With the spread of the TV6 to all parts of the country and the emergence of several private channels, major changes have occurred—and are occurring—in several aspects of social life. Competing with the cinema are TV serials and reality shows. The operation of channels round the clock on all seven days of the week has meant enormous changes in the lives of people. It has opened up several new occupations. There are companies that operate the cables. The monopoly of cine stars has been broken by TV stars. Reality shows organize talent hunts, opening up avenues for many from all over the country. News broadcasts at regular intervals around the clock have diminished the importance of newspapers as the primary bearers of news. The literacy criterion is also made somewhat redundant. Even those who are non-literate can hear and watch the news—there is no need for them to develop their skills in reading. To the conventional three Rs (Reading, Writing and Arithmetic) is now added computeracy as a prerequisite for literacy. A literate person today is one who is also computerate. Thus, incomputerates are a new category of illiterates.
Television has also affected the advertisement industry. Modelling has become a big business. Anchoring TV programmes and telecasting are lucrative options. Leading anchors have become the new stars. Entertainment has assumed new meaning. Television serials now draw large audiences, as evident from their TRP rates.7
Initially, TV marked the return of the audience to their homes. But after an initial setback, cinema halls—in their new format, the ‘multiplexes’—have begun attracting audiences, albeit with a steep rise in the price of tickets. Apart from serving the traditional function of showing films on huge screens with effective surround sound systems, these places also provide a hideout for young lovers, away from the gaze of their parents and other elders. People of the lower classes, who cannot afford the expensive tickets, have managed to buy TVs and DVD players, which are now available at affordable prices. Those who do not have such gadgets watch the movies in make-shift mini halls. This has resulted in the practice of pirating films, which then become available at incredibly low prices compared to the prices of original DVDs. Piracy has become a flourishing business.
For the media, sources of revenue now have different profiles. When the radio was first introduced in India during the British Raj, its finances were provided through the issuing of licences. Every radio-owner had to pay a licensing fee per annum to listen to radio programmes. Today, radio and TV owners do not have to pay the government any fees; the channels depend on sponsors, who buy television time to advertise their products. Of course, some private channels charge fees from their viewers for special shows, such as films. The media has thus moved away from government monopoly, and viewers and listeners have multiple choices from which to select their favourite programmes.
The introduction of modern information technology revived and popularized mythology. It reunited the past with the present on the one hand, and reunited the Indian diaspora with the mainland without any physical movement. Television serials and feature films shown via cable or the satellite across continents have become the new agents of socialization for the diaspora children. Even in India, mythological serials influenced people’s vocabulary, particularly kinship terms of address, and restored prestige to traditional attire not only among women, but also among men. The new means of communication have made literacy almost redundant as a precondition to learning, and have contributed to the socialization of people in their own ancient value system. Western-educated people who disdained Hindi or Sanskrit scriptures, and the large numbers of illiterate people who did not have access to them, are now learning about their cultural past and religion through television serials. The new technology has made it possible to show the impossible feats of gods and goddesses on screen, lending credibility to mythological versions. The same stories that were earlier rejected by the educated as mere flights of fancy have now earned respectability and credence. Through cable TV channels—such as Zee or TV Asia—as well as through video cassettes, these mythological stories are reaching South Asian populations throughout the world. Already Zee TV claims to have an audience in 135 countries. Rather than breaking from the past, modern means of communication have helped to further people’s links with it. Mass media are reinforcing tradition and contributing to cultural continuity. While migration to distant lands physically separated migrant families from their parent culture, they are now being reunited with it through modern media, and that too with a sense of pride.
It must, however, be admitted that the fostering of cultural identities, which is being facilitated by modern technology, can also have negative consequences, intended or otherwise. We know that the same technology is also being used to promote religious fanaticism and even terrorism, destroying the culture of tolerance and peace.
Leave a Reply