INDIA: One Problem with Indian Media

In the U.S. media - land of Paris Hilton interviews on primetime TV and other fluff journalism - there's plenty to criticize. And, in a series of talks I have given at various institutions and in interviews in Thiruananthapuram in Kerala and in Chennai, I have been quite critical about some aspects of the American media. But, as Basharat Peer points out in his recent CJR piece, there are also problems with Indian journalism, especially when it comes to "style over substance."

Here, in a photo I took along a major road in Chennai, is a perfect example of how much of a problem style and chasing younger viewers can be (there's at least one other giant billboard in this series by the Deccan Chronicle newspaper, with another woman in skimpy clothing) - click to magnify.

Post your thoughts below.

Comments

[Kirit Desai]

Sree,

Much ado about nothing! What substance really should be in an ad which is meant for increasing readership among youngsters? This is not a real news item that needs reality check for style over substance. It is a commercial art form only.

Paris Hilton is a news item that needs media's self-check on reporting. If any thing comparable here, it is Shilpa Shetty's choice between Richard Gere or Big Brother romps. It looks like NRI is getting a shock over the pace of changing India (for better or for worse) following in the footsteps of shocking style (Hugh Hefner Forty years ago?) of US marketing that draws people's attention without much mental exercise.

I hope I did not miss the point that you intended to explore!

Kirit Desai
Philadelphia

[Jaya Kamlani]

In India they believe this is being modern. I say there is NO CLASS in such advertising. It is degrading to women.

If media and advertisers feed trash to its viewers and readers, you get a trashy society ... eventually. If you think this ad is bad, the billboards in Bombay are much worse. That's how liberal Indian society has become. The worst part is they are exporting such trash overseas via Bollywood movies and Indian MTV. Where are the good role models in India?

Jaya Kamlani

[David Branch]

Kirit: "without much mental exercise" <--- you said it yourself.

[S]

Hi Sree, what you saw in Chennai is what unfortunately our colleagues in media are doing all across India. there is lot of coverage devoted to non issue and the way they promote their newspapers, channels and programmes is surprising, sometimes shocking. may be ignorance or rising competition in media is responsible for this growing unprofessional journalism in India.Trust me you cannot stand Hindi news channels of India and the problem is they have huge viewership.

[Raj Rangarajan]

Hi Sree:
Television reporters in India tend to constantly editorialize, and when an anchor asks or is prompted to ask a leading question (perhaps thru the ubiquitous prompt behind the ear), the reporter starts speculating as to what happened in the story. Sensationalism seems to be the goal of many a story, whatever the language. Accents on the air are as atrocious as there are dialects in India -- I guess -- and its disappointing that Indian news channels too have fallen prey to the demands of competition. Am not aware if India has a ratings system for news stories on the air.
Raj Rangarajan (Camp Chennai)

[Kirit Desai]

Jaya,

I agree that society in India is moving fast towards what we call imitation of glitter with 'trashy' taste from the developed world. Whether we like it or not, it is also branded 'modern'. Mumbai has even more racy ads than this one, thanks to Bollywood. It is a bitter pill to swallow for all of us but the truth behind such commercialization is an insatiable public desire to explore the forbidden zone and marketing media finding it an easy selling point.

One thinks that Indian media (news wise) is doing worse, but the fact is how much substance a media can deliver when there are umpteen numbers of channels running on 24 hours a day schedule with a constant competition to grab attention of the mass?

Sensationalization is the magic word. Look at how a major news channel in US felt compelled to buy first Paris Hilton interview (as a free jailbird now) at a whopping million dollars! Although the deal disappeared due to public pressure, it tells the story on the sad state of media around the globe. India will not be much different. Raj, rating system on news has rather no effect on the direction of news media going now as there is a gold rush on $$ sign rather than factoring quality of news in rating.

David, I hope your comments are not at personal levels. What I wrote was the observation on changing India, not even my opinion. Let us stick to the issue alone.

Kirit Desai

[indrani]

This is an example of advertising trying to reach the young. Graphics is a great way to grab attenion and tell the story quickly. It's not about journalism where content is paramount.
Great ad, I thought.

[Jaya Kamlani]

Indrani,

Pardon me for not agreeing with you. You think this graphical ad is a great way to tell a story to the young. Don't underestimate the young. There are many who would like to see classy ads, and there are many creative ways to tell both sides of a story: You could show a profile of a man and a woman; a black car next to a white or gray car; or an apple and an orange. There are many ways to show opposing or different views. One does not have to stoop to low levels to make a point, such as this ad and many others worse than this.

If you must sensationalize, take the high road and be creative with your approach. The problem is that when India tries to imitate the West, it often emulates the weaknesses, not the strengths of the West.

