Is Govt regulation in Media Sector justified?

No doubt Indian media has matured in past 5-10 years. It’s not just about content. Be it collaborations with foreign players, creativity in terms of marketing or be it technology or medium to present. Everything related to media today is comparable to developed markets. We have seen an all-round growth across sectors such as- Television, Radio, Internet, Print, OOH etc. Govt seems to be happy with the way business is developing. But why Govt plays spoilsport when it comes to media content? Specially, the content related to General Entertainment Television Channels?

There has been various discussions in past regarding “Sach Ka Saamna” and likes even on this forum. But today I want to present a very different point of view. Very recently, Star India’s CEO Uday Shankar alleged that politicians and industrialists were trying to control the media. As per them, unless this whole Broadcasting Industry joins hand, it would be very difficult to fight against such unauthorized control.

When I read this, I tried to explore the truth. One thing which is eminent here is- why are they putting regulations over shows such as “Sach Ka Saamna”, “Pati, Patni aur Woh” and other reality stuff? Does these reality shows, really affect us much? But what about those news programs which send wrong signals directly to the bottom of consumer pyramid?

60-70% people who watch cheap Regional news channels are from Village or from lower income category. What they see on these fake  news channels affect product consumption to a great extent. Are you puzzled? Read on.

Last week I met owner of “Kaleva” Sweet shop at Connaught Place, Delhi. He was quite disturbed about the “synthetic milk” news which is spreading these days through local Hindi news channels. He asked my father (a Food Industry specialist) the truth behind this. My father said that it’s pretty much impossible for anyone to create fake or synthetic milk on such large scale. Because one can’t expect to add detergent and then assume that majority of people can be fooled. To this the owner said that on days when they use Milk powder for creating sweets their sales get drop. Consumer has a very sensitive taste and they can’t be easily fooled and things such as detergent are very very easy to detect, in case they are mixed the way its shown over TV.

He also explained that a very big MNC once tried to come in market through Sweets created using milk powder, but they failed miserably. As per him, these news channels are very easy to approach and they can create any news for you if you throw money. Remember what happened to “Mustard Oil”? A nationwide campaign showing adulteration in this oil has almost killed mustard oil market in India. Even farmers are apprehensive to sow mustard seeds these days.

Such things have revolutionary impacts and if Govt doesn’t take necessary steps we could easily see death of “Milk-based Sweets” in India. Govt. should stop wasting parliamentary sessions on “Sach ka Samna” and should start discussing about such serious issues.