Abstract
The last two decades in India have seen an enormous growth of satellite television. News has established itself in the meanwhile not merely as a source of information but also of entertainment. Available in all regional languages through several competing channels, and presented elaborately, television news has come to establish a mode of address, which defines one’s sense of time and space, and configures one’s sense of the dramatic situated in others’ stories. This article engages with the implications of “liveness”—as material and as affect—toward convergence of news narratives. Discussing two of the most widely covered recent stories—Aarushi Talwar’s murder and Baby Falak—the article foregrounds the class antagonism and scandalous anxieties of Indian televisual publics, and argues that news television invites us to trade liveness for news. Thus, news media not only liberates itself of the rigor of news production but also entertains us by reaffirming our deepest anxieties and competing with other modes of intertextual entertainment available on rival channels.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Akoijam
Indira
. 2013 . “No Focus on Development Issues .” The Hoot , October 8 . http://www.thehoot.org/web/No-focus-on-development-issues/6159-1-1-9-true.html (accessed December 25, 2013 ).
2.
Batabyal
Somnath
. 2011 . “Editorial! Where Art Thou? News Practices in Indian Television .” In Indian Mass Media and the Politics of Change , edited by
Batabyal
Somnath
Chowdhry
Angad
Gaur
Meenu
Pohjonen
Matti
, 42 –67 . New Delhi : Routledge .
3.
Baudrillard
Jean
. 1984 . The Evil Demon of Images . Sydney : Power Institute .
4.
Beckett
Paul
Pokharel
Krishna
. 2012 . “Falak: The Complete True Story of ‘India’s Baby.’ ” The Wall Street Journal , June 10 .http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2012/06/10/falak-the-complete-true-story-of-indias-baby/ (accessed February 5, 2015 ).
5.
Bhandare
Namita
. 2011 . “Aarushi on Prime Time .” Hindustan Times , February 18 . http://www.hindustantimes.com/columnsothers/aarushi-on-prime-time/article1-664072.aspx (accessed February 5, 2015 ).
6.
Bhatia
Rahul
. 2013 . “The Network Effect .” The Caravan , December 1 . http://www.caravanmagazine.in/reportage/network-effect (accessed January 30, 2015 ).
7.
Bhushan
Sandeep
. 2013 . “Manufacturing News .” Economic & Political Weekly 48 (23 ): 12 –5 .
8.
Bhushan
Sandeep
. 2014 . “How the Television News Industry Scripted the Indian Elections .” The Caravan , May 15 . http://www.caravanmagazine.in/vantage/television-scripted (accessed May 28, 2014 ).
9.
Bhutia
Ugen
. 2013 . “Media at Its Jingoistic Worst .” The Hoot , May 4 . http://thehoot.org/web/Media-at-its-jingoistic-worst/6770-1-1-14-true.html (accessed December 25, 2013 ).
10.
Bolter
Jay David
Grusin
Richard
. 2000 . Remediation: Understanding New Media . Cambridge : MIT Press .
11.
Bourdon
Jerome
. 2000 . “Live Television Is Still Alive .” Media, Culture & Society 22 (5 ): 531 –56 .
12.
Chadha
Kalyani
. 2012 . “Twitter as Media Watch-Dog? Lessons from India’s Radia Tapes Scandal .” Global Media and Communications 8 (2 ): 171 –76 .
13.
Chaudhury
Shoma
. 2010 . “Media Ethics: Why We Need Both Panic and a Pinch of Salt .” Tehelka 7 , no. 48 (December 4 ). http://archive.tehelka.com/story_main48.asp?filename=Ne041210CoverstoryIII.asp (accessed February 5, 2015 ).
14.
Chaudhury
Shoma
. 2012a . “Can the Media Bail Itself Out in Time? ” Tehelka 9 , no. 50 (December 15 ). http://www.tehelka.com/can-the-media-bail-itself-out-in-time/ (accessed February 5, 2015 ).
15.
Chaudhury
Shoma
. 2012b . “The Tail Has Begun to Wag the Dog .” Tehelka 9 , no. 30 (June 28 ). http://www.tehelka.com/the-tail-has-begun-to-wag-the-dog/ (accessed February 5, 2015 ).