Jaya Kamlani

[Kirit Desai]

There is one more twist in the story. Deccan Chronicle alongwith Asian Age is owned by a Saudi Arabian Company with Editorial Leadership under M.J.Akabar. A foreign ownership would be very aggressive for circulation growth.

Now there is one question: Would such ownership allow similar ad campaign in their respective home country or in any part of the Middle East region? The answer would be regressively negative.

Just a thought.

Kirit Desai

[Vivek Gupta]

the ad's not shocking, but it's just another example of advertising in India hitting another low. I think this billboard has more to do with the degrading standards of the advertising industry here rather than journalism.

the ad assumes that all that the young lot is interested in is SEX. even if that is the case, they would be in for a major disappointment when, encouraged by the billboard, they pick up a copy of deccan chronicle and find the paper does not show "both sides."

In case the youth is not that dumb, they would just look at the billboard, say 'wow, cool ad, hot chick', and move on, without bothering to check out the paper.. because most of them don't read the papers anyway.

And the intelligent ones of the lot would already know which paper they like to read and why. So, this attempt to titilate won't move them at all.

Two things here: there's no harm in being racy and there's no harm in showing women (or men) as sex objects... it's a good and effective way to sell. Not sure if it's effective to sell a general interest daily.

[Eddie]

Two things struck about the woman in the ad:
1) she is light skinned with Euro features
2) she is clad skimpily (maybe she's at a beach).

The point is she is not at all representive of the typical Tamil woman - dark (chocolatey brown), plain looking and covered in cloth from head to foot.

Therein lies the tragedy of the Indian advertisers - fixated on light skin and blindly copying the West. Bollywood is full of it. That Indians have never been noted for their originality is amply confirmed by this ad. Furthermore, it betrays the unspoken, innate feelings of inferiority that Indians harbour and the anxiety to be accepted by the West.
The East Asians don't have this problem - they are supremely confident.

Eddie

[Dr. P.S.Sreekantan Thampi]

I read the observations and comments of many of our friends on Sree's statement. There are many things erring when we look at the reality of situations. Apart from the fact, for instance the hoarding which just could not be digested, many of our scribes seem to be over indulging in issues which almost are not issues at all. The sensations, which someone weave out are just escorted to one end of the corner leaving the readers wondering whether it was all that worth spending time to read and follow up.

Though we claim to have a rise in GDP and boom in economy, the villages and the villagers depict the other side of progress. It is a pity that such segments are ignored and valuable time and space let out for gossips, sensationalism, and boring pieces.

When will justful journalism takes its finer shape.

[Auditi]

I have long been disgusted by the world of advertising and this is no less disheartening.
In India, they tend to mimic the worst of what they see in the Western world.
This is a prime example. It's pointless and pathetic. After all, what does this foreigner in her skimpy clothes say about the Deccan Chronicle's coverage?
I am glad I am not a reporter there.
This is also why I like to go to serious publications like The Hindu for my dose of desi news...

[Gopal Sivani]

Yes, I can clearly see the problem with this troublesome ad. The words "Get Both sides of the story" are clearly misplaced thus rendering the ad somewhat ineffective.

[Uruj P.]

This is so funny. And so sad. But it only proves the point that I attempt to make in so many repeated discussions with Desi-Americans here about the obsession with India/Pakistan to become "modern" and "westernized" that they seems to lean towards the trashy & cheap image instead of the educated and classy image of Americans. This is not only taking place in locations like Chennai or Bombay. Here, on our streets in America, Indian and Pakistani immigrants are so desperate to be "American" that they assimilate and emulate the kind of American crowd that is often looked down upon. (i.e. girls wearing mini skirts and tops that you would usually see on a hooker or boys wearing the kind of clothes that gangsters wear.)

[Jaya Kamlaqni]

Uruj,

I agree with you that the promiscuity we see among the young in India is also evident among some of our Indian youth in the U.S. Like you said, "they emulate the kind of American crowd that is looked down upon."

- So how can we steer our youth away from the “trashy” ways and help them become more educated, sophisticated, cultured and more confident of themselves?
- People tend to become drifters and go for ‘trashy’ ways because of their low self-esteem. So how do we help our youth build their self-esteem?

We need good role models not just in India, but in the U.S too. We would hate to see our youth squander their lives when there are so many opportunities out there. To think what some of us sacrificed to come to the U.S and rough it out, and then see our youth waste their lives is so disheartening. All the more reason for us to be a big brother/sister or a mentor to our youth – whether they are of Indian origin or not.

Jaya Kamlani

[Jaya Kamlani]

Uraj,

I agree with you that the promiscuity we see among the young in India is also evident among some of our Indian youth in the U.S. Like you said, "they emulate the kind of American crowd that is looked down upon."

- So how can we steer our youth away from the “trashy” ways and help them become more educated, sophisticated, cultured and more confident of themselves?
- People tend to become drifters and go for ‘trashy’ ways because of their low self-esteem. So how do we help our youth build their self-esteem?

