Deja vu all over again

Each time, we cluck our tongues and despair: we have learnt nothing from the previous attacks and are therefore, condemned to repeat ourselves.

That goes for television news too. On Saturday evening as the first reports of the blasts crashed through the sound barrier, TV channels that invariably hunt in herds, found their 8216;mascot8217; image of terror in a human stillness lying on the curb in a yellowy-red garments. It8217;s turned over and the body bleeds onto the road. If we saw this once, we saw her/him being rolled over a thousand times that night. Others too: in Gaffar Market, GK M-Block Market, Ahmedabad, Jaipur. Why do they persist in showing the dead when it can create panic in the living?

The panic was palpable in reporters8217; voices from ground zero, although thankfully, for a change, the anchors were much calmer and kept their vocal chords under control 8212; there was Arnab Goswami8217;s steely resolve not to declaim. On India TV, however, reporters sounded like they had in August in Srinagar trying to shout down the crowds at the Hurriyat8217;s 8216;Azadi8217; rally. Why must they yell so when it makes the chest echo in agitation?

Agitated politicians were the next stop after the blast sites and the hospitals. They speak as though they are delivering the battle cry of the republic. There8217;s Narendra Modi roaring into mikes barely inches away from his mouth, there8217;s Arun Jaitley thundering, there8217;s someone on News X yelling on behalf of the BJP and RSS and in the midst of this perfect storm, Home Minister Shivraj Patil whispers so that no one can hear him.

As if to make amends for his expressionless, spiritless performance, an apoplectic Abhishek Singhvi on Sunday8217;s We the People NDTV24x7 threw the words out of his mouth like Jitender Kumar threw punches at the Olympics. Why do politicians wage political wars when we8217;re eager for statesmanlike statements?

In the absence of statesmanship, the channels went in search of clues 8212; as early as 6.40 pm, India TV was reporting an e-mail from the Indian Mujahideen. That set off on the usual SIMI chase that took us cross country 8212; Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Jaipur. From then onwards, it spirals out of control: we went from Modi8217;s warnings to young witness Rahul should he have been on TV at all?, to Jaitley, Patil, Minister of State Sri Prakash Jaiswal, to the police, to eyewitnesses, back to blast, back to the hospital, fast forward to which might be the next city, and perhaps because nobody has anything new to say but must speak nevertheless you8217;re on live TV, remember?, reporters offered their personal opinions: Star News8217; Ajay Suri said that with elections due, the Congress would pay the political price for this inability to deal with terrorism. So now we8217;re into the elections and one step further away from what had happened.

What was happening was the bomb disposal teams were defusing bombs. That finally, became the focus of TV attention. The speculation ceased, the politicians had come and gone, and we were able to watch what really mattered. Now, if only television news could always be like that.

shailaja.bajpaiexpressindia.com