Political irrelevance of Mainstream English Media

Is the English media relevant to Indian politics? Is it possible for a politician to succeed without the blessings and the support of this so called “powerful channel”. Is it true that English Mainstream media set the agenda for discussion in the Nation’s power circles? Is their endorsement a necessary requirement for political parties and leaders to reach out to the people?  Enough has been said and written about the partisanship of the mainstream English media in India Now for a potential PM candidate, how he/she can reach out to the greater Indian audience given the hostility towards the challenger and open support to the incumbent government by mainstream media.

But in terms of reach, English news channel is miniscule. According the TAM data, English news channels accounted for a negligible 0.4% of the National viewership. Then why are English news channel given so much prominence. The reasons are twofold, one it caters to the elite of the society. The political class at the centre, the bureaucratic class and Management class of the Indian firms are all viewers of English media and hence it caters to the audiences who have significant influence on future direction of the nation. Secondly, it is the trend setter for national and international news. Although regional news channel dominate the news spectrum, they generally lack national content. These channels focus on in depth analysis of regional news while expending little resources on national issues. Hence these channels focus narrowly on the top news segments that are trending in the English news media in their national news sections and segments. These two reasons enable the English media to assume a role greater than their actual capabilities and also have created the perception of their importance in setting the national agenda.

Now as I have written in the beginning, can someone succeed nationally without the help and support of English media? Can English media’s censure means political dead-end for parties and leaders who are considered by the English media as pariah. The answer to the above questions is a definite NO. English media can be easily sidestepped and bypassed to reach out to people and set the national agenda.

First of all, let me explain the importance of Television as a medium. According to recent TAM data, Out of 231 Mn households in India, 148 Mn (64%) households own a television out of which, 126 Mn (55%) have access to Cable or satellite connection. The penetration of Television in Urban India is even more significant, 69 Mn households have access to 78 Mn households in Urban India, amounting to 88% of the total household population with a further 63 Mn (81%) access to Cable or Satellite connection. Thus Television is increasingly playing a greater role in the life of ordinary Indian with an average Indian spending 1&1/2 hour each day watching Television. Hence Television is increasingly becoming a media with the widest reach and thus greater potential to influence and drive the thoughts and agenda of the common man. Therefore this perceived “monopoly” and hold by English media network needs to be countered to evolve the political discourse in India to a more mature and sensible discussion where all opinions and viewpoints are allowed to be aired without bias.

The approach to be followed is two pronged pincer strategy which involves the utilization of the social media and the increasing penetration and prominence of regional news media outlets (includes Hindi news channels and state specific channels). Starting with the regional news media outlets, in the past few years, a lot of regional news outlets have spawned catering to various political ideologies. According to TAM Data India has one of the highest numbers of news channels in the world with almost 150 channels in the genre. TAM data suggests the viewership share of regional news channels has grown by 15-20 per cent. Hindi and regional news channels account for 7.1% of the total viewership as compared to 0.4% of the English news channels.  Therefore regional news channel possess greater reach and also more relevant content which will enable them to wield potentially greater influence on their audience. This fact has been evident by the various anecdotal evidences that I have witnessed, where people are seen eagerly discussing such hypothetical events such as the end of the world, aliens and so on and so forth.

Hence it is necessary for parties to reach out to these regional news channels in order to present their viewpoints to large swathes of the common public. Here a potential PM candidate can establish himself in a manner; no English media outlet could do even if it campaigned for him/her 24x7. Simple gestures like being offered to be interviewed on the regional news channel are enough to create the buzz and the hype necessary to create the interest in the candidate. The news channel might not be politically inclined towards the candidate or the party, but any regional news channel will be willing to offer the candidate a fair chance of interview unlike the national English channels for the fear of losing the golden opportunity of interviewing national political leader to an opposing channel. Hence the pure drive for TRPs would allow the issue of political bias and driven agenda’s to be sidestepped. Secondly appearing on regional news network would enhance the credibility of the said candidate, since he/she would appear to be accessible and the local anchor will be able to raise the relevant local concerns in such a hypothetical interview, thus giving the candidate the opportunity to offer solutions to issues that are most relevant to the audience. Thirdly even if the regional news network is of opposing political ideology, it would still debate and discuss on the policies, success and shortcomings of the candidate. This would help in creating a healthy discussion among the public which would be beneficial for the candidate since it would bring into the fore his/her capabilities and weakness to the public. The candidate can wisely exploit the opportunity in his favor by playing on his strengths and admitting his weakness and promising to work on it. Though at the end how far he/she will be able to convince the public is different matter all together, the option of getting an opportunity to be presented is a far better one than where the candidate is entirely side stepped and undemocratically decided by the elite to be unfit before even the public even got an opportunity to think about him/her.

Coming to the second prong of the pincer strategy, social media has in the past few years made English media almost irrelevant in terms of reaching out to audiences. This can be seen in the global decline in the advertising spending on Television and the rapid growth of online ad spending by marketing agencies. India ranks 3^rd in terms of number of Facebook users in the world, with an estimated 61 Mn Facebook users accounting for 5.24% of the India’s population.  India also ranks 6^th in terms of twitter users with 1.08 Mn users accounting for 0.1% of India’s population. These statistics when compared with the reach that the English media in India possess (0.4% of the population), highlights the ease with which they can be by-passed, hence at the same time explaining the paranoia and the subtle attempts by the mainstream media to restrict and muzzle social media.  Facebook alone has a reach 12 times more than that of the English media, let alone other social media outlets, like twitter, blogging sites, etc.

Thus here lies the salvation for the current monopolies exercised by the media outlets. Political parties and leaders can easily utilize the growing reach of social media. Social media also demographically consists of significant population of the youth, who are critical for the establishment of long term relationships. Hence it is critical for political parties/candidates to establish significant presence in social media. There is also the growing credibility with regards to the content available in online forums, since any fictional posting is immediately repudiated by other members and also the speed with which information is being decimated makes them highly attractive for gaining information. All these factors would imply that social media in the near future would become a really powerful platform for shaping the course of national discussions and agenda, taking over this role from the elitist English media who currently exercise monopolistic power with regards to the same. Also in terms of the audience that caters to English media is similar in profile to the one that utilizes social media, in other words social media can easily replicated the platform offered by national English media. A potential candidate can easily leverage this to establish himself and create a brand with respect to him/her-self; the same logic would also apply for political formulations. Secondly social media is unregulated and hence can easily help in promotion of an unbiased profile of the candidate/party and viewers are presented with wide ranging choice of opinions, facts and analysis ranging from highly supportive arguments to highly negative ones. This encourages discussions and further churning about the topic bringing wider awareness about the policies, issues and context of the candidate and the party. This democratic form of publicizing also creates greater trust among the audience. Thus once again the candidate/party has (given that they are indeed apt and suitable for the responsibility that they are aspiring for) got a fair and unbiased chance of presenting themselves to public, which is anytime far better than complete vilification and admonition of them by Mainstream media.

Hence this two pronged strategy of reaching out to vast public through regional news network and social media can make the necessity of having favorable standing with the main stream media highly irrelevant one. Therefore the English media, who are highly biased and partisan in their coverage, can be easily be worked over by candidates/parties that are at the receiving end of such propaganda. A masterful use of these two alternate media coupled with an focused and targeted execution of presenting their views can not only counter the venomous propaganda driven against them but can also become a vital tool in ensuring their victory. These two media will increasingly shape the nature of the discussion in the nation and the way agenda’s are set.  Thus the future holds the capability to completely sidestep the mainstream media, which could force an introspection in them resulting in it becoming a more open and democratic platform. This would be ideal for the democratic process as a whole.