Catch the Waves

It8217;s obviously a book that was begging to be written, and Mehta has done a remarkable job of filling in the 8220;satellite-size gap8221; in the scholarship of Indian television. But despite his bombastic subtitle, the book is not about the reception or effects of satellite news, but about the business itself 8212; right from the intricate prehistory of Indian broadcasting to Doordarshan8217;s nation-welding project and the simultaneous creep of commercial impulses, the chaotic entry of private news and clumsy attempts to regulate it, and the peculiar ways it has evolved over the last decade.

Mehta8217;s own immersion in the industry working at NDTV and Times Now at crucial, formative moments in the business gives a certain weight to his study, and an abundance of compelling anecdotal details 8212; for instance, Prannoy Roy8217;s telling story about his first private live bulletin and the resulting uproar in the PMO and among the Doordarshan faithful 8212; forcing him to bung in a five-minute delay, just to soothe their nerves.
The narrative tracks the anxieties that surrounded the satellite invasion 8220;gunpowder from the sky8221;, pointing out that television became a barometer for the government8217;s commitment to economic reform. Despite the moral panic around the culturally ruinous effects of globalisation, Mehta argues that Indian television shows up the mutually constitutive tugs of the local and the global. He quotes a marketing guru telling foreign investors to 8220;repeat after me. India is different. India is different. India is different8221;. India8217;s storied encounter with cricket has been recounted in much globalisation literature, but Mehta outdoes himself in his study of the 8220;cricketisation of Indian news8221;. Cricket is now one of the prime drivers of the Indian news industry 8212; in 2006, cricket-oriented programming was estimated to account for the greatest expenditure in newsgathering across most news channels.

The book also examines the ratings race and the unabashed shilling that goes on in responsible networks case in point: NDTV8217;s infamous Bunty and Babli newscast, the way TV structures politics 8212; elevating snappy sound-bite warriors like Arun Jaitley and Jairam Ramesh over politicians who can be unkindly described as having 8220;a face for radio8221;. But Mehta8217;s claim that India8217;s argumentative tradition makes for a uniquely argumentative television could have used some comparative assessments. Israeli television, for instance, offers interesting parallels and divergences to the Indian experience. In contrast, his analysis of the Gujarat riots as the first 24/7 mediated political event is superlative. The Gujarat riots were the first event to have 24/7 attention from television cameras. He traces the arc from TV8217;s unflinching and damning coverage, the Gujarat government8217;s protests of how television irresponsibly amplified violence and rancour, and subsequent gaming of the system with its own statements.
In short, Mehta has produced an impeccably researched, crisply written book on a momentous development of contemporary India. It has enormous ambition and is exactly what is says it is 8212; a much-needed chronicle of the past heady decade and this 8220;new and revolutionary theatre to the daily life of India8221;.

Curated For You

Dhurandhar Box Office Collection Worldwide Day 24 Update: RGV says Ranveer Singh film has kicked out South Indian movies; earns over Rs 1100 cr worldwide

Rajesh Khanna stood in line for a public toilet with a dabba; it gave him his last hit; Dimple Kapadia called his state pathetic

They called him Chinese and momo, he said hes from Tripura: In Dehradun, racial attack snuffs out young life