A generation in transition : the media led risk of mediocrity in shaping perspectives
Prabal Basu Roy
Sloan Fellow-London Business School, PE Investor,Board member,Advisor to Board Chairpersons; former Group CFO; media commentator
This would seem provocative but something we must stop to think about ! This, of course, applies to the majority and not the individual pockets of brilliance in various segments of contemporary society.
It required the western world ( the Nobel organisation ) to discover a Kailash Satyarthi and put him in the national discourse. Most of even the more informed citizens went scurrying to the net to figure out his antecedents when the Nobel was announced in 2014 ! But ask any ordinary person of any actor in a silly TV reality show or a third grade film star/model and you will be showered with a wealth of encyclopedic knowledge on his/her life, their affairs, "accomplishments", their fashion and food preferences, etc....
Such is the impact of the sub standard TV and page 3 media fare we stare at day after day.... and which is shaping our collective consciousness in contemporary society. The mediocrity is stunning both in terms of quality of content, the hyper ventilating anchors and "news"..... When I reflect back on our formative years, I remember the pivotal role played by highly regarded journalists in shaping our thinking : the Khushwant Singhs, Girilal Jains, Kuldeep Nayyars, Arun Shouries and the BG Vergheses of the world. In all fairness, though, the majority of the reputed print media has maintained its quality till now though cracks are evident whilst countering the onslaught of increasing viewership of the TV media.
I shudder to think what the current brand of media exposure will, or rather is actually having, on our children as they enter the mainstream of society. Growing up on a diet of gyrating stars, six pack toy boys, hyped reality shows, fashion and "entertainment" delivered through a plethora of ubiquitous devices : where will they develop the perspective so necessary to be battle ready to face and handle life's various challenges ? In the work place too, will the quality of decision making be reminiscent of the sound and thoughtful ones of a JRD Tata, Deepak Parekh, Narayan Murthy or, will we too be relegated to the mediocrity of the professional work force of our far eastern neighbours ( Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, etc ) where most are just content with implementing low level decisions made by some middle level manager sitting in New York or California ? This trend is already alarming with the rise of MNC technology cost centers and BPOs where mere delivery managers masquerade as local CEOs and accounting clerks as CFOs.... and, worst still, feel happy and contended about it ! Little do they know that around mid life most would be out of the work force and with very minimal skills to be absorbed in equivalent positions in real companies. But who thinks… and who cares as long as there is easy money to go around thrown around by such MNCs ?
The gradual dumbing down of India, as one of my friends pointed out, is a phenomenon which has accelerated over the past decade and is a direct consequence of a confluence of factors : unprecedented, blatant corruption in the government along with a complete lack of governance and leadership in public life ( the recent advent of PM Modi and all that he is single handedly trying is a welcome departure and harbinger of hope ); the policy of allowing the profusion of fourth rate educational institutions generally owned and operated by fifth rate politicians in what is a thinly veiled activity of legally appropriating large tracts of land in the name of democratization of education ; advent of the “instant gratification” syndrome hyped up by a compliant media : from TV reality shows and serials to manufactured “sound bytes” for the high of that instant brush with “fame” ; the rampant use of the media by businesses to create an “aspirational” middle class based on promoting the “I” factor and unfettered greed in the pursuit of furthering the culture of mindless consumerism and high octane “dil maange more” campaigns. Try living with one car or one house or the one year old cell phone or without a annual foreign holiday in Greece : and enjoy the shocked reaction of disbelief of your neighbours in a tony apartment complex ! Where are the ancient Indian perspectives of evaluating needs vs. wants, character over personality and we vs. I ? As would be obvious, the proliferation of a dumbed down, aspirational society is the fertile breeding ground for selling products we do not need, but feel the "need" to accumulate, due to the necessity of “proving” ourselves to our neighbour. This time tested business model of the developed western economies is playing out in India. If only the core character trait of “ insightful perspective” was not being systematically diluted from our national consciousness, we would have instead chosen to extract the positive traits from them : discipline, hard work, meritocracy and single minded pursuit of excellence.
