Book Review: From News to Infotainment to Tamasha
The book From News to Infotainment to Tamasha by Dr. Amit Nagpal is a must read for students and faculty of journalism as it connects the past with the present in a pragmatic manner and makes an attempt to predict the emerging scenario.
THE TELEVISION journalism in the country has undergone a drastic transformation in recent year and the process is still continuing with an accelerated pace. Not much literature has been created to understand the transformation and the book “From News to Infotainment to Tamasha-From Tamasha back to News” by Dr Amit Nagpal strive to couture the process and also present an emerging landscape of television news. TV News in India has come a long way from the days of monopoly of Doordarshan to the present proliferation of private news channels. The book begins with theoretical aspects of news and ends with analysis of impact of social media on news channels (including the Anna Hazare episode) and a positive note on how ‘tamasha’ bouncing back in television news.
The book discusses various aspects like news definition, sensationalism, journalistic and managerial components of TV news and analyses the factors that has resulted into a situation in which the truth is a casualty to certain extent. It further discusses the genuine constraints that have emerged in the new situation.
The book connects the past with the present in a pragmatic manner and makes an attempt to predict the emerging scenario. The evolution from news hard information to infotainment and subsequently to a kind of grab-the-attention ‘Tamasha’ is covered in detail and the emerging scenario of tamasha becoming news again is explored with the help of insights from media professionals including renowned experts. The book has several useful appendices including a case study, “Why BITV Collapsed?” glossary and detailed bibliography.
The book is highly informational and contains comprehensive tables, compact information on news channel industry in India, (a mini encyclopedia of Indian news channels including channel profiles, logos, punch-lines, launch date, ownership patterns etc.), and complete information on social and new media initiatives of news channels including Google+. If there is one area where the book falls short, is that the data (included in figures) sometimes belongs to 2005-08 period and have not captured the major changes that have occurred afterwards.
On the whole a must read book for journalism students and faculty, managers in TV news industry and general public who ‘consumes’ the news. (Subhash Dhuliya is Director & Professor, School of Journalism & New Media Studies, Indira Gandhi National Open University, New Delhi.)
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