (1980), an Austrian scholar, with reference to the work of Jurgen Habermas (1989), developed a normative framework for the analysis of journalism in which he described the journalistic loss of orientation as an outcome of the discrepancy between subjective conceptions of work and objective reality of the profession. In Schimank’s perspective, for instance, elements of institutional, systems and action theories are connected. Journalistic organizations such as editorial departments can be analyzed as both institutional complexes and collective actors (Schimank 2008, as cited in Loffelholz & Weaver 2008, p. 22). As such, it is obvious that the selection of content/news in the structure of regional TV channels is certainly not out of a judicious selection of the editors. It is neither dictated by the needs or compulsions of the society, as is assumed under social integrative action theory. However, given the fact that the politicians and the media owners are also part of the society, their involvement in influencing the content selection and production cannot be viewed in isolation of social integrative action theory (see Figure 2). For all practical purposes, most of these channels do not have well-defined responsible editors (for selection and production of news content for a specific transmission), except the owners whose accountability to ‘public sphere’, rather than responsibility to society, is dubious. Entertainment channels like ETV are seen to broadcast news reasonably despite being an entertainment channel, followed by Zee Telugu and Gemini. By using film content/film-based programmes in every programme, be it reality show using film dances as themes of competition, or a reality show using film songs or a serial using film titles of the yesteryears, the owners who are presiding on the content want to promote or cultivate a film-watching habit among the TV audience. The study found that ETV offers the maximum film-based/film-centric programmes compared to Gemini, MAA, Teja and Zee. Though one entertainment medium (such as TV) directing its own audience to watch another entertainment medium is an anathema, the interpretation is inevitable, as the owners of TV channels are common investors both in the TV channels and in the film industry (e.g. MAA TV). Therefore, mind-blowing film content is beamed across the small screen, leaving out all other possible innovations of wit and infotainment that TV channels can possibly conceive. Also, in a country where Journal of Creative Communications, 5, 3 (2010): 153–172

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Film Industry and Film Professionals

Politics and Politicians

Private Run TV Channels

Film Entertainment

Public Sphere

Figure 2. Private TV Channel’s Model of Public Sphere versus Film-based Entertainment (post-globalization) Source: Model developed by Murthy (2011).

the majority of populace are from low-skilled category, either farm or industrial labour, the film programme-based entertainment is quite low cost for the TV channels to offer perfect entertainment than investing in innovative infotainment programmes which may or may not click.


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Do Film/Film-based Programmes Affect the Public Utility/Public Service Only or Affect the Overall Programmes of All Channels? The shrinking public space on the TV and increasing singular encroachment by film-centric programmes is really alarming. In the telecast of news, Gemini News channel has been considered the most ‘news’offering channel compared to other 24x7 news channels. ETV2 is next to Gemini News channel as the former is considered as an anti-establishment and loyal opposition. The rest of the time is filled up with ‘cinema content’ which, each day, takes a new form, such as a special show on the birthdays of film actors/directors/producers, a new cinema release and a winner of a reality show based on film songs/ dances. TV9, TV5, Sakshi, ETV2 and Gemini News channels have been seen telecasting such programmes often. Second scenario is an ‘exclusive’ by calling a ‘new celebrity’ who has just made a debut performance in a recent film. TV9 leads other channels like TV5, Sakshi, ETV2 and Gemini News for inclusion of such interview programmes in their news bulletins. The anchor conducts an interview with her/him for the rest of the bulletin. Sometimes, the injuries or accidents, or incidents, from the film shooting sights are pre-recorded and added to the news programmes. Sometimes, the heroes/heroines celebrating their birthday are called to the studios and are interviewed. Where they cannot bring the birthday-celebrating heroes/heroines to the studio for any reason, including reasons like their not being amidst us any longer, the anchor speaks in a voice-over, in addition to one or more voice-over(s) of a pre-recorded programme, and explains his/her histrionics in the film career. Due to this new format, the total duration of the film content transmission in ‘news’ channels exceeds any ‘other’ entertainment channel wedded to the beaming of the film entertainment (see Tables 1 and 2). In the process, the importance of ‘public service’ or ‘public utility’ has suffered. There are so many issues which are affecting common people but none have occupied major slots of transmission viewed from the conceptual definition of ‘public sphere’ (Habermas 1989). Most of the news channels appear to be pursuing the ‘paid news’ policy with regard to beaming cinema-based promos during the prime news hours. Thussu (2007) has noted similar trends of TV broadcasting in Brazilian and Latin American channels. He noted similar broadcasting trends in Scandinavian nations too (ibid., p. 165).

