Great past, Uncertain future. Review on Aaj Tak

Aaj Tak has an interesting success story. In 1995, a 20-minute news digest called ‘Aaj Tak’ started on DD Metro. Those days, people used to actually watch DD Metro! Aaj Tak soon became popular due to its smart presentation in crisp Hindi.

From that 20 minutes weekdays spot, Aaj Tak grew into a 24 hours News Channel in 6 years. A few months ago, Headlines Today- an English version was launched. Media Today Group Pvt. Ltd owns these channels.

Aaj Tak (AT for short) was different from the ‘Star’ group’s news channels in its entire attitude and style. The Aaj Tak style was less sophisticated, more crisp and interesting. This channel actually pioneered the ‘infotainment’attitude- where ‘News’ became entertaining- just like movies and sitcoms.

Let’s see what the channel has got in its ‘pros’ list-

1)I still remember the ‘Aaj Tak’ on DD Metro. I used to find ‘News’ boring. But Aaj Tak’s presentation was so slick and lucid that it made me interested in daily news. The more Aaj Tak retains its earlier culture, the better it will be for the channel and its viewers.

2)Sab se Tez- It is still true to a large extent. These guys are very quick. They will break the news before anybody else; their team will reach the site in no time.

3)Discussions and viewpoints- while the main job of news channels in delivering the news, these days the focus is on discussions and debates. Aaj Tak discussions are straightforward most of the times. They try to air true opinions of Indian people. They aren’t very biased, and they dare to criticize the imperialists.

4)They have a simple style of reporting in crisp Hindi that clicks with the masses. They immediately connect with viewers due to this style. The first line is always - “Aaj Tak mein pesh hain abhi tak ki khabrein”. Once an Aaj Tak reporter left the channel and joined Star News. Even then, he was heard saying “Dekhte rahiye Aaj Tak” since he was used to saying that line often!

5)Special Reports- they make special news reports complete with interviews of people, video coverage and graphics. The other day they aired a special programme about Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose and his controversial death. The volume of information presented in the report was impressive.

6)The channel uses latest technology. Reception and picture,sound quality is good. Their infrastructure and nation-wide network is excellent.

7)Movie News- Aaj Tak has special programme on Movies called ‘Cinema Aaj Tak’.This is one of most comprehensive shows about box office statistics, new movies, latest controversies, etc.

They have similar news capsules like Khel Aaj Tak, Health Aaj Tak, etc.

Aaj Tak has been heavily criticized for a lot of things. Its flaws and mistakes are increasing rapidly and even its most loyal viewers are finding it annoying now. In fact, the earlier 20-minute show used to be more effective than the 24-hour channel in its present format.

In short, this channel is at a critical stage and it needs to improve.

The cons-

1)Too many advertisements- AT has long commercial breaks. Rather, they keep showing the ads and take ‘news breaks’ from time to time.

2)Flop Revamping- They recently employed new reporters and revamping was done. It hasn’t worked. Some of the new reporters are very dumb; they have nothing intelligent to say.

3)Contests- so the channel has started SMS contests. Earlier, news headlines would scroll at the bottom of the screen. Now, contest questions, SMS numbers, list of winners etc. have replaced the news headlines. Too Bad! AT should be about news, not contests.

4)They don’t understand where to stop. We want to get the latest news. No matter how important an event is, at some point they should stop and move to other news.

5)Sometimes, to get the viewers involved they add spice to a story, and mislead the viewers.

6)AT ‘Jackpot’- They collected money for ‘jackpot’ during cricket world cup from people. They later returned the money to people since Indian team lost in the final. Was it the job of a news channel to do such thing? Have they collected money for our soldiers or social activists? They even wanted to show the ‘interviews’ of biggest contributors on their channel. That was stupid.

7)Business news- I have rarely seen useful financial news on AT. To get the latest buzz from ‘share bazaar’, one has to rely on CNBC only.

My verdict-

The quality is declining so fast, that it is difficult to say anything certain about the channel. But apna Mouthshut always wants us to make a decision!

I would still recommend it for its speed, and daring style, but this recommendation is only for time being. Let’s wait and watch!