Indian Television Channels get most of their revenue through advertisements.  Not surprisingly, each channel wants to get the maximum advertisements.  The advertisers obviously look for the most watched channels and programmes to advertise.

But how will one find out which is the most popular channel and programme. In India it is TAM (Television Audience Measurement) and couple of other companies which find this information.  They use what is called TRPs or Television Rating Points to find out the popularity of a programme.   It is a sampling method.  Some 7500 homes all over India have been provided a small box called audience meter which keeps calculating the time spent on different programmes and channels by these 7500 homes.

The debate now is whether 7500 urban homes are enough to judge what the country of a billion is seeing.  The question becomes that much more prominent as millions of homes have only terrestrial television and watch only the govt. channel Doordarshan.  So are these ratings dependable and worthwhile to use.

It is interesting to note that the ratings are consumed mainly by advertisers and the channels.  The normal audience is generally not very affected by this.  They do not decide which programmes to watch based on this judgement.  So are the advertisers then satisfied with this samplin. TAM says the method is scientific and the sample is enough.

Whatever be the reality, whether the sample is enough or not… today the tv programmes watched in India are decided by such TRPs.  In news, entertainment has become an important part.

Superstition and supernatural is also shown in News Channels. Sensationalism also has its place. Sometimes, the channels hang on the edge of vulgarity.  In short,  some of the tenets on which journalism itself is based is compromised.  The problem  becomes more acute for a trainer like me as my judgement and teaching are questioned by my own pupil.  So will TRPs now decide what is television journalism? I would hope not, though one cannot move against the times.