Sustainability of These Film-centric Regional TV Channels in the Long Run? This question has been asked quite often by development communicators (Vilanilam 2009, p. 111). Indeed, there is no need for 24x7 ‘news’ or ‘other entertainment channels’, for many channels do not have any sponsors or advertisements for their repeat programmes beyond 10.30 pm. From 10.30 pm to next day 7 a.m., almost all channels are beaming films/film-based songs/programmes without advertisements. Even during daytime, not all 12 hours have programmes of different innovation/genre. In my observation too, I found that nearly 6 hours in the day, the programmes are repeated on any channel. As such, I arrived at an opinion that given the existing scenario of programmes, there is no need to run either ‘news’ channels or the ‘other’ channels for 24x7, though one might argue that globalization means going 24x7 without which there is no meaning to the word ‘globalization’. One point in favour of this argument from my study point of view is that the print media, in spite of globalization and increased number of pages, has not gone 24x7. There is an age-old system of working maximum between 2 p.m. to last edition printing at 1.30 a.m., with next day morning remaining unaffected. Journal of Creative Communications, 5, 3 (2010): 153–172

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While the data obtained through our observation confirmed 60–70 per cent use of film programmes and film content (out of total time of transmission) in the case of ‘other’ entertainment channels, and 70 per cent use of film programmes in the ‘news’ category of entertainment channels, the present scenario of sustaining on films/film-based programmes is not going to last for a long time (see Tables 1 and 2). Sooner or later, these channels would inevitably crumble at their own faulty design of operation with none to blame. Mainly, one observation in favour of this argument is that all these channels are beaming almost identical content. All TV channels vie with each other in showing same hero’s film/director’s films on the occasion of his birthday, etc. If it is Lata Mangeshkar’s birthday, all the channels beam her songs, both in Hindi and Telugu. When the priorities are not properly listed and programmes are not beamed or produced based on the needs of and relevance to the common man, and when a frenzied transmission of programmes carries away the media management to senseless direction, the 24x7 transmission of programmes purely based on films/film content will not be sustainable in the long run.

Theoretical Conceptualizations to Explain this Phenomenon in Indian Context Due to the preponderance of film culture both in the ‘news’ and the ‘other’ TV channels, I have made an effort to assess whether any of the known media theories, either singularly or in combination, explain this phenomenon. First, I realized that most of the TV channels in India failed to take advantage of the liberalization for offering better innovative, constructive and enlightening information programmes. Instead, they began to pursue common market-driven practices (almost all the TV channels beam same programmes and discussions, around the same time), with less manpower, less coverage of public domain and issues of deprivation accompanied by cinema as main fodder for infotainment for it is available at low cost and is relished by the lower rungs of the society. One can thus see an emergence of new-feudalism, as Habermas pointed out, bringing in neo-liberalistic hegemony practices. Here, the ‘consent is manufactured’ by repeated insertions of the film-related materials into the TV content. As such, one might tend to conclude that there is an emerging new evidence of both hegemony theory and critical theory running as two parallel strands, though paradoxical in this part of mediatization of TV programmes. As Katz (2001) characteristically puts it, most directly in positing simply, communication research ‘is about effect’. Then, the argument is whether these effects should be looked at as ‘minimalist’ or ‘significant’. The theoretical anchor points of an evolving theory of mass communication effects, according to Neuman and Guggenheim (2011: 171). Neumann and Guggenheim opined that the dominant historical narrative of communication effects research posits three stages pivoting on alternative notions of ‘significant’ versus ‘minimal effects’ (ibid.). Beginning with ‘hypodermic needle theory’, through ‘mechanistic model’ of Shannon and Weaver, Paul Lazarsfeld’s two-step flow to McCombs and Shaws’ agenda setting, Neuman and Guggenheim (ibid.) identified the involvement of all the effects models at different stages of research. They wrote: ‘Despite its pedagogical allure, the minimal effects/significant effects polarity could function as an impediment to theorizing—in essence diminishing our understanding of real progress in theory and research that has characterized the last 50 years of scholarship’ (2011: 172). I looked at the possibility of a few basic Western media theories as a means to explain the perceived phenomenon in TV channels. Since the main issue of this study is related to the repeated projection of film/film-related materials on TV screen in as many permutations and combinations, irrespective of the Journal of Creative Communications, 5, 3 (2010): 153–172

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nature of TV channel (‘news’ entertainment or ‘other’ entertainment), naturally I looked at the application of ‘magic bullet theory’ (strong effects) to this phenomenon. Though many argue that ‘magic bullet theory’ has lost relevance after Paul Lazarsfeld’s ‘minimal effects theory’, the recent arguments of the communication scholars in this area appear to be different. New generation scholars argue that strong effects may not be as direct as Lasswell predicted but might occur over a period of time as a cumulative experience over a society which might lead to manufacturing consent. Looking out from this position, there can be some relevance between repeated screening of film content on regional TV channels and the magic bullet theory. I found that the way the content programming/content selection is being done in these channels, whether the ‘other’ or ‘news’, is indicative of the influence of people/processes outside the news/edit rooms (Shoemaker & Reese 1996). Maybe, they are politicians or film industry professionals. As such, the role of social integrative action theory could not be ruled out. But social integrative action theory rests on communicating social change through proper utilization of public sphere. But, how repeated exhibition of the films/film-related clippings with reduced public sphere serve the objectives of social integrative action theory is another puzzle that remains to be solved. Further, I attempted to observe the possible implication of the uses and gratification theory (Blumler & Katz 1974) in which the shift is more on the audience than on the makers of messages which seeks to fulfil four important functions: diversion, personal relations, surveillance and personal identity. Due to globalization and increased stress for increasing personal wealth, the ‘family’ of the ‘conservative family system’ disintegrated into ‘nuclear family’ with every individual competing to earn to augment personal income and resources. This has led to loneliness, odd timings for entertainment and lack of space and time for personal fulfilment and aspirations. As such, audience might be under increased need for high consumption of film content as a cathartic process to vent out pent up feelings of emotion, love, anger, etc. One possible gain from such an interpretation of this phenomenon is that there is an apparent effort to reinforce the public opinion (Croteau & Hoynes 1997) in favour of films—old or new—at a time when the film industry has been badly affected by piracy problems or slump.

