It's not often that Doordarshan gets praised for its news. But after grabbing a 11 million viewer share for its Iraq reportage, leaving round-the-clock satellite channels far behind with figures as dismal as a little over two lakh, the public service broadcaster with its non-American take on the war has reasons to rejoice.In the ongoing live coverage of the war in Iraq, courtesy production house Third Eye, Doordarshan is the only broadcaster whose ‘‘un-embedded correspondents’’ are reporting from Iraq, while others struggle to get a toehold in the battlefield.In fact on Tuesday’s attack on the Palestine Hotel, which was fired at by an American tank, DD’s correspondent — who managed to escape — had his uplink facilities destroyed completely.Now, as attempts are being made to restore the facilities, Doordarshan will be putting out the correspondent’s eyewitness account of what happened minutes after the attack.By all accounts, Satish Jacob reporting from Iraq is critical of the American attack. In his words: ‘‘The situation is very serious and there is complete silence in the city. This has been the most dangerous day for the media in the last 20 days of the war — one after another three attacks on the media.the journalists are wounded and they are angry. This has put a big question mark on the safety of journalists.’’DD had commissioned the war reportage to Third Eye for Rs 5 lakh a day for half-hour coverage and the reports will continue to come in as long as the war lasts, officials said.So far, Third Eye has roped in world leaders like Tariq Aziz, Colin Powell, Jack Straw and Keith Vaz, who were interviewed for their views on the war.
