NEW DELHI: 'India is a very dramatic country, and therefore it is the best country in the world to have television news channel – something is happening here every moment'.
Accepting the Indiantelevision.com’s Lifetime Achievement Award at the Second News Television Awards function over the weekend, TV Today Group editor-in-chief and chairman Aroon Purie said the 24x7 news channels were probably the greatest invention of recent times since they changed the way people think and also affect public discourse. "A television channel is like a Formula One Car. It just goes on and on at a speed beyond your imagination".
"I love news – it is my passion", said Purie, but added that it was unfair to blame TV news channels for everything. The TV news business was just over a decade old and ‘they still have to find their feet’, he said, adding that news channels had behaved tremendously against adverse circumstances.
Referring to what he termed the ‘tyranny of TRPs’, he said news channels were judged by the minute. He hoped things would change in a couple of years when people start paying for the few news channels they wanted to see and did not get them all free. The TV news channel business would see greater expansion then,
NDTV India’s Pankaj Pachauri, who won the Best News Anchor in Hindi award, said he was happy that news had been brought on the agenda as other TV awards were all for entertainment.
Noting that the awards had been created for the TV news industry, Wanvari added that there was space for both entertainment and news awards. He pointed out that the awards had been decided by impartial juries that were not part of indiantelevision.com
Rajdeep Sardesai who received the Best News Anchor Award in English for CNN IBN, said TV news was a tough competitive business which was presently facing a content crisis. He urged TV news channels to show greater unity amongst themselves.
Speaking about the honours that the NDTV group of channels received, CEO KVL Narayan Rao said, “NDTV has a pool of the most talented and bright reporters, anchors, producers, editors and others in the Indian television industry today. We are honoured for being recognised for our quality of work and credible journalism”.
HDTV-ready English news channel NewsX, from the INX Network was honoured with a special award for 'Pioneering Initiatives in Digital Technology' for its leadership role in technological innovation.
Said INX News chairman Indrani Mukerjea, "Our aim has been to bring a completely up-to-date news channel to the Indian television audience by combing world class technology with contemporary graphics and set designs. We have used an HDTV-ready format with a view to future proofing the technology. In addition, we adopted MPEG 4 for both, newsgathering and transmission, to ensure superior quality images. We are happy to know that the industry recognises our leadership role."
