Aap ki adalat

Of course TV news didn8217;t call Ram Jethmalani back to the studio and revisit the extraordinary thesis it had proposed a few weeks back 8212; that defending Jessica Lall8217;s then alleged killer was apparently a breach of Jethmalani8217;s implicit moral contract with society. Of course TV news didn8217;t self-interrogate either. Of course journos who asked 8220;how could you, Mr Jethmalani8221; moved on to gushing about 8220;people8217;s faith in the judiciary8221;. Friday8217;s edit page columnist in this newspaper had pointed out why TV8217;s coverage of the trial was not simply a demonstration of people power. It hasn8217;t been a demonstration of journalistic craft either.

NDTV8217;s post Jessica verdict story said Jethmalani insisted his client was innocent despite public opinion raging against him. What was he supposed to do? Come to the TV studio and say sorry, I have seen the SMS poll results, and let me say, live and exclusive, my client is guilty. Zee profiled the lead judge of the bench. The judge, Zee said earnestly, has proved no one is above the law; the add-on benefit, apparently, is that the standard of judiciary has been raised. Times Now, noting that the bench had taken just two minutes to pronounce Manu Sharma guilty, and asking the question whether it will be life or death for Sharma, concluded that the judicial alacrity indicated a death sentence. On CNN-IBN, Bina Ramani said support groups should be set up for helping witnesses stick to their testimony, and absolutely no one, not least the channel, asked her how this extra-institutional mechanism was supposed to work.

TV news will need to rediscover the power to cringe when confronted with inanities dolled up as expressions of what people feel. Do you think the Supreme Court will overturn the verdict, viewers asked Sabrina Lall on CNN-IBN. No, I don8217;t think it will, she said. Ms Lall is not at fault for having said what she believes in. The guilty party is TV news 8212; for pretending, like politicians do, that if there are enough people gathered around a moral certitude, anything goes.

Plenty goes on in Star News. If I wince sometimes at crime and punishment reportage on other channels, Star News frequently gives me the shivers. If you suddenly find yourself starved of melodrama but can8217;t be bothered to find the right Hindi flick DVD, turn to Star News and hope that a crime of passion has hit the headlines. When a local Delhi politician was convicted of murder this week 8212; there was, as Delhi cops tell crime reporters, a 8220;love angle8221; 8212; the Star News anchor was hyperventilating against a backdrop that carried the legend 8220;lover turns killer8221;.

But, hey, at least they didn8217;t question the defence lawyer8217;s morals.