Being back to writing blog after a year almost and the topic is a toe crushing yorker to a batsman who is woefully out of match practice !! So , I expect my readers to pardon me of any level of professional excellency or languid ease which my write ups generally have . I am still scratching my head as to how I would frame and build the discussion.
Two counts :
Firstly - am not even remotely an expert in giving any judgment in this very delicately hanging topic which is relevant yet controversial and ceases to die for quite some time .
Secondly - I have been asked to think and think and rethink on this topic by some one whom I respect adore and admire so much that it became impossible not to adhere but the gentleman is from media himself and his views I have always been eager to hear . So for some one who is an insider to seek an outsider's view not only is astonishing but intriguing . This write up is an aftermath of that. But definitely not an expert view . This is perhaps one of the few topics where in spite of dirtying my hand the work may not be done .
The complication of this topic arises from the fact that - one appears to be the offshoot of the other but now takes over effectively or threatens to take over from the other . Just like T20 is a shorter version of 50 overs ODI , Web has taken off from Print but the stark difference is where as both T20 & ODI are hugely popular and draws crowd along similar lines , Web has posed some serious threats to the survival of the classical and more orthodox Print Media .
Let us examine what are these two :
Print Media
For the genre that we belong and slightly older and younger flexing on both sides , people who are dangerously swinging to late thirties to those who are nearing 50 or have crossed it comfortably and are not tired of saying " we have seen it all " print media is the old bhelpuri chaat that used to be and still is sold outside Priya Cinema - old ,archaic yet comfortable and something one cannot forget to associate with Priya . And here in lies the problem - the world which we grew up comfortably is not the world which we see now . The basics have changed dynamics very very fast. One of the major reasons why Print is facing such a threat is the genre change - every one wants everything fast and at the tip of his/her fingers without spending money or time . Options have increased and with it has decreased the patience level.
To define Print media in a lay mans' term without any iota of advertising jargon - the 15" /18" broadsheet and the inside pages that one used to cling to in the morning and in middle class homes the chase for the most desirable object in the morning was this . The newspaper in black and much later the supplementary in color offset was till late 2000 's (2009-10 to be precise )the most important thing in life in the morning in all or majority households with a simmering cup of tea/coffee. This writer still remembers the orgasmic pleasure of reading India's maiden triumph in 1983 CWC & 1985 Benson & Hedges Cup win in Melbourne the next day although live broadcast was available to select few who had the privilege of having an idiot box at their houses.
Lets go deep into the dissection - Print media to me is the long lost treasure which was found after a lot of search and which was treasured and kept closely guarded. The pleasure of reading an action packed cricket match mostly dissected by Gautam Bhattacharya ( no shame in admitting that we grew up in a time when ABP and Anandabazar/Telegraph was very heavy on middle class bongs' mind and Bartaman/Aajkal were a very distant second/third was so ethereal that it still stands fresh in mind some close to three and a half decade later. An important fact that has to be admitted here is the quality of journalism more specifically sports journalism those days in Kolkata were of the highest order something which no one could have matched in other peer newspapers across India. May be only the HINDU and Indian Express to an extent were flirting with some competition on one of case basis. The other factor which attributed to this print mania was absence of any competition from any other form like Digital . Electronic had started to make a very feeble presence with Narottam Puri & Anupam Gulati making a case for themselves here and there.
Even the advent of Cable and then TATA SKY in 1996 and 2006 respectively couldn't dampen the existence of print media what it did in the late 2000's around 2009 when the rise of WEB seriously started threatening the age old reliable PRINT media.
Web Media
The web started so suddenly and spread like Cancer before you knew the patient was dead or terminally ill - in this case the effected was the PRINT . Web to be fair hit India and WB around 2009-10 to be fair if am not wrong at the same time when smartphones sell also started to go through the roof.
If you look at it superficially the answer you get is : WEB has come to stay and PRINT will breathe its last in next few years or is in ventilation. WEB is the IN THING etc etc. However a deep and very detailed study will reveal some startling facts :
To define Print media in a lay mans' term without any iota of advertising jargon - the 15" /18" broadsheet and the inside pages that one used to cling to in the morning and in middle class homes the chase for the most desirable object in the morning was this . The newspaper in black and much later the supplementary in color offset was till late 2000 's (2009-10 to be precise )the most important thing in life in the morning in all or majority households with a simmering cup of tea/coffee. This writer still remembers the orgasmic pleasure of reading India's maiden triumph in 1983 CWC & 1985 Benson & Hedges Cup win in Melbourne the next day although live broadcast was available to select few who had the privilege of having an idiot box at their houses.
Lets go deep into the dissection - Print media to me is the long lost treasure which was found after a lot of search and which was treasured and kept closely guarded. The pleasure of reading an action packed cricket match mostly dissected by Gautam Bhattacharya ( no shame in admitting that we grew up in a time when ABP and Anandabazar/Telegraph was very heavy on middle class bongs' mind and Bartaman/Aajkal were a very distant second/third was so ethereal that it still stands fresh in mind some close to three and a half decade later. An important fact that has to be admitted here is the quality of journalism more specifically sports journalism those days in Kolkata were of the highest order something which no one could have matched in other peer newspapers across India. May be only the HINDU and Indian Express to an extent were flirting with some competition on one of case basis. The other factor which attributed to this print mania was absence of any competition from any other form like Digital . Electronic had started to make a very feeble presence with Narottam Puri & Anupam Gulati making a case for themselves here and there.
