OPPapers.com

Television

TV-the mass medium of entertainment
Television has a continuous presence day after day. It brings to the viewer a variety of events simultaneously, even as they take place, i.e., shows broadcast live from the place of occurrence. This in turn creates an alternate or an extended environment in the home or the community, thus adding a completely new dimension to the communication. TV has the possibility of becoming “the other family”, capable of replacing a person’s social situation with another total situation in which he can passively participate. According to the renowned director, Shyam Benegal, Television is “A narcotic element with considerable persuasive power which one cannot afford to ignore!”[1] In this way, TV’s ability to manipulate exceeds by far the influence of any other mass communication medium.
Utility of TV-its effectiveness
Although there is no doubt in the power of TV, it must be mentioned that its varied use can build constraints in it. TV is basically a source of entertainment. The format of any programme has to take this factor into account in order to prevent it from becoming an unbearable intrusion in the privacy of the home. Yet whatever, the form, TV cannot be allowed to become yet another opiate. Therefore, it becomes necessary to find for its application in social terms-as an instrument of social change. Outside of it, TV can only be another luxury that India en mass cannot afford.
TV- tool of opinion builder
Indian society has ascertained itself, many varieties of social norms and forms. There several traditional concepts and institutions confronted today by systems that have followed in the wake of industralisation and increased doses of technology. TV would have to be used to help formulate common concepts and ideologies that blend the quasi-religious and quasi-social laws of the country, which have their roots in the past, with the emerging social forms of a developing economy. In communication terms, TV would have to play a...