Time was when the media used to be strong. Merciful, or otherwise, media could make or mar careers. Now the very careers of typical traditional media are at stake, right?
Who is to blame? COVID is the culprit, would be the general perception. Well, people were cooped up for twenty-four hours in each other's company which might make "home, sweet home" more like a prison house. The escape route was the OTT platforms which introduced a wealth of 'wonder content'.
The subscription rates were not very high, I believe. Till eyes refused to watch, 'aye, aye', said most I's! Once one gets used to quality and variety, it is tough to accept the same old recipe of partisan politics, sensationalism, and filmy gossip, right?
COVID made people binge watchers and reluctant readers. Much more than that the 'dis-ease' generated a new race (the term 'race' is used here in all its associations, a group, who created fast, and fast racy stuff). Nam to suna hi hoga! Yes, the youtubers, the bloggers, especially the video bloggers, the podcasters, and so on.
The sources this entrepreneurial journalism needed were manageable, a camera, a microphone, a computer, a mobile, easily available, equally accessible. Their themes would always be unusual, their analysis razor sharp. Topics the mainstream media may choose to ignore, given the various affiliations, would be openly and ably discussed on the blogs, podcasts and YouTube channels. These bloggers, youtubers and podcasters hence have a huge fan following.
They are friendly, seem to talk to you like a confidante who can be relied upon, and present a fresh perspective. In fact, so popular they are that their funding is open source public funding. May be, that is why they add that feel of (stakeholder-ly) authenticity.
The variety in this by-now-quite-established field is truly mind-boggling. Such is their fresh, at times, whistleblower kind of approach that even mainstream media seem to adopt their ways. Want proof? Look at "Vantage with Palki Sharma" at First Post. Well, who wants to read these days? If youtubers can condense infotainment, obviously there are tons of takers, ready to 'take on the wor(l)ds'!
Pratima@No harm admitting that you have got mildly addicted to our daily dose of blogging, right? Well, none can stop an idea, despite the AI, whose time has come. Sure Victor Hugo would not mind that minor add-on!
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