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Channels of change
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"Remote Control' triggered an interesting exchange of ideas on the changing trends in television programmes and advertisements. A report on the seminar organised by SMIC, Pune.
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THE SEMINAR hall at the GRT Grand Day's hotel was full much ahead of the scheduled time of the seminar. Nobody would have expected a discussion on the future of regional television to draw such an enthusiastic response from the participants.
Titled `Remote Control', the seminar was organised by the students of Symbiosis Institute of Mass Communication (SIMC), Pune. The event delved into the emergence of a changing trend in television programmes and advertisements to suit a growing vernacular audience. Among the notable speakers who took part in the session were Krishna Ananth, assistant editor, The Hindu, B.R Kumar, deputy director general, All India Radio, Swaroop Reddy, director, Satyam Theatres, Ad film maker, Lata Menon and K.P Sunil, news consultant, Jaya T.V.
Introducing the topic of the day, Shashidhar Nanjundaiah, director SIMC observed that the medium of television is undergoing a "glocalization" process, blending both global and local cultures.
However according to Krishna Ananth, the differentiation of television channels into regional and national is quite ambiguous. "Any channel catering to a linguistically unique audience can be called regional. In that sense there cannot be a national channel, as Hindi is confined to the northern regions of the country. He added that compared to newspapers, television channels did not command more authenticity in terms of reporting issues as there were instances during the Kargil war when some of the television footages beamed across were actually conned. But then "One cannot replace the other," he said, comparing print to broadcast journalism.
Emphasising the relevance of taking into account the social and cultural milieu of an area before telecasting, B.R Kumar was of the view that a broadcaster cannot be the sole arbiter of public taste. "He should be fully aware of the area he is catering to such as, the literacy rate, prevailing customs, habits traditions and values," he said.
Nowhere is this statement truer than in the field of advertising, where multinational companies are devising strategies to expand the market of their products by influencing new user groups in rural areas. In a country with 17 major languages and 180 regional dialects, localising advertisement is the new mantra for communication.
In fact the Coke company was among the first to come up with region specific advertisements. Says Lata Menon, " It is the details that shows the difference in any ad campaign. All regions have people with different lifestyles, ideas, customs, habits and fascinations. By combining this we can tap into a larger market." It was the popular fascination for the colour orange that prompted the officials of Coke to launch Fanta prior to Coca-Cola in Salem and Trichy belt."
Swaroop Reddy dispelled the fear about regional television becoming a potential threat to the film industry. "Watching television is more of a leisure activity enjoyed sitting at home. Whereas going to a cinema hall is more of a social activity that is done in large groups. Both serve different purposes and cannot wipe out the other," he said.
K.P Sunil elaborated on how the local cable-operated channels are making inroads into the bastions of regional channels. "From regional channels we are now going down to sub-regional channels operated by the local cable network. These channels give more time and area-specific coverage to events and personalities that are otherwise mentioned in passing by the regional channels. This will ultimately lead to a situation where if a section of the population feels they are not adequately represented they will set up a channel," he pointed out.
S.K
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