8 Reasons why you must ditch 24 hours news channel forever

“The media’s the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent, guilty & to make the guilty, innocent & that’s power. Because they CONTROL the minds of the masses”

– Malcom X

1. They are paid after all

There is no such thing as free lunch. Yes & the same applies to this business (media) also, the business of a 24 hours news channel. Constantly bombarding one aspect of a product / service directly or indirectly which will have future benefit to that entity. If they are paid, then they are meant to be applied for a purpose, the purpose is a monetary benefit of course, immediate or over a period. Yes, they may be for a purpose that may be beneficial to you, but do you need anything & everything on the shelf & for throughout the day?

The channels keep blabbering about a sun sign or some political analysis which cannot be analysed with no productive conclusion.

See through the propaganda between the lines & avoid these. Instead, read financial daily or subscribe to good websites which give accurate & unbiased information that will benefit you & help you make your usual & financial decisions.

1. Nonsense debates

Lately few news channels have started a concept of having a debate based on a poll stating what the audience wants to have. The anchor clads outfits like our ‘babus’ & stating we discuss Indian topics with Indianness. The debate is on a topic which usually has no value addition to your knowledge, in fact it may degrade your IQ levels. News headings are poetic or flashy with background music. Is this a joke session?

Did any debate on the potholes in Mumbai help it to improve? Or did knowledge session on rape problem help reduce rape cases?

Not to forget, it is commendable that the expressions the news anchors give are worth an Oscar.

1. Financial news directly towards selling a selective segment

Even financial news with ‘field experts’ from specific fraternities display clear biasness. You will usually see talks or recommendations hailing Mutual Funds as the ONLY source of return bearing investments that can beat inflation & the only solutions to all your life milestones. Some give the highlights of all the stocks purchased by ace investors like Jhunjhunwala, Porinju, Dolly Khanna etc. Which propels few over informed new bees to blindly invest in those same stocks. Few commentators recommend ULIPs praising their ‘high’ returns.

This news comes with a specific purpose; one is advised not to follow blindly but conduct your own research before investing.

1. Core analysis is absent

-Millions losing their jobs in Covid lock-down & telecom sector,

-RBI slashes interest rates again,

-Rafale makes grand entries in Indian skies etc.

The real analysis which needs discussion are usually missing, the focus is more on making the news as “Breaking”, “Exclusive”, “Shocking”, yes they may be breaking, exclusive and shocking, but what impacts us, how does it really affect our nation? Only a facet is fabricated which can benefit or may not offend some in power may be debated or discussed, which is usually scripted. Also, one would always want to know who are these ‘THROUGH OUR SOURCES’ that provide them with such special breaking stories.

-The job loss of millions from the aviation sector, telecom & Lock-down has ripple effects in the economy, which needs thorough discussion & re-work by policy makers.

-RBI reducing interest rates have severely affected the pensioners & retirees who rely on interest money for their livelihood.

-Rafale deal should reflect about our Tejas MK1 project initiated in 1983 is yet to be fully operational & where the government had to immediately act on securing fully functional Rafale jets due to the dwindling number of squadrons in case of two way war from China & Pakistan. Does it take four decades for an aspiring superpower to build its indigenous fighter jets?

We would want to know more of these.

Do we hear these ground level conclusive analyses anywhere?

1. Diverts attention from more crucial matters, all information is not necessary

Some news channels possess all possible information of our neighbouring countries even before the RAW would find out. They have moles all over China & Pakistan except India. Flashy news on what the Prime Minister of Pakistan thinks about a segment of population in India, does it concern us?

We recommend reading journals or articles by top authors in your field of work, then spending your precious time in knowing what someone thinks. Read informative books that boost your skills & income power. Real or core issues which are hampering the country & people are lost in transition.

1. More of an entertainment channel

News channels with a segment captioned “let us know what is so happening in the world of social media” have high viewership as per their claims or ‘Top 10 viral videos on Tiktok. Do I really need to know about this ‘so happening’ event? A fortune teller discusses the future, some flashy titles with lighting effects & silly background music discuss Armageddon & future wars as a result of the China-India stand-off. Yes, one can keep an entertainment segment, but everything is mixed these days. You get a dose of everything packed together.

1. You simply do not need news 24x7 (infoxication/infobesity)

Do I really need to know what is happening in another corner of the world & be ‘updated’ about every incident? Not necessarily unless you aspire for UPSC exams. There have been some households that glue to news channels all-round the day & consider themselves to be apprised with all possible gossips.

Too many cooks spoil the food, the same goes for excess information. We simply hang our decision-making capacity with this information overload or information anxiety for lack of a better term.

1. Propaganda super-spreaders

News items that will be remotely linked to us may be sugar coated, packaged & presented in a fashion that the problem will not seem to be one or you will forget that this ever existed. Election campaigning, pleasing, or igniting a certain belief or community to cover up major scandals are not something that has started in the internet age, they existed since the time power understood the power of communication & mass psychology. News channels devoting time to show the memes in circulation or trending hashtags are a small but powerful attempt.

In the times, prior to 24 hours news channels, people relied on newspapers, which gave the required news & provided editorials & analysis which had deep insights & more so demonstrated some serious journalism. It was not some golden era for journalism, propaganda & false news would make its way even in those times, but in this age of ready information, nonsensical news can run sprint & marathons both. It is up to us how we ‘trend’ the news, how we get carried away but emotion provoking elements & questions, how we see through the news, their words, their questions, their antics.