Guest Lecture: Dr. Ambrish Saxena

The Department of Journalism hosted a guest lecture on 3^rd November, 2017, conducted by Dr. Ambrish Saxena, Head, Department of Journalism for Zee Academic Institute, Noida. Dr. Saxena has served as a journalist with three prominent dailies including The Pioneer and three Hindi Newspapers including Aaj Tak. The lecture was organized on ‘The Patterns of State Ownership in Radio’.

The session started with Dr. Saxena touching upon some of the basics of Journalism, the first being that as a journalism student, one should be exposed to all mediums, extensively, and that change in technology has increased mediums for dissemination of information, however, every medium has its own advantages and one cannot substitute the other, only supplement it.  He then went on to talk about the contemporary era as an era of convergence, and adding to this, he gave the example of ‘Integrated News Rooms’ that may be understood as a central point that cater to a channels- Television, Newspaper, Radio and Digital Mediums, all from one central newsroom.  

Elucidating on the distinction between Digital and Social Media, Dr. Saxena said that on one hand, where Conventional Mediums have gatekeepers, including the digital websites/applications curated by Media Houses, the news aired by these channels/mediums may be considered valid with due verification. On the other hand, there is social media that is unregulated with the absence of a gatekeeper, and hence cannot be relied on completely without checking the authenticity of the same. For example, he talked about facebook and whatsapp, and how it is easy to circulate information on these mediums without any gatekeepers. He then emphasized on the need for attribution, and said that news without attribution should not be trusted. And as a journalist, one must check the source of the news before trusting it. 

Dr Ambrish Saxena at the lecture

News, in the 21st century is so live, that there is a tough competition and every second counts. The Television medium fights for (a) speed and (b) reliability. Radio,  as explained by Dr. Saxena, traces its roots back to 1926, when proper broadcasting began. However, the Indian Policy concerning Radio Broadcasting does not permit news broadcasting by radio channels.  The radio was in control of the government (Information and broadcasting Ministry) until 1997.  Talking about the emergency period, he highlighted how AIR & DD, were misused by the government, and hence a need was felt for the autonomy of these organs. The Congress government, as explained by Dr. Saxena, was in favor of controlling electronic media under the umbrella of ‘National Interest’, and the Opposition wanted the bodies to be autonomous. After multiple proposals and rejections, the bill for autonomy of these organs was passed by a Non-congress government in 1997, almost 20 years after the first introduction of the bill in the parliament. Then, Prasar Bharati was established, independent from the government, which took over AIR (All India Radio) and DD (Doordarshan). 

The lecture proceeded with Dr. Saxena making the students realize the void that the absence of a Broadcasting Bill created in our country. He stated that in 1997, the government of India created the draft for the Broadcasting Bill, however, the bill hasn’t been passed until present day. As a result of this, policy making in radio is still ad-hoc, but in lieu of the same, TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) has made a significant difference. It regulates broadband, satellite connections, Radio, Telecom ( Cable & wireless networks) etc. and has been pursuing the government to allow private Radio channels to broadcast news independently, however, the private players are only permitted to re-run the news bulletins aired by All India Radio. The request is denied on the basis that frequencies pose a threat to National Security and hence Prasar Bharati enjoys monopoly over News Broadcasting and Current Affairs Programmes broadcasted on all radio channels.

Dr. Vartika Nanda, speaking at the lecture

Talking about the structure of news in the three conventional mediums, i.e; Print, Radio and Television; Dr. Saxena made clear distinctions in their structure and format. A reporter, writing for the print medium must remember that the story is only meant for reading and must follow the inverted pyramid structure. Referring to the 70’s and 80’s, he said that the only attribution given to newspaper articles was ‘By Correspondent’ or ‘By Staff Reporter’, and no names were used, as the media houses believed the credibility of the newspaper to be above the reporter writing for it. Today, however, the print medium has adopted from the Television medium -  the feature of using names, and so, all newspaper articles attribute the name of the reporter covering the news story as well as their email id, which not only establishes a two-way connection between the reader and reporter, but also adds authenticity and accountability to the report.

Unlike Print, a Radio story is carried by two persons- (1) The reporter covering it, and (2) The anchor/news presenter. Hence, its structure is different from that of the print medium and is divided into 3 parts: (a) Anchor Piece, (b) Bites, and (c) Voice Cast. In 2001, AIR decided to introduce a new format in radio news, which was to use the voice of the correspondent while presenting news bulletins, and launched ‘FM Gold’, the channel identity being Bollywood songs and news and current affairs.  The advantages of this medium as compared to Television, as highlighted by Dr. Saxena, are that it doesn’t require the reporter to go to any external spot, and voice cast can be recorder from the studio,  by simply calling the reporter.

Television, much like radio, has 3 parts of production: (a) Anchor Piece, (b) Bites, and (c) Piece to camera. After the inception of Television, as talked about by Dr. Saxena, Radio became obsolete and it’s listenership dropped drastically. In the Television medium, ‘Piece to camera’ is of utmost importance for the viewer to be able to relate to the reporter. Receptivity is strong as the news is coming directly from the reporter and the backdrop of this piece is usually the spot where the event has occurred.

Dr. Saxena then opened the floor to questions and a few students from the second and third year batch asked relevant questions. In his concluding statement, Dr. Saxena touched upon the need for curating content that delivers to the target audience while at the same time following journalistic ethics.

-Written By Paridhi Bhanot, Student of LSR