Gay abandon

You can8217;t take TV news at its word. They speculate wildly 8212; and look where speculation got the economy. Or they state the obvious. Here8217;s a sequence from last week8217;s coverage of the Raj Thackeray8217;s 8216;bailout8217;. Wednesday afternoon outside the jail where 8216;desh ka Hitler8217; isn8217;t that what IBN-7 called him? had booked in for a rest after the night journey from Ratnagiri. The news channels dogged him all the way and were now 8216;braking news8217; spellings are the first casualties of 24215;7 news. Any minute now 8212; the reporter gushed like Flora Fountain 8212; Marathi Man, using all the invective at his command against those whose faces he doesn8217;t like, will emerge and drive to the court.

It8217;s 2.23 pm: The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena MNS chief has been sighted by the Star News reporter: 8220;Aur yeh nikla Raj Thackeray8221;. You8217;re kidding me?

2.26 pm: Aaj Tak shows us Thackeray seated in the backseat. 8220;Sitting in the back seat is Raj Thackeray8221;. Yes, we can see that.

2.32 pm: India TV is already at the court where reporter Sudhir is confused. There is a curfew, he says, and no one8217;s allowed near the court 8230; Thackeray accompanied by party workers. 8220;Surprisingly they are allowed in but no media is allowed in.

Zee News sees Thackeray8217;s police cavalcade approach: 8220;I can see the police gaadi approaching8221;.

2.40 pm: With up to 10 cases filed against him, Headlines Today sees 8220;the noose tighten8221; around Thackeray8217;s neck. All we can see is a jeep with police running alongside it. CNN-IBN8217;s reporter says in the next 45 minutes we will tell you for certain if it8217;s bail or police custody 8212; 8220;the police are going strong against him8221;. Times Now thinks Thackeray is unlikely to be a free man today8212; more likely Thane police will take him away. Bilkul, bilkul agrees India TV.

Bail? Nah, they conclude. More than 45 minutes later, Raj Thackeray gets bail, drives home. The news channels had taken the wrong turn.

News channels say whatever. Thursday evening, Times Now announced 8220;RJD8217;s poll gambit8221; 8212; Lalu Yadav 8220;will not go with Congress for 2009 elections8221; because he wants to be the next PM 8212; cut to his Lok Sabha speech during the confidence vote in July where he articulated the ambition. 8220;He is ready to part company with the Congress, 8220; proclaims the anchor with such certainty you believe it8217;s coming from Lalu8217;s mouth 8220;Of course this is what we have heard from ours sources in the RJD but we have no independent confirmation of it from the RJD8221;. Right, that8217;s pretty clear, right?

Cricket. Neo Sports managed to attain Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri, Ian Chappell and Alan Border for the Indo-Aussie series but Mohinder Amarnath? He8217;s so, so tepid that when India won the match, Chappell sounded more elated. Come back Navjot, all is forgiven.

Lastly, Sunil Gavaskar and Sachin Tendulkar with Rajdeep Sardesai was a little masterful stroke by CNN-IBN 8212; full of mutual admiration. Would8217;ve been better still if the lip sync had matched the sound of their words.

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