Television: A vision to embark on the path of development

By: Riza Ghosh

Television was introduced to the world in the 1920s in London, UK. But it took more than 30 years to come to India. In 1959, television began as an educational project supported by UNESCO. However, since the dynamics have changed, it has started to act as a medium of development communication. Not only education and awareness, it started to serve the mass as a medium of entertainment. Despite being an educational project, being an entertaining part of our daily lives was not so easy. But it is essential to recognize how television has shaped the picture of development in our country. Let’s delve into the journey of television from then to now.

In the early days, broadcasts were limited to a few hours a day, which now turned into the channel of 25×7. The transformation happened in 1976 with Doordarshan and SITE (Satellite Instructional Television Experiment), when they took the nationwide initiative to reach even the remotest village. The development occurs when it starts from the grassroots, which means the rural part of India.  The programs of DD already took the initiative by covering socio-economic, political, agricultural, cultural, and health-related news and information.

In the 1980s, the commercialization of television happened globally, and India was not an exception. Networks including Star TV, Zee TV, and Sun TV entered the market. The years from 2000 witnessed the transformation from satellite to D-T-H (direct to home), which also signifies how India started to consume development communication through television.

But while experimenting with the audio-visual medium, Indian television, which started with projects like SITE and Kheda Communication Project, lost its initial goals. It started to become a medium for urban and middle-class people, rather focused on rural masses. Also in 1970, the dominant paradigm of western countries started to dominate the developing countries in every aspect. The cultivation theory of George Gerbner was also relevant to our country, highlighting the influence of western culture in television; sometimes it is beneficial and sometimes it has an adverse impact on society.

In the world of social media and globalization, the scenario is different. Nowadays, the audience has the capability to cross-check the content. Interestingly, today, rural viewership crosses the viewership of urban areas. Which implies that even today, television plays a crucial role as the source of both education and entertainment.

To summarize this, it can be said that without television, it was impossible to embark on a journey of development. In the era of the internet and blue media, television remains evergreen because of its ability to reach every socio-economic class of the country.