Coming back to role models like Kailash Satyarthi : he has been working for decades on freeing children from labor without fear of facing the various forms of mafia which manage trafficking in child labor. Should such people not be portrayed as icons, as inspiration for millions to follow and emulate rather than those who flit through our collective consciousness via the media every day ? What about our ignored scientists at DRDO or ISRO ? Or the unsung heroes in our defence forces and their widows ? Where is the place and recognition for “substance” and role models in contemporary society ? As regards public leadership, I was watching a late night movie called Sardar the other night...a biographical film on Sardar Patel. The other characters depicted in the film were of Gandhiji, Nehru, Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad, CR Rajagopalachari, Kriplani, and many others. Such was the galaxy of leaders whose traits our earlier generation had the good fortune to imbibe. Can we name even five of that caliber today ? And the one leader who has emerged is being hounded from all sides ( ala the intolerance debate ) to ensure he fails as he tries to change this very fundamental aspect in governance. Chanakya, in his seminal treatise Arthashastra, had written precisely about this centuries ago : the chants of intolerance by all and sundry in the context of a strong king and the discomfort felt by thieves,traitors, etc in his regime when the status quo is challenged. Therefore, we should not be surprised with the periodic chorus from a "united" opposition we are are being subjected to in the last few months.... with the noise post the demonetisation initiative being the latest.
The role of a free,thoughtful and vibrant media is critical. The tragic reality, however, of hard core business models in the media space is that products will continue to be tailored to suit audience demand : with audience demand ( and taste ) being influenced by the same media itself : a virtuous self fulfilling cycle in complete control of the business barons. And thus, in our brand of democracy where education and public accountability do not form its cornerstones, we will be continue to be fed with lungi dances, frenzied sensationalism and crass journalism.....with the space steadily diminishing for the discerning citizen who would like to watch a reasoned debate or a Shyam Benegal/Naseeruddin Shah offering or following a Kailash Satyarthi in his journey.
I do not know the solution to this. Till then, the hard work of battling challenges posed by the delivery of sub standard content through ubiquitous devices and developing meaningful perspective on a day to day basis in our children will have to be done by us at home to the best of our individual ability. Significantly, meaningful exchange of serious and uncommon perspectives through non TRP and advertising based digital, knowledge platforms such as LinkedIn, Skore, Nuclino,Slideshare, etc will go a long way in promoting thoughtful debate to those who care to read and develop themselves.
Else the next generation’s perspective of what constitutes substantive achievement will be circumcised by the shallow and unreal world they are being exposed to thru the mediocrity dished out by our sub standard media.
The role of digital knowledge sharing platforms, can thus be seminal for the development of thoughtful perspective in our younger generation.
(PRABAL BASU ROY)
Prabal Basu Roy is a Sloan Fellow from the London Business School and a Chartered Accountant: the writer presently manages a PE fund and has formerly been a Director and Group CFO in various companies.
Join me on Twitter.com @PrabalBasuRoy
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8 年We need to inculcate the habbits from childhood. All of these seems to be result of shallow thinking process. Education which encourages rote learning does not allow individuals to have clear thought process. People are not responsive rather they are reactive on news on any kind of media. It is a dangerous phenomeon for society.
Adjunct Faculty, Indian Institute of Management
8 年Congratulations Prabal Basu Roy. You have articulated very well the phenomenon around us. As a person who actually lives in the country you talk about, I cannot agree more. I would like to add a few more of my thoughts - 1. The commercialisation of education, healthcare and journalism in a big way post 1995 has contributed to degradation of quality and ethics. 2. The extremely competitive business landscape has made profit maximisation by any means a virtue. Capital markets reward companies by their quantity of profits, not their quality. 3. Politicians and governments believe that GDP growth is an end in itself. This approach is the most fertile ground for crony capitalism, corruption and greed. While GDP drives policy, TRP drives the media. 4. Due to liberalisation in the past 25 years, Indians have been exposed to a sudden materialism that they had not experienced before. Therefore, there is an urge to grab and consider material pursuits as the only objective in life. 5. The internet and mobile have destroyed human relationships and bonds beyond repair. The millenials consider the mobile as their parent and google as their God. Those in mid life consider the mobile as their companion. Digital media exploits this opportunity to propogate the belief that consumerism is the way to go. The result of all of all of the above is that those of us born 40 or more years ago are passing through times that are unfamiliar. What we learnt in our times looks irrelevant for the current generation in which people are either glued to their screens or drumming up business valuations and laughing their way to the digital wallet. I am sorry to say this but we are now a generation of digital zombies.
Saurabh is an accomplished engineering leader with over 20 years of experience in software engineering, solution architecture, data, AI, and cloud platforms.