Even the advent of Cable and then TATA SKY in 1996 and 2006 respectively couldn't dampen the existence of print media what it did in the late 2000's around 2009 when the rise of WEB seriously started threatening the age old reliable PRINT media.
Web Media
The web started so suddenly and spread like Cancer before you knew the patient was dead or terminally ill - in this case the effected was the PRINT . Web to be fair hit India and WB around 2009-10 to be fair if am not wrong at the same time when smartphones sell also started to go through the roof.
If you look at it superficially the answer you get is : WEB has come to stay and PRINT will breathe its last in next few years or is in ventilation. WEB is the IN THING etc etc. However a deep and very detailed study will reveal some startling facts :
- As I mentioned earlier above, this has much to do with genre change . When we grew up, as options were minimum to zero and quality of journalism was fabulous , Print was the only option. That remained even when Television came in 1982 and Private channels in 1996. Print for a very long period of time remained the only or major option of satiating one's thirst for news. The smart phone and web changes all this.
- The changing genre changed all this. People who were growing up between 2000-2010 had already tasted the flavor of TV and private channels and were very fast getting used to news channels , entertainment at the push of a button. Getting things easy in life sometimes is not a great boon. The good effects of technology can sometimes turn into an evil one. The tendency to get things at a jiffy ,made this generation crazy about instant gratification . And its this gratification which I feel strongly gave birth to the WEB media and the news' apps which very inadvertently drove nail in the coffin for the more conventional form of media. The push of a button and you get whatever news u want coupled with notifications from these channels gave a strong urge in life to replace print media with web . News was fast , furious and more importantly free.
- People now started using apps more and the pressure on Print the conventional form began. No longer would one have to wait for next day for the news ,even if the scribe was Ritchie Benaud in association with AFP or Tony Greig with Reuters. These blokes were not ready to wait ..
The next decade has steadfastly seen the rise of web and fall of circulation /print with added poison in the form of rise in newsprint prices which has forced more owners to shuttle towards WEB . Its sleek, convenient and most importantly FREE.
Cut 2 to the present scenario a decade later :
Media across India are sharply divided over the aspect of what to choose - Print over Web or the over whelming web over Print . The main burning issue now bugging Indian media is : the news in web is free but how authentic is it ? And how much damage is being caused by the web to the print ?
For starters - Print is price . We pay money /subscription to buy a newspaper and hence the liability to serve quality, breaking and truthful news lie with the Publisher . In web , its totally free although you have some ads there but there is no liability to true news. Hence the fake news concept in web media slowly starts to show its ugly head . As of now the apps are free and hence there is no onus to the truthfulness of the news served .
The challenge and the dichotomy
The biggest plus of Web is their biggest minus. The speed at which an app pops to give you the breaking news is the same speed at which a "fake" news gets viral. Also the cost of web is minimal compared to Print hence they are hailed as the future . However here lies the dichotomy . The cost of managing web channel still now in India is managed by the print house. Now what does that mean?
It means to put simply one thing - The same web which we crave for which is free & fast is sponsored by the P&L of the print center . So this effectively becomes a sub set of the main print business which then becomes its' biggest adversary . People want web , read news in app, but the app business is getting its money from the main print business which it is trying to displace as the main source of news . Now isn't that too slimy and confusing? Its like I am paying out of my pocket for your business but your business is in contradiction to my line of business and effectively kills my business.
So how do we address this - Western world addresses it very simply . By subscribing the news. You pay for the news you read on app , so that the web makes its own money and is not dependent on the parent print channel and both survive well. Problem lies once again in nature of Indian genre psychology . We want fast news , free news and the moment the channel is subscribed we move to another "free" app where we may be dished out fake news but we would be OK. This then would be a dysfunctional approach of ours to morality and life.
My take is very simple and I am not playing a devils' advocate here - If you want news faster than the conventional method you have to pay for it. No lunch comes free in life . I know for sure that Indian population in spite of a radical change of thoughts about media wont pay money to read news but its in the interest of both print and web and future of Indian media that web should be made paid. Indian population need to mature beyond their age to know that only paid news exists across the globe. A day will come surely when Print will not be able to meet the expenses of the web and web which is an offshoot will get the hit . Hence the very theory of Web becoming a nemesis to Print by being its offshoot will totally stop. Print for all its golden virtues will again become the darling of all and sundry although the genre which I spoke earlier I will have my doubt whether they will have the patience to read paper.
Thus my final take is Indian educated population which boasts of Intellectual morons and so called not so morons will change their behavioral pattern and will tilt to subscription which is the only way to save both " real " news and future of print . But if Indian genre refuses to pay for free and fast news and continue to use app then a day is no sooner to be seen where the print house will no longer be able to meet the expense of the Web portal and web will die its death. The search for free news will be sought after from one portal to another till it will die eventually with a lot of rubbish . The imminent looming danger of Print will cease to exist and the good old days of Print Media will be back. Or will they be back really in the age of increasing Newsprint price ? The answer lies in the question.
No comments:
Post a Comment