UNBELIEVABLE: 4 - Caught on Camera

TV Newsance 192: Finding nuclear war in a lunar eclipse as Himachal prepares for polls

TV Newsance is back, and this week we analyse TV9’s loony show on the lunar eclipse, which the channel thought could be a sign of impending doom with inputs from defence experts. Chitra Tripathi, back to Aaj Tak from her brief spell at ABP, also hinted at a dangal in…

Newslaundry · Nov 12, 2022

TV Newsance 191: Arvind Kejriwal’s ‘Ganesh-Laxmi’ idea presents a Dharam Sankat for anchors

It was a week like any other, until it wasn’t. Post-Diwali, anchors fawned over the Supreme Leader, with multiple Modis on screens and channels discussing the secrets to his youthful rigour and spiritual strength.

Newslaundry · Oct 29, 2022

TV Newsance 190: Republic vs Times Now. Who won?

Indian news TV operates by the revenue logic of ads. And who gets how many ads is dictated by the logic of TRPs. So when BARC, the TRPs measurement agency, returned with its data earlier this year after a hiatus forced by the TRP scam, so did the barking on…

Newslaundry · Oct 22, 2022

TV Newsance 183: Anupam Kher’s Nehru bashing on News18, injustice to Bilkis Bano

This week, we look at Network 18’s Independence Day special programme that tracked the history of India through the speeches of its prime ministers from 1947 to 2022. In a one-hour show, the host, Anupam Kher, spent about seven minutes on Jawaharlal Nehru and 15 minutes or so on Narendra…

Newslaundry · Aug 20, 2022

TV Newsance 181: Ranveer Singh’s ‘bum’ makes it to primetime

Believe it or not, Ranveer Singh’s nude shoot made it to primetime TV news discussion this week. Sudhir Chaudhary, now on Aaj Tak, wondered about the actor’s majboori, while giving us gyaan on sanskaar. We also catch him repeating his show theme from Zee News: in the span of a…

Newslaundry · Jul 30, 2022

TV Newsance 180: All the wrong questions on TV news

This week, we look at how the humble question mark is misused on TV news. TV news channels can get away with smear campaigns, polarising debates, and out and out hate news by simply placing a question mark before factless assertions. For example, Will India become a ‘Muslim Rashtra’ in…

Newslaundry · Jul 23, 2022

TV Newsance 179: India Today’s balancing act, cute vs angry lion & Sri Lanka crisis

With the India Today Group getting a new star anchor, we look at all the golden opportunities the hiring offers India’s “sabse tez” channel – khoob jamega rang jab mil jayenge teen yaar, Sudhir, Shweta aur nanochip.

Newslaundry · Jul 16, 2022

TV Newsance 178: Kaali poster, Mahua Moitra’s comments and farewell to Sudhir

It’s the season of outrage, and TV news anchors can't have enough of it! They are angry, hurt and offended – but for what? Not unemployment, or inflation or gas prices going up; from Nupur Sharma to now Mahua Moitra, hurt sentiments continue to rule the airwaves.

Newslaundry · Jul 9, 2022

TV Newsance 175: Friday violence, studio-veers and vilification of Umar Khalid

People mainly avoid news due to repetitiveness, a lack of trust and the sense of powerlessness it triggers, according to the Reuters Digital News Report 2022. But what could exemplify the broken record more than the apocalyptic world of Indian TV news?

Newslaundry · Jun 18, 2022

TV Newsance 173: KCR sponsors NDTV 'feature', Modi and Yogi enjoy free publicity on ABP

This week we shift gears to bring you a special episode breaking down what ad-funded programming looks like on TV news and what different forms this monster has taken in the Indian news ecosphere.

Newslaundry · May 28, 2022