PRITAM SENGUPTA writes from New Delhi: It is now obvious that Prannoy Roy's NDTV 24×7 has been well and truly eclipsed by Rajdeep Sardesai's CNN-IBN. In just a few short months, the ground beneath Roy's feet has completely shifted.
Suddenly, all the stories, exclusives and interviews seem to have vanished. Suddenly, everybody is talking of the spunky upstart. Result: NDTV now looks like what Doordarshan did when Roy first came on the scene, only slicker (and redder), if you get what I mean.
So, what can Roy do to regain lost ground?
12) Develop a public persona. The age of mystique is over, my friend, they don't give you a shit anymore. Forget those VNRs (video news releases). Appear in public forums, give interviews, do interviews. You were the only brand once; now there are two.
11) Stop playing golf for the next seven months. This way you will concentrate on your core competency, which is where your bread-omlette comes from, and this way you won't meet those babus and bhadralok who want you to take a look at their son/daughter.
10) Call HR pronto and ask if they can transfer Sreenivasan Jain to, say, Srebrenica.
9) Stop making those secret trips to assorted babas and godmen. All they will help you achieve is to help you run out of your IPO money even more quickly. "But my baba has divine powers!" Maybe, but not to move TRPs.
8) Stop having yourself called "Dr Roy" on air. You may be that to your employees and colleagues, and your University, but not to viewers. Get professional. Act tough. Stop being the father-figure. The good times are over.
7) Stop all these horrific politically-correct stories. Get some spunk. Get some aggression, get some attitude into your programming. Take a stand. Take a risk. Do the unpredictable. Rock the boat.
6) Stop looking over your shoulder for what Brinda didi and Prakash baba may be saying back home. It ain't going to take you nowhere except landing you some silly award we don't much care for.
5) Get some good-looking girls and anchors who have attained you-know-what. Or else one of these days they are going to raid you for employing underage girls. But seriously if all the money in the world can't get you a Shereen Bhan, there's something terribly wrong.
4) Get some tough men and women, maybe some 24-hour journalists, maybe even a real editor, who have done real news stories in their careers. People whose faces, ugly as they may be, and people whose voices, gruff as they may be, suggest that they know what they are talking about.
3) Breaking the glass ceiling is good, but not yours! I mean, get real. Barkha Dutt is a reporter. Never was, isn't, and never will be an editor even if there are 10 more Kargils and there won't be. And hey, what the scene with Sonia Singh when even Natwar is out?
2) Get rid of all those idiotic programmes on food, schools, houses, shouses. And that bloody bakra show. Otherwise, it's you the "wise Indian viewer" (remember?) is going to make a bakra of one of these days.
1) Pitch yourself directly against Rajdeep. Make sure your face appears at least four times a week at 8 pm and three times a week at 9 pm. Yes, it means hard work, but hard work didn't kill anybody. Not at 56. Or is that 57?
Prannoy Roy’s NDTV has become a follower and cannot stand up to the Aaj Tak’s and IBN’s of the world. Same old placid stories. If IBN does a story with Sonia, NDTV will carry a similar interview. They might as well “license” the story from IBN.
While Rajdeep is crying himself hoarse for attention, Prannoy seems to be resigned to the fact that he has been relagated to second place or worse.
Just looking at NDTV and IBN’s web sites tells you how dynamic each channel is. Looks like Rajdeep only took the good ones with him.
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Bingo! Right on the head. I WAS a big fan of Pranav Roy during Doordarshan days when he use produce ‘World This week’. The beautiufl tabla pitch on that program is still playing in my ears. When he was kicked out of Star group i was still a fan. But now suddenly after CNN-IBN it seems he lost his way. He don’t know what to do where to go. All the programmes are like Govt praising, as Brinda didi’s blessings. It was like West Indies effect on Vinod kambli. suddenly balls are coming right @ his face and Kambli is no where to Run. Hopfully NDTV may have better furture than Kambli.
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To add to the above, I feel even “Times Now” is giving a tuff competition to CNN IBN and definitely not to NDTV. NDTV’s “cricket contraversies” is appears to be a real contraversy with Sonali. The present anchor’s is not at all prepared and flow of talk is no where seen.
Mr.Roy, get up, come back again else the IPO investment will sunk
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Excellent analysis of fall”ing” of NDTV and rise of CNN.
Cheers !
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very good analysis. Being a reguklar wather of ndtv how we shifted from ndtv to ibn we just don’t know. hopefully we will get better ndtv in future.
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Just a thought… it tokk just 5 months for IBN to topple NDTV. But has IBN done any serious quality TV in these 5 months??? if just an abover average channel like IBN can topple NDTV then can you imagine the shit we were getting from Archana Complex for 6 long years!!!!!!!!!!!
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All I want to say is :
THE RATE OF CHANGE OUTSIDE SHOULD MATCH RATE OF CHANGE INSIDE OR ELSE THE END IS IN SIGHT
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Although I don;t find the time watch the news these days in a boys’ hostel with 72 differing views on what should play on the sole television, nonetheless, I have stopped visiting the clunky, hard-to-read, poorly presented NDTV website and switched allegience to the sleek, well designed CNN-IBN one. TIMES NOW is too shamelessly self-promoting to be tolerably watchable and Headlines Today is just….loud. NDTV’s news related programmes such as walk the talk and the Big Fight have also become somewhat stale and boring of late.
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I would like to comment that, most of the Indian Media is politically biased, especially when it comes to BJP rules states they are surprisingly misleading the readers and viewers in this country. Infact, in my true knowledge BJP ruled states are doing well in all aspects compare to other states.We know that there is not a single news paper or visual media which is not run by a family in this country.If you consider CNN-IBN it is the most visibly biased visual media channel ever India have seen, so obsessed with Gandhi dynasty,Rajdeep and his Wife Sagarika is totally after Narendra Modi and BJP. If Modi sneezes it is a headline story in CNN-IBN!.if you consider NDTV prannoy roy is trying his best to be a pseudo-secularist. But if we closely watch each of their programs it is increasingly getting biased and a person with common sense can understand what is going on behind the scene.Prannoy Roy and Barkha Dutta believes they are the only intellectuals left in this country!.If you look at the news papers, we know the history of Indian express. What role Goenka played in Indian politics utilizing his family run news paper business.Vir Sanghvi of Hindustantimes ( Late KK Birla is a staunch congressman) is all the way praising Sonia Madam as if his career itself is pledged for that cause. A fair exemption can be made for Times of India ,I don’t know If I am correct.Otherwise there is a serious conspiracy going on this country by these new founded intellectual Pseudo Secularists.We must be able to differentiate what is right and what is wrong as these channels are targeting young urban population mixing news with bit of masalas. They are not aware that their credibility and neutrality is being lost infront of the masses.In India Media ethics is a neglected truth.It is the era of family run businesses for personal and political gains.Who care where this will lead the country to?????
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