We need good role models not just in India, but in the U.S too. We would hate to see our youth squander their lives when there are so many opportunities out there. To think what some of us sacrificed to come to the U.S and rough it out, and then see our youth waste their lives is so disheartening. All the more reason for us to be a big brother/sister or a mentor to our youth – whether they are of Indian origin or not.

Jaya Kamlani

[Lopa Ghosh]

All of the above comments cover an eceletic range of social concerns and convey a sense of angst about the degeneration of media trending and popular symbolism as it were. But I'd like to point out another far more distressing layer... gender stereotyping in media. When I look at all the issues discussed above, nationalism, media, economic growth vs cultural representation etc, I am surprised that commodification/eroticizing of women in media - the single most crucial issue, is not taken up. I point this out to stress on the marginalization of gender even as a discourse – be it academic, over a coffee or as a social concern.
With respect to the billboard, my outrage stems from the fact that even as we tout post feminism and talk cheerily of women who have broken the glass ceiling, we allow the media to train the ‘male gaze’ on us and continue to be Hitchcockian voyeurs.

[Kaustubh Kulkarni]

This ad very much says about how the fairer sexx is treated in the media houses. The females do know about this; still you can find such females in the so called engish and hindi "national media". These females are ready to sacrifice anything for a better position in the media houses. Many of the bosses feel that a person who is reluctant to give an interview says yes to a request when you show partly "both sides of the story". If this is the situation what will happen of the media .......?

[Manzoor Khan]

Can't expect much from a tabloid (yes DC is a tabloid) which is read by Hyd'badis and perhaps a little by Chennaites for page 3 and classified ads.

[tilak]

sex sells and that is what the ad treis to exploit. whether we like it or not whether we agree or not. Sex sells. that is why a playboy has survived all these years and a debonair is doing business.

[Contrarian]

Ok, here's a politically incorrect view. If I'm the owner of the Deccan Chronicle and all I wanted to do was to increase sales, will the ad above help?

Whether we like it or not, sex is a great sales strategy. Always has been and always will be. This is true in India, in the US, and in every country of the world. Today, yesterday and 5,000 years ago.

The form and style may differ but deep down it's the same.

Example: desis from the 1950s keep raving about the famous Dilip Kumar/ Madhubala scene from Mughal-e-Azam where he's caressing her w/ a feather, which seems a far cry from the Deccan C ad above.

However, only stylistically. Otherwise, they're both appealing to the same old force...

And as any evolutionary biologist will tell you, there ain't nothing in the world more powerful.

[Jaya Kamlani]

Dear Lopa,

You mentioned: "I am surprised that commodification/eroticizing of women in media - the single most crucial issue, is not taken up....." I believe many of us commented on the sex exploitation in India. But as Tilak stated: "Sex sells." And that's the problem. We know there is a market for all this trash, even among the educated.

How do we drag people away from their promiscuous ways and lure them to something that is equally enticing, but that will help them grow. How about challenging our youth to something bigger than themselves? How about promoting award-winning competitions among South Asian youth such as: various forms of art (writing, drama, music, painting, ...), science/technology, sports, community affairs, etc.

Commenting or debating on these issues is one thing, but we also need solutions and effective ways to implement them. For example, shall we boycott products that sell sex? That could be one effective way, provided people follow through with it. We the people have the power to change the way companies market and sell their products. When corporations realize who really has the power, they will change their ways. And when media talks about celebrity scandals, such as Paris Hilton or a Bollywood star, we have the remote control to tune off that television channel. And when they see women sexually exploited or compromised, we hope our young and old stalwart men will remember that women of all ages should be respected, because they too have mothers, aunts, wives, sisters, daughters and girl-friends.

Dear Contrarian,
I challenge you to turn off movies with erotic scenes and read a good book. I would like to remind you that women are in a much better position than they were in the Mughal-e-Azam days, although there are always men out there who would like to see women continue playing a subordinate role. And if you think there is nothing in the world more powerful than sex, I also challenge you to do some community service. The gratification you get from providing such humanitarian service is far longer lasting than watching sex appeal ads or movies. Try this a few weekends and let me know if you have had a change of heart.

Jaya Kamlani

[than]

Mam, this is just a tip of the ice berg.there are many more.. its not only the media which creates this problems but the real problem lies within our society which encourages this kind of cheap media publicity.we the people need to be more assertive in our actions.media has its own problem,they need revnue which comes from us..they'll serve wat the consumer demands..sad but thts the reality.. our media is in such degradtory position tht they dont have any othr bright ideas which will attract the viewwers.. this also shows how our society have fallen in our moral values. its not just hoarding.. its evrywhere..bus,train... evry eye looks for an object sex object!!! many ppl speak of this, but how many really belive in this moral ideas they speak off... our society is filled with hypocrisy.. if we need to clean our society..lets strt with our own backyards our family..teach the kids of marality from thier childhood days so tht they dont depart from wen they grow up.. the present situation is,evn if the parents see teir kids doin wrong they'll protect them which later creates a nuances for the society.. so we need to clean our backyard in order to clean the coutry!!
.......................than.......

