News channels set agenda instead of mere reporting: Jaitley

Emphasizing that media functioning has changed drastically after the advent of 24x7 news channels, Information and Broadcasting Minister Arun Jaitley today said they now set the agenda instead of mere reporting.
"We suddenly found that we are beocoming a media-driven society. A society, whose agenda is pushed by the media. Media sets the agenda," he said adding that now reporters feel they are not just to report but to "actually set the agenda" on issues to which the stakeholders will respond.
Contrasting the functioning of Indian television news channels with that of BBC, he said the difference which he finds while watching them is that "in our channels, we get to hear the views of the same set of eight people evening after evening. News becomes anchor driven.

"Where as when I switch on BBC, I get news items of 40-50 seconds on everything that is happening in the world."
Jaitley at the same time said that he believes that views are also important.
"I am not going to denigrate that," he said addressing a workshop for bureaucrats on communication here.