Opinion

2014: TV

It was the year of elections and of political issues and, later, of covering the PM's many foreign tours

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2014: TV
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For the news channels, 2014 was the year of elections and of political issues and, later, of covering the Prime Minister's many foreign tours. It was also the year of the selfies and the drone camera. Drone cameras were introduced for the first time in covering election rallies. Prime minister Narendra Modi's selfies, and also those that the editors/journalists took with him in his (in)famous press meet became fodder for news. Political parties, especially BJP, turned their media cells into news rooms. The visuals of the election rallies shot by them were used by the news channels instead of going in for their own independent footage which became a reason for much outrage. Doordarshan gained ground in covering the PM's foreign tours. A lot of footage shown on private channels was "courtesy DD" since the private channels were kept away from many places and events.

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On the entertainment front, Zee network launched the Zindagi channel wherein the Pakistani serials helped in building a new viewership. As opposed to the saas-bahu shows on Star Plus and Zee TV where dialogue and story get submerged under the glitter of the interiors, wardrobe and jewellery, these Pakistani shows became trendsetters with their understanding and use of the written word. One impact of it was that mid November saw the launch of a new channel, Epic. Its undertone was: why go looking for stories to Pakistan? Come back for them to India. Much of the content of the channel is based on popular classics. In its programming format it has incorporated the fabric of Discovery channel, saas-bahu serials and even the news TV and it has the larger than life element of cinema. Big Boss and Kaun Banega Crorepati experimented with their setups. Song and dance based reality shows lost their sheen. Hope the new year will usher in more changes. Kapil’s laughter show has hogged way too much of footage.

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Vineet Kumar is a media critic and the author of the book Mandi Mein Media. This piece did not appear in print

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