[visa ravindran]

Paucity of imagination and perversity of thought combine to produce trash.And our media is full of it.
Our media-- print, film and television have lowered themselves to unbelievable levels.Surprisingly, of the three, only film is showing some signs of moving towards relevance/ seriousness/ aesthetic sense.[ Chak De, Parsania being cases in point.]
Sadly even the trash is unoriginal, copied from a totally irrelevant context.
Girls are outstripping boys, men fear women's progress and the backlash is frightening for all.
Let the race to the wrong goals end and sanity prevail with a true intent to understand and set right.
It is too tiring / boring to repeat the same things over and over.

[panditjugalkishoreshastri]

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN

REMEMBER THIS:

if a man takes his shirt off, it's indecent exposure. If a woman takes her top off, it's seduction. seduction is art. And life imitates art more than art imitates life.
Besides, even bad art has best intention behind it. Art makes life a sacrament and not a speculation. So please don't speculate. A semi-exposed female body is embodiment of art and celebrated through europen renaisance, reformation, right through victorian times. Even cherubic women were idolized by the famed Ruben...and naked.

When art is invoked into mass merchandising it is the apex of a culture's achievement. Merchandising success depends of how this art tells, yells and sells. First in inspires, then interests and persuades and, lo and behold, SOLD.

a traiditonal indian inability to sell merchandise derives from the laziness of their tradition. With a penchant for parroting an antiquated morality, Indians of your variety, should not even be allowed to question the true intent of art. Move on and let the merchandise sell.

A woman's promiscuity is a prelude to sexual emancipation embodied in the text of Grace Matalious' Peyton Place, the book that liberated american woman from sexual bondage and co-founded the feminist movement alongside gloria stanhem, angela davies, the annenberg woman who funded manufacture of first birth control pill in switzerland because america wouldn't have that pill produced on its soil. America still is profoundly puritanical is some pockets yet it has the world's largest porn production. Morality is an attitude people adopt towards people they hate. Do you guys hate each other. Shame on you. You sound like unemployed Moralists ready to join the Zwingli order of priesthood. Priests are the ones who learn to say things when they are 18 and they keep repeating the same things when they are 80.

There are places where you can recite from religous books. Forums like this certaintly aren't the right outlet. Find a temple's website.

perversity is the privilege of the rich and, therefore, trendy. be there or be square.

[panditjugalkishoreshastri]

men go to their graves with sexual urges in place. women are done with those urges by menopusal 40's. No wonder women want men to get used to ladies, who have become retired women. But what about man's sexuality. He dedicates half his life to a woman who is useless as a woman. beware of pious pntification by retired women. she has an axe to grind.

[panditjugalkishoreshastri]

TO WHOMSOEVER THIS MAY CONCERN:

That someone has long been digusted by the world of advertising (i think it is auditi) is blessed because it's folly to be wise when ignorance is bliss. Her ancestral diet of daal chawal probably continues uninterrupted by thousands of food packages that come with advertised storage or freezing instructions, caloric intake info and the misceallneous recipes that boxes have printed on them. Damned advertising. She probably still uses the old hasselblad camera with an arc light and a black cape with herself under it when shooting a picture. Because camera advertising disgusts her. Her major author is dr. suesse who illustrates and prints in large type literature like one fish two fish red fish blue fish. She does this because she doesn't read advertisements about books and depends on advice of the elders.

Advertising sells 85% more consumer goods. It promotes consumer spending. 75% of america's GDP comes from consumer spending. I am sure at least 10% of it is created by female models used in advertising. Imagine 10% of a $13 trillion economy. Still a staggering amount of 1300 billion dollars. Advertising yells, tells and sells. Advertising creates social momentum that reminds women it's unhealthy to be fat and exhorts them to look like a million dollars just like the role model in the ad. Role models disseminate messages subliminallly. It's usually the least attractive women who take great umbrage at notice given to pretty ones in ads. But you can't turn the tide. Advertising will yell tell and sell...whether you can afford it or not. If you can't, they will inform your through ads of the markdowns. Advertising reminds you that it's never too late to be who you might have been. Stop parroting those stock lines with religious repition. NOW THAT IS DISGUSTING.

In lower society, everyone shares the same opinion. To use one's own head doesn't have the safety and security of numbers. In lower society it's almost like a mission to organize community's ignorance into public opinion, NOW THAT IS DISGUSTING.