Game try, poor play

Since the cricket World Cup 8217;96, Doordarshan has been for inexplicable reasons sitting on the reserve benches. Now, it8217;s eager to be back in the game and in this instance, what is good for Doordarshan is good for the viewer: cable-less viewers were denied cricket coverage because it was on STAR Sports or ESPN. Now, DD should make a push to obtain terrestrial rights for all sports competitions. Example: the soccer World Cup 1998; if DD doesn8217;t get the rights, it8217;s going to lose a lot of followers in June, to say nothing of ad revenue. Meanwhile, STAR News and Aaj Tak were caught off side. On Friday, STAR News ran a clip from the 3rd hockey test match; two goals were scored but rather than showing either, STAR concentrated on a few idle passing shots why bother?; Aaj Tak announced Anand8217;s loss to Karpov and then ran lengthy footage of the time Anand lost to Kasparov leaving those of us who don8217;t know better to assume Kasparov was Karpov and this was footage of Anand8217;s most recent defeat. Poor play.Ads. Not precisely a dirty word but certainly, faintly soiled. The Prasar Bharati Board says it will review DD8217;s ad policy. Not quite clear whether it feels all ads are a bad thing, some are a bad thing or just a few are objectionable. Also, the Board doesn8217;t seem to have complete courage of its convictions. While announcing comprehensive coverage of Election 8217;98, Mr Gill gleefully spoke of the sponsorships, the ad revenue DD hopes to receive for its efforts. If it8217;s okay, even desirable to have ads with current affairs shows, why not otherwise?

DD8217;s election coverage. Many usual suspects. Nalini Singh, Ramesh Sharma and Pritish Nandy are back; so is Jyotindra Jain and TV Today. Pity that DD is not bold enough to try and do more of its coverage by itself. Its programmes may not be as slick or clever and informed as a private producer8217;s but the attempt to carry off a 72-hour live show would have shown that the largest television network in the world had some self-confidence. Jyotindra Jain, NICNET, DD8217;s OB Vans and regional centre crews, in any case, are always available to DD. What it needs are a few well-known editors/journalists to anchor its efforts, a back-up research team and a fleet or cars to ferry guests to and fro from its studios. Mr Gill has said that DD might try next time. As Shakespeare said in an entirely different context, if it t8217;were done, t8217;were well it were done quickly.

Would you like to be a witness to the prosecution and defense of a murder? Last week, Dateline NBC delicately reconstructed a gruesome murder in smallish town America. The story was told through TV clips of the scene of the crime, eyewitnesses in the courtroom Court TV, the prosecuting counsel, the accused and finally and most unusually of all, the jury after it had given its verdict. Quite compelling. Why doesn8217;t someone in India give it a try? We have enough crimes and many have been solved. Imagine doing a Charles Sobhraj, the kidnapping and killing of the Chopra children, or murder of badminton player Syed Modi? Murder may not always be easy, but it8217;s invariably fascinating.