Audience measurement system should be democratic – Smriti Irani

Newdelhi:26/10/17:Minister for Information & Broadcasting and Textiles Smt. Smriti Zubin Irani has said that the model structure of broadcasting should focus on democratized viewership. This should be based on an accurate measurement system that reflects the strength of regional languages, varied tastes of viewers/consumers and bridges the divide on issues related to agenda setting, creative content and revenue between the mainstream and regional platforms. Smt. Irani stated this while delivering the Sardar Patel Memorial Lecture 2017 here today on the topic “Model for Broadcast landscape for Democracies”

Talking about the prevailing trends in the News segment of the broadcasting landscape, Smt. Irani said that News today had become a “Spectator Sport” as technology had blurred the lines between content and broadcast. As a consequence, while a certain section of the Media Space adhered to codes, ethics and conduct rules, the other segment was driven by rush for TRP’s, eyeballs thereby being influenced by the “Headlines competing with Hashtag”. This was extremely important in the light of the social media explosion taking place in the country which provided a new pathway for information dissemination.

Speaking on the profile of the public broadcaster Smt. Irani said it had placed public interest before business and profit interest as in the case of private channels. It was incumbent upon Prasar Bharati to speak freely and fairly for the progress of the nation. The Minister called upon the public broadcaster to weave stories on the lives of ordinary people which could have an impact both within India and abroad. This would also enable it to weave information with the citizenry of the country.

Highlighting the fulcrum strength of Ministry of I&B, Smt. Irani said that the Information Service officers profile would be strengthened in the future by giving them skill sets along with an integrated administrative exposure so as to enable them to serve policy and programmes of the people through the medium of information. This would be along the lines of Sardar Patel’s vision of creating a steel frame to serve the people through the channel of information dissemination.