Jaitley scoffs at 'anchor-driven' news content on TV channels

Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday scoffed at airing of “anchor-driven” news contents on television channels, saying the objectivity in the dissemination of information should never be a “casualty”.

 Launching a mobile application for live streaming of the Doordarshan News and updates from the public broadcaster, the minister suggested that viewers too need to change their “habits” and develop interest in knowing the world beyond the “Lutyens’ Delhi.”

“I find it is a combination of the anchor-driven news channels where news is confined to what happened in Lutyens’ Delhi. There is a place for that. Obviously, you have to tune into that. At the same time, if you want to know the vast news of what is happening all over, a few minutes of watching BBC, few minutes Doordarshan, gives at least me, a much bigger picture,” Jaitley said.

While there is a value for “competitive news” or “anchor-driven news”, there is also a huge space to cater to a section of audience who are “starving” for just knowing the facts, he added.

“Even though we have been flooded with channels, newspapers, the news available is of events which the concerned channels or the anchors or editors consider to be news. There is a vast amount of activity taking place in the country and all over,” he observed.
In view of the multifarious channels of information dissemination, the objective presentation of news should never become a casualty, he said.

Doordarshan and All India Radio under Prasar Bharati have been committed to pursue the agenda of presenting facts before the people with largest width of coverage of events, he added.

Jaitley also described the launch of the DD News mobile application as “an important milestone” for the Prasar Bharati, saying the public broadcaster caters to the information needs of the pan-Indian audience.

“It has a user-friendly interface and is available even in poor network conditions. Both Android and iPhone versions of the app are available,” he said.

The minister also launched e-version of reference manuals India-2015 and Bharat-2015, saying availability of these government publications on e-mode would enable the digital medium audience to utilise the wealth of information on India.The e-book of the I&B Ministry captured the achievements and initiatives undertaken by it in the last one year.