(If you ask me, beginning to work at a TV news desk after five years of 'Eng Lit' is like being shaken out of a reverie. You suddenly realize that in order to perform/deliver, you have to completely get rid of that narcissistic mode that you had systematically nourished and nurtured. It is at once a moment of crisis and self-discovery: you recognize the fact that all ideas of a littérature engagée, although 'engaged with' in academic papers, have been actually long thrown out of the window. But I will not digress...these asides shall serve as a 'tease' for a later entry on the subversive potentials of an all-too-powerful ticker-boy.)Performance at the level of ideology also means the philosophy that a network internalizes to convert an event into a story, make it newsworthy. It is evident that in the televisual medium, production and consumption are interdependent. One determines the other and vice-versa. The viewer articulates and the broadcasters comply. Likewise, the broadcaster conceives and the viewer responds. Our exclusives and SIT stories are a case in point. We have reason to feel that we have done our job well when Urukundappa's sons in Mugathi are taken care of by an NGO and he is gifted a pair of bullocks to replace his sons with in the fields.
Journalistic confidence, aggression is undoubtedly reassuring for the viewer. But let not exhibitionism be the order of the day. Journalists are dying across the world reporting from war zones, in an effort to make sense from spaces of mindless conflict. And they need to be protected. Simultaneously, the 'whetever-it-takes' spirit needs to be cultivated further and respected. But let it not be flaunted just to follow the herd. We could be a little more conscious of the pitfalls of 'performance'...remember Gide's counterfeiter who masterminds counterfeiting and then fulminates against words 'that go by the name of promissory notes.' Let performance not become an empty performative utterance.
first published:January 05, 2006, 13:31 ISTlast updated:January 05, 2006, 13:31 IST
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I have always been drawn to the notion of 'performance' in broadcast journalism. No, I am not hinting at hidden desires to be a prime-time anchor someday. What I am suggesting instead is the responsibility that any news channel shoulders chasing 'stories' and 'bytes', an act that is arguably crucial to the survival of any competent network. Performance surely, at an obvious level, involves the reporter facing millions doing a live link or the anchor providing us with context, acting like a sieve of sorts, giving us meaning out of formless welter. Performance also automatically implies efficiency of all those behind the camera. I don't need to elaborate on the importance of either the camera person, or the editor or the assignments crew... of the whole team that needs to perform in tandem.
(If you ask me, beginning to work at a TV news desk after five years of 'Eng Lit' is like being shaken out of a reverie. You suddenly realize that in order to perform/deliver, you have to completely get rid of that narcissistic mode that you had systematically nourished and nurtured. It is at once a moment of crisis and self-discovery: you recognize the fact that all ideas of a littérature engagée, although 'engaged with' in academic papers, have been actually long thrown out of the window. But I will not digress...these asides shall serve as a 'tease' for a later entry on the subversive potentials of an all-too-powerful ticker-boy.)Performance at the level of ideology also means the philosophy that a network internalizes to convert an event into a story, make it newsworthy. It is evident that in the televisual medium, production and consumption are interdependent. One determines the other and vice-versa. The viewer articulates and the broadcasters comply. Likewise, the broadcaster conceives and the viewer responds. Our exclusives and SIT stories are a case in point. We have reason to feel that we have done our job well when Urukundappa's sons in Mugathi are taken care of by an NGO and he is gifted a pair of bullocks to replace his sons with in the fields.
Journalistic confidence, aggression is undoubtedly reassuring for the viewer. But let not exhibitionism be the order of the day. Journalists are dying across the world reporting from war zones, in an effort to make sense from spaces of mindless conflict. And they need to be protected. Simultaneously, the 'whetever-it-takes' spirit needs to be cultivated further and respected. But let it not be flaunted just to follow the herd. We could be a little more conscious of the pitfalls of 'performance'...remember Gide's counterfeiter who masterminds counterfeiting and then fulminates against words 'that go by the name of promissory notes.' Let performance not become an empty performative utterance.
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