16.
Chaudhury
Shoma
. 2013 . “Framed? The Aarushi-Hemraj Murder Case—An Investigation .” Tehelka 10 , no. 26 (June 29 ). http://www.tehelka.com/framed-the-aarushi-hemraj-murder-case-an-investigation/ (accessed February 5, 2015 ).
17.
Coleridge
N.
1993 . The Paper Tigers: The Latest, Greatest Newspaper Tycoons . London : Heinemann .
18.
Couldry
Nick
. 2004 . “Liveness, ‘Reality,’ and the Mediated Habitus from Television to the Mobile Phone .” The Communication Review 7 (4 ): 353 –61 .
19.
Dalal
Sucheta
. 2001 . “Who Calls the Shots? ” Alternate Media Times 5 (18 ). http://magiclanternfoundation.org/issue18/ (accessed February 5, 2015 ).
20.Express News Service . 2010 . “Aarushi Murder Case: SC Slams ‘Sensationalist’ Media .” The Indian Express , August 9 . http://archive.indianexpress.com/news/aarushi-murder-case-sc-slams-sensationalist-media/658048/ (accessed December 16, 2014 ).
21.
Feuer
Jane
. 1983 . “The Concept of Live Television: Ontology vs. Ideology .” In Regarding Television , edited by
Kaplan
E. Ann
, 12 –22 . Los Angeles : American Film Institute/University Publications of America .
22.
French
Patrick
. 2011 . “Worse than a Daughter’s Death .” OPEN , February 5 . http://www.openthemagazine.com/article/nation/worse-than-a-daughter-s-death (accessed February 5, 2015 ).
23.
Ghosh
Shohini
. 2008 . “Here We Are Now, Entertain us .” Hindustan Times , June 3 . http://www.hindustantimes.com/bigidea/here-we-are-now-entertain-us/article1-315032.aspx (accessed February 5, 2015 ).
24.
Ghosh
Shohini
. 2013 . “The Talwars and Presumed Guilt .” The Hoot , November 26 . http://www.thehoot.org/web/The-Talwars-and-presumed-guilt/7127-1-1-5-true.html (accessed June 24, 2014 ).
25.
Gurha
Alka
. 2013 . “TV Debates Polarise Further .” The Hoot , July 18 . http://thehoot.org/web/TVdebatespolarisefurther/6910-1-1-14-true.html (Accessed June 24, 2014 ).
26.
Jain
Gaurav
. 2011 . “The House We blew down .” Tehelka 8 , no. 7 (February 19 ). http://www.tehelka.com/the-house-we-blew-down/ (accessed February 5, 2015 ).
27.
Jose
Vinod K.
2011 .” News without Principle .” The Caravan , January 1 . http://www.caravanmagazine.in/perspectives/news-without-principle (accessed February 5, 2015 ).
28.
Jose
Vinod K.
2012 . “On the Success of Ethics .” The Caravan , December 1 . http://www.caravanmagazine.in/perspectives/success-ethics (accessed February 5, 2015 ).
29.
Kaul
Rhythma
. 2012 . “Abandoned, 2-Yr-Old Battles for Life in ICU .” Hindustan Times , January 25 . http://www.hindustantimes.com/newdelhi/abandoned-2-yr-old-battles-for-life-in-icu/article1-802284.aspx (accessed February 5, 2015 ).
30.
Kumar
Akshaya
. 2014 . “Satyamev Jayate : Return of the Star as a Sacrificial FigureSouth Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies 37 (2 ): 239 –54 .
31.
Liang
Lawrence
. 2013 . “Naked Truths .” The Caravan , February 1 . http://www.caravanmagazine.in/periscope/naked-truths (accessed October 16, 2014 ).
32.
Majumdar
Ushinor
. 2013 . “Aarushi-Hemraj Murder Case—Shoddy Probe, Flawed Verdict? ” Tehelka 49 , no. 10 (December 7 ). http://www.tehelka.com/shoddy-probe-flawed-verdict/ (accessed February 5, 2015 ).
33.
Mehta
Vinod
. 2012 . “Watched on Our Watch .” Outlook , May 4 .
34.
