News Program Analysis

News Channel- NDTV- New Delhi Television Limited

- The Maoists realeased some prisoner of wars
- TheCongress won, Rahul Gandhi won some seats PArliament and is trekking around the country as part of his campaign.
-Seagull enters a news studio.
-Mariah Carrey’s Interview promting her latest album
-Salman Khan’s charity and his charity clothing line(Bollywood Star)
-Rabin, Katrina and Deepika- Love Triangle of Bollywood Stars
-Later the weather updates.


I watch this news channel really often and I finally found out why I am hooked to this news channel. I like this news channel for its accuracy in reporting for the events which are important to people. It is now of the most and accurate channels. I was kind of shocked by what I discovered after watching 20 minute worth of news. More than half of the news segments were just gossip and about Bollywood stars having a love triangle and some actor launching his clothing line for charity. The actor, Salman Khan is knows well for his philanthropy. So, to recognize him for such activities is fine but then the news changes its focus to the possibility of him reuniting with his ex-girlfriend. How is that relevant to me or anyone else? The news items before these were about Maoists releasing prisoners of war which were not as detailed as I would have liked them to be. The Second news item was really brief and talked about a popular politician wining seats in the parliament. Then it was celebrity gossip all the way with a segment on how a seagull entered a news studio. Later, it was the boring weather forecast. According to me did not meet the criteria for being a news channel because the news items which were important were not even as detailed as a conventional TV news report. It was disappointing. I am actually starting to understand, Neil Postman’s idea of “Now….then”. Right after watching the two serious news items, I looked at the ads coming up and they lightened my mood. And it is obvious, that the news channel made up the story of the Love Triangle to keep the viewers hooked, because listening to celebrity scandals is considered entertaining.