The holy trinity: Media, advertising and consumer

 There was a time when reading your daily newspaper early in the morning, along with your morning cuppa – tea or coffee, whatever your pleasure – was the best way to start the day. It still is, for most of us. On the odd day, due to a national holiday the previous day for instance, when you don’t hear the resounding thwack of the folded up papers at your doorstep, there is a sense of bereavement. It’s as if the whole world stood still for 24 hours – almost as disastrous as the milkman not arriving. It’s no good saying ‘there’s always the TV, or the internet’. Just not the same thing, sitting with your smart phone or tablet, as opposed to the reassuring rustle of the page turning and the familiar smell of newsprint, also the cause of happily inky- blackened fingers.

Of course, we do watch television at other times of the day, mostly to entertain ourselves. Soaps, live sport, feature films and the news as well. It needs to be emphasized that on the idiot box, even the news is watched as a piece of entertainment, or ‘time pass’. Many of the so called debates on our news channels are nothing more than a thinly veiled excuse for prolonged slanging matches. Some of the characters who appear regularly on these shows can give our silver screen comedians a serious run for their money.

Once in a rare while, there will be some genuine breaking news, as in a disaster, natural or man made, or some serious enemy infiltration, but there is so little clarity and so much hyperventilation by the newscasters and their equally hysterical on site correspondents, that one waits avidly for the following morning’s newspaper to get a more balanced and informed perspective on said disaster. Honestly, some of these TV correspondents look as if they are just fresh out of school, and can barely contain their excitement at being on camera.

Not that everything about reading the papers these days is pleasurable. Time was when you read the newspaper, the layout and formatting of the pages was such that top priority was given to the dissemination of news. Advertising, which supports the economics of the newspaper business, was viewed by publishing houses as a necessary evil. Paid for and classified adverts had their appointed place in the broadsheet, and the reader, at his or her discretion, could decide whether they would like to view these commercial messages, or not. For the most part, this arrangement worked well for all concerned.

Things are different now. The tail is wagging the dog. Advertising calls the shots, and the early morning struggle to plough through full page ads that precede the front page, has become the rule rather than the exception. Oftentimes, the page is cut in half, or diagonally, and worse still, extends beyond the page sides, making the whole business of physically managing the newspaper, a nightmare. On one occasion, an automobile brand even stuck some battery powered audio device that blared out a shrill message, when I opened the paper. Got the shock of my life, because I least expected it.

Advertising on television can be equally off putting. The more popular the programme, the longer the advertising capsule stretches. Those who have recording facilities can watch at leisure, fast forwarding the ad sections. Else, you can switch to some other programme and return to what you were watching. The power of the remote control! You can’t do that on live sport, sadly, but we can live with that.

Digital media and the internet are also not proof against the advertising onslaught, but it is still largely a work in progress, but it is getting there. In other words, there is no escape.

One can conclude by saying that we live in a world where news, entertainment and advertising co-exist uneasily. The one cannot survive without the other. Today, you are faced with news, paid for news, advertorials and advertising. The lines keep getting blurred, and reading or watching the news is anything but a straightforward daily habit. Comedian Eddie Murphy said, “I haven’t read a newspaper in 20 years. I don’t look at the computer or anything. You have to have a filter on what you let in”.
If only we could all be like that.

(The writer is a Bengaluru-based brand consultant, music lover and an occasional columnist)