Limitations to the above Theories However, in the present study, what I observed as a pattern of development is that the present media theories (explained in the earlier section) do not have singular direct application to all these phenomena in the context of emerging media economies of Third World countries. Especially in fast emerging, dynamic and vibrant economies like India, there can be either a ‘synergistic effect’ of multiple media theories as discussed earlier, or a unique orientation of media phenomenon that is yet to be fully blown for a comprehensive level of interpretation in terms of a specific Western media theory. Though slow, the present study of this phenomenon suggests a ‘butterfly metamorphosis’ obtaining through this phenomenon. In other words, in a highly diverse and heterogeneous culture with high and low extremes of economic disparities, where the largest population belongs to the low extremes of economic disparities, the media phenomenon in India appears to assume a ‘mass culture’ (unlike the Western culture), which dictates the media houses and its investors to produce media programmes more for general (non-elite and even non-middle class) consumption of masses. Further, profit motive is one of the main characteristics of fast-growing economies which compromises both creativity and quality of Journal of Creative Communications, 5, 3 (2010): 153–172


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the programmes (Hardy 2010). Such a phenomenon in developing economies is quite common in every sphere of life, such as education, film making, TV production and fine arts. In India, for long, film and film content has been produced keeping in view the tastes of ‘mass consumption’ of lay people, especially labour or illiterate classes. In post-liberalization period, TV has come within the reach of the common man, especially of low-class economy groups, including labour groups. As such, there is an intense effort on the part of the media houses to reach the masses through film-centric programmes. In a way, this strategy has proved to be cost effective, which is also characteristic of an emerging economy. It has helped to curtail the creative costs as the media houses have almost stopped producing their own innovative programmes for the consumption of other economic groups.

Conclusions The present study throws light on how television channels-news entertainment or other entertainment— have come to be more film centric raising fundamental questions on the possible status of ‘public sphere’ in future, besides how new modes of content/programme formats are likely to cause the shrinking of ‘public sphere’ affecting further the decisions of news selection that might lead to trivialization of news and public cause. The reasons traced out for this phenomenon are explicit and evident from the news patterns of ownerships with more and more politicians and film industry professions getting into TV production. With high film production in Telugu industry, the stakes of the investors in cross-promotion of TV entertainment with film programmes has become a classic evidence of synergies proposed by Hardy (2010). While many Western communication theories come closer on one aspect of phenomenon to interpret this phenomenon, in some other aspects, they fall short of explaining this fully. As such, I can say that the present media economy and practices are being dictated by the upcoming Third World economic compulsions and need to be understood as undergoing a ‘butterfly metamorphosis’, far from the direct reach of interpretation of Western media theories dealt with earlier. References Banerjee, M., Capozzoli, M., McSweeney, L., & Sinha, D. (1999). Beyond kappa: A review of inter-rater agreement measures. The Canadian Journal of Statistics, 27(1), 3–23. Blumler, J.G., & Katz, E. (1974). The uses of mass communication. Newbury Park, CA: SAGE. Croteau, D., & Hoynes, W. (1997). Media and society. US: SAGE. Deuze, M. (2011). Media life. Media, Culture and Society, 33(1), pp. 139–148. Gottschlich, M. (1980). Journalism and the loss of orientation: Basic problems of public communicative action. Vienna, Cologne and Graz: Bohlau. Government of India. (2011). Census of India 2011—State of literacy, Chapter 6. Retrieved from http://www. censusindia.gov.in/2011-prov-results/data_files/india/Final%20PPT%202011_chapter6.pdf Habermas, J. (1989). The structural transformation of the public sphere: An inquiry into a category of bourgeois society. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Hardy, J. (2009). Cross media production. New York: Peter Lang. Hartley, J. (1999). Uses of television. London: Routledge. Herman, E. (1999). The myth of the liberal media. New York: Peter Lang. Herman, E., & McChesney, R. (1997). The global media. London: Cassell. Hoggart, R. (2004). Mass media in a mass society: Myth and reality. London: Continuum.


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C.S.H.N. Murthy is an SiRC (Singapore Internet Research Centre, NTU, Singapore) Associate and Professor in Mass Communication and Journalism at Department of Mass Communication and Journalism, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Tezpur University, Assam, India. E-mail: [email protected]
