• Amanjyoti Kaur
• Dr. Charan Kamal Walia

News Anchor is the person who presents news during the broadcasting of a news program on a news channel. News anchor or a news presenter is the most important aspect for effective delivery of media messages. News anchors act as a link between the audience and the news channel. They also play a vital role for bridging the gaps between different news stories during a news bulletin. They act as a moderator during a news debate, discussion or a talk show. There is a lot of effort put in by a lot of journalists to make one news package ready to be on air and read by the anchor. As assignment desk assigns story to the reporter. Reporter then brings the shots and sots needed for the story. Producer will edit the script and the editor will combine the shots in one sequence, adding the necessary and deleting the unwanted. After all this effort, the anchor will finally read the anchor link and relish the appreciation. Just as actors in a film remain at the front foot delivering the story to the audience, a news anchor too enjoys the advantage of being familiar and recognized by the audience. Classically a news anchor was merely a reader reading the scripts one by one given on the teleprompter. Ever since the 24X7 news culture emerged and the trend of breaking news popularized, the role of an anchor evolved herewith. News anchors nowadays perform for an hour without any script on the teleprompter. In the race of breaking the news first, script is too much to ask for. Single line information by the panel producer into the earpiece and the anchor is expected to manage the rest. It’s an extempore filled with action packed reactions flowing in the form of a phone-in and senior journalists joining from the newsroom with deeper insights on the latest news. This has made the job of an anchor quite challenging. Although this is not the only thing that 24X7 news culture has brought in with itself. Aggressive and argumentative debate shows have also emerged over the time. These shows tend to improve the TRPs but discard the social responsibility of the electronic media. Studio journalism, mostly comprising of talk shows, debates and discussions, have panelists to discuss over some ongoing hot issue. Anchors are seen getting hot headed while these discussion programs. The most recent example is Anchor Rahul Kanwal’s fight with Nagendra Singh Tomar, Head, Hindu Yuva Vahini on India tv, one of India’s leading English news channel. The channel uploaded the video of this fight on their youtube channel with the title saying “Exclusive: Rahul Kanwal & hindu yuva vahini chief fierce fight over moral policing” on 17 april, 2017. The anchor Rahul Kanwal literally asks the guest to get out of the show. He says “mike utaariye aur jayiye”. Anchor are facing much criticism for shouting at the panelists. Similar criticism is faced by another popular Indian English News Anchor named Arnab Goswami currently the managing editor of Republic Tv. He became popular for being aggressive in his shows “Frankly Speaking” and “The News Hour” on Times now news channel. He resigned on 1 november, 2016. His style of news anchoring is widely criticized. He has been called as the ‘man who killed TV News’ in the cover story by the outlook magazine and ‘Arnab Goswami-style journalism is killing the essence of debates’ posted by the Firstpost on may 28, 2016. The anchor is often seen shouting and not letting the panelists bring their point of view in front portraying only the dominance of the anchor and snubbing the views of the panelists. Media is considered as the fourth estate of the democracy and journalists as the watchdogs hence fair journalism becomes essential. Not only English but many hindi news anchors too are facing a disapproval because of their aggression. Aaj tak, india’s leading hindi news channel anchor Anjana Om kashyap is also known for her aggression on screen. Her fight with AAP spokesperson Ashish khetan was condemned. The video of the debate program is available on aaj tak’s youtube channel wih the title “Dilli ke dil mein kya hai: which political party can deliver promises in Delhi? (pt-2) uploaded on 31 jan, 2015. The anchor Anjana Om kashyap said “aap ki aukaat nahi hai ki iss channel ki dehleez par khadhe ho sakien”, “aap ki kya aukaat hai”. Which raises a question on the panelists these debate programs invite. Guests are arbitrarily invited and most of the times a controversial personality is invited for better TRPs and fights on tv. Another popular example is of a panelist slapping another panelist. Hindi news channel news 24 invites Baba Om, self-styled Godman as a panelist where he is slapped by an astrologer lady, Deepa Sharma. The video is uploaded on the official youtube channel of news 24 on sept 14, 2015 with title “studio mein ‘Adharam Yudh’: Deepa Sharma slaps Baba Om on live news”. The TRP game can better be understood by these titles as they only enhance the violence in the shows to attract more eyeballs. Most of these fights are uploaded with the violence being as the headline everywhere forgetting the actual topic of the debate for which these panelists were called for. The news channels highlight these fights as they bring TRPs. This raises a question over the quality of journalism being produced in the country. Some prominent news channels have strongly stood against violent debates. NDTV uploaded a promo for their channel calling itself as “India’s only non-tabloid news network”. This obviously accuses the other news channels being tabloid. Term tabloid needs to be understood here. It is widely attached to yellow journalism. This type of approach in journalism is considered away from objectivity and close to sensationalism, creating news for the purpose of attracting audience only. Aggressive talk shows exclude media’s purpose of contributing positively towards building up a better society.

Changing face of News Anchoring in India: A study

"Changing face of News Anchoring in India: A study", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.6, Issue 1, page no.1127-1132, January-2019, Available :http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR1901H58.pdf

"Changing face of News Anchoring in India: A study", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org | UGC and issn Approved), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.6, Issue 1, page no. pp1127-1132, January-2019, Available at : http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR1901H58.pdf