New Delhi [India], October 19 : Anchor and journalist Sudhir Chaudhary has opened up about being called the highest-paid government employee/ TV anchor, saying that in the media industry, compensation is always linked to one's market value and performance.
In a podcast with ANI, speaking about being called the "highest-paid government employee," Chaudhary said, "I don't know if I am the most expensive or not. First, we will have to find out how much money the other anchors are getting... But I think, in our industry, without market value or delivery, no one will give a single penny."
The veteran TV presenter, who currently hosts Decode on DD News, emphasised that he has always ensured his employers receive substantial returns on their investment.
"I feel whatever money I am getting here or before this, I have paid each and every penny of that money. In the channels where I have worked before or where I have done the first shows, I have given an account of each and every penny. The amount of each and every penny they have invested in me, I have given them very good returns," he added.
Chaudhary further expressed confidence that his current stint with Prasar Bharati is also yielding strong results for the organisation.
He stated, "Here too, I am very happy to tell that Prasar Bharti will get more return than that, and it is getting that. According to our deals, my show's Decode at this time, all that money will be returned to Prasar Bharti."
Asked what constitutes a "return" on his salary and the concept of ratings, Choudhary said, "Ratings are the currency of TV; we call it BARC ratings. There is an organisation called BARC, in the language of the common people, which we call TRP. But I never trusted TRP."
Sudhir Chaudhary further accused the Television Rating Points (TRP) system of "single-handedly destroying" journalism in the country. He expressed surprise that industry professionals, including those from the advertising world, fail to understand the flaws in the TRP system.
He further claimed that the TRP system allows a small sample size of 50,000 households to decide what 140 crore people watch.
"I still say that the entire concept of TRP is single-handedly responsible for destroying journalism in our country. Because the mechanism of TRP is that if you put any good content, it won't work. I am very surprised that there are so many big professionals who come from the advertising world with turnover of thousands of crores, lakhs of crores, but they don't understand how big a TRP scam is going on in our country. I feel that 30-40 thousand crore businesses are being done only on news TV based on TRP. 50,000 houses are deciding what 140 crore people are seeing in this country, what they like and what they don't like. So, I never worked for TRP. Janata's mood is completely different from that," he claimed.
Citing the example of actor Rakhi Sawant, he said that the TRP mechanism has led to a situation where "good content doesn't work.
He said, "There was a time when Rakhi Sawant used to run a lot of content on news channels. Rakhi Sawant's film and serial never got a hit. Sorry if you are feeling bad, Rakhi, but I am trying to take it as an example. News TV have made her the biggest star. Entertainment, GEC, films didn't make it... All news channels today are trapped in that TRP trap. If ratings are good, then money and advertising come. This is how the entire industry works."
Sudhir Chaudhary is a prominent Indian journalist and news anchor, currently working with Prasar Bharti's DD News, where he hosts the show Decode. Earlier, he had worked with major news networks, including Zee News and Aaj Tak.