8 年Many people are completely fed up of the types of Barkha Dutt, Rajdeep Sardesai and their ilk who lack basic intellect to perceive the ground truth. The current generation of journalists are all trying to out bid each other in a race to the bottom. Our media thrives in a world of lies and deceit to serve their political masters and other thugs who fund their businesses. Even during the recent demonetization, I saw very few instances of media reaching out to the common people in the cities, towns and villages to share their true stories and perspectives. Many of us are trying to live a reckless life to enjoy "today" at the cost of a better "tomorrow". We are so quick to judge and yet so slow to perceive the ground truth. It is scary to live in a world where people no longer have the time and patience to bother to understand others.
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8 年At school, a master read out a lament as to the dumbing down of society, which seems awfully pertinent. Turned out it was penned by a Socrates or Plato, I forget whom, millennia ago. We are little changed in many ways from Rome, with the mass pacified by games and distractions, while the elite scheme, go to war, and profit from the mass as they always have done. Human beings are simple and greedy, whether rich or poor, the mechanisms are essentially identical. People with an interest in understanding what it is to be human, the nature of the soul, are ridiculed, because to embrace our nature would leave the 'commercial' world somewhat bankrupt. In short, good luck trying to change that.
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8 年This, I gather is a global phenomenon. While it was never perfect, traditional print and broadcast media is now certainly broken. Following is a letter I wrote to the Publisher and Editor of the New York Times earlier this week. It was in response to their published mea culpa regarding their foibles. Arthur and Dean, I read your message to readers with some relief and much vindication. For many years I've admonished those that bemoan the Right-Wing press and praise the NYT (et.al.) that they were reproaching the other side of the same coin. As a reader of the NYT for > 45 years, I've said it with no pleasure. I recall as a child driving along the West Side Highway (when it was still paved in cobblestone) and looking in awe at your facility with the bold sign, "All the news that's fit to print." There was a sense of pride in somehow being affiliated with such an institution, even if only by reading its output. More relevant and better remembered is my first day of my junior year in high school in September of 1975. You see a group of us were sitting in US History 101 chatting idly away when a man stormed into the room. He slammed the door, kicked a garbage pail across the room, sat at the teacher's desk in front of the class and stared at us. The class went silent, sat motionless and stunned. After a few minutes he 'ordered' us all to take out a pen and piece of paper. We all rushed to do so. He then gave us 5 (10?) minutes and told us to write down everything we had seen since he entered the room. After the allotted time he called on individuals and had them read aloud what they had written. "Sarcasm." "Editorial-ism." "Reporting." After reading many aloud and categorizing them as such, he went into a lecture. He pointed out that we were all in the same place and witnessed the same event. He then discussed how virtually everyone interpreted what they had seen differently as a result of their own prejudices. Mr. (Michael) Gallucci proceeded to instruct us that we need to view history and the news with a wary eye as unless we'd witnessed it ourselves, it would almost certainly be biased by whom had written it. He explained it was critical to look at many points of view. He then handed out copies of The New York Times [emphasis intended] and demonstrated that the front page was for reporting. He then had us turn to the Editorial page where he showed that this is where interpretations of reporting are to be made. And that the Op-Ed page is where others, not necessarily affiliated with the paper, are to voice their interpretations. Thus began my life-long love affair with history and my first genuine experience with critical thinking. Attached, to demonstrate this, is a list of what I've been reading for the past few years. While not a scholar, I have more than a casual knowledge of history, US history in particular. I'm indebted to Mr. Gallucci for this, for life. And it was his lecture, many years ago, that has forced me to stop reading your paper: it is just too incredibly presumptive, biased, condescending and illegitimate. You sirs, and almost virtually all of your brethren in the fourth estate, have abrogated your responsibility to the public through biased and misleading editorializing thinly disguised as reporting. Essentially, you have all become irrelevant. Your apology to your readership is merely a first step in righting the wrongs you have perpetuated for decades. It is a sorry state of affairs when wikileaks has overtaken the press (in all its forms) as the only credible source of facts. We, the public, count on institutions such as yours to very keenly separate reporting from editorializing. It is my genuine hope that you restore the NYT to its former luster and be a reputable member of the fourth estate. Very sincerely, William H. 'Bill' Ross Los Gatos, CA P.S. It is this type of correspondence that is never published in your paper, hence my sending it to you both personally rather than the correspondence desk.