Moudgil
Manu
Alam
Monazir
. 2013a . “Jingoism on the Airwaves .” The Hoot , July 14 . http://thehoot.org/web/Jingoismontheairwaves/6903-1-1-9-true.html (accessed June 24, 2014 ).
35.
Moudgil
Manu
Alam
Monazir
. 2013b . “Unpacking the News .” The Hoot , July 14 . http://www.thehoot.org/web/Unpacking-the-news/6885-1-1-9-true.html (accessed June 24, 2014 ).
36.
Nanda
Vartika
. 2006 . “Television Crime Reporting in India .” In Making News: Handbook of the Media in Contemporary India , edited by
Sahay
Uday
, 189 –200 . New Delhi : Oxford University Press .
37.Newsclick Production . 2011 . “‘Indian Media—Politically Free, Prisoners of Profit’—P. Sainath .” NewsClick , June 20 . http://newsclick.in/international/indian-media-politically-free-prisoners-profit-psainath (accessed June 24, 2014 ).
38.
Polanki
Pallavi
. 2011 . “The Aftermath .” OPEN , February 4 . http://www.openthemagazine.com/article/nation/the-aftermath (accessed February 5, 2015 ).
39.
Prasad
M. Madhava
. 2005 . “The Subjects of News Television .” Journal of the Moving Image 4 . www.jmionline.org/article/the_subjects_of_news_television (accessed December 16, 2014 ).
40.
Rajagopal
Arvind
. 2001 . Politics after Television: Religious Nationalism and the Reshaping of the Indian Public . Cambridge : Cambridge University Press .
41.
Rajagopal
Arvind
. 2009 . “Introduction .” In The Indian Public Sphere: Readings in Media History , edited by
Rajagopal
Arvind
, 1 –28 . New Delhi : Oxford University Press .
42.
Rajagopal
Arvind
. 2012 . “Wanted: A Communications Policy .” The Hindu , January 24 . http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/wanted-a-communications-policy/article2826250.ece (accessed February 5, 2015 ).
43.
Raman
Anuradha
. 2013 . “Footaging It Fleetly .” Outlook , December 23 . http://www.outlookindia.com/article/Footaging-It-Fleetly/288837 (accessed October 14, 2014 ).
44.
Roy
Abhijit
. 2006 . “Live(li)ness and Network Publics in Post-liberalization Indian Popular Films .” Journal of the Moving Image 5 . www.jmionline.org/articles/2006/Live(li)ness_and_Net.pdf (accessed December 16, 2014 ).
45.
Sardesai
Rajdeep
. 2007 . “Ghosts in the Machine .” IBNLive , January 8 . http://ibnlive.in.com/blogs/rajdeepsardesai/1/1297/ghosts-in-the-machine.html (Accessed January 30, 2015 ).
46.
Sen
Shaunak
. 2014 . “Decoding the Big Indian Sting .” Sarai . http://sarai.net/decoding-the-big-indian-sting/#06 (accessed October 16, 2014 ).
47.
Sonwalkar
Prasun
. 2002 . “‘Murdochization’ of the Indian Press: From By-line to Bottom-Line .” Media Culture Society 24 :821 –34 .
48.
Susan
Nisha
. 2008 . “Slander and Lies .” Tehelka 5 , no. 23 (June 14 ). http://archive.tehelka.com/story_main39.asp?filename=Ne140608slanderandlies.asp (accessed February 5, 2015 ).
49.
Thakurta
Paranjoy Guha
. 2013 . “Curbing Media Monopolies .” Economic & Political Weekly 48 (16 ): 10 –14 .
50.
Thakurta
Paranjoy Guha
Chaturvedi
Subi
. 2012 . “Corporatisation of the Media: Implications of the RIL-Network18-Eenadu Deal .” Economic & Political Weekly 47 (7 ): 10 –3 .
51.
Wal
Aradhana
. 2013 . “Every Move She Makes. They’ll Be Watching Her .” Tehelka 10 , no. 27 (June 7 ). http://www.tehelka.com/every-move-she-makes-theyll-be-watching-her/ (accessed February 5, 2015 ).
52.
Zettl
Herbert
. 1978 . “The Rare Case of Television Aesthetics .” Journal of the University Film Association 30 (2 ): 3 –8 .