This morning, the Prime Minister will have spoken from the Red Fort in an Independence Day address to the nation. If it is as good as his Rajya Sabha statement, last week, promise to sing the national anthem all day! That speech was imbued with the sentiment of the moment, today’s with the legacy of the occasion: Prime Ministers use August 15, to acquaint us with their governments’ achievements (lest we missed them before) and announce new Rozgar schemes so that they can boast of them a year later. The vision is shortsighted. There was foresight and hindsight in Dr Singh’s words during the parliamentary debates on the Nanavati Commission’s report regarding the 1984 Sikh riots. He was statesmanlike and, dare we say it, a pleasure to watch and listen to. Alas, you may not have had the pleasure to do either since not all news channels broadcast the debate live. Unforgivable. Let’s take the case of Doordarshan: it has been self-righteous in claims that it deserves to share with TV rights owners telecasts of events of national importance. By which it means cricket, cricket and more cricket. It cites ‘national interest’ arguing that over 40 million Indian TV homes have access only to DD and will be denied watching cricket if it is broadcast exclusively on cable Well, the overwhelming majority of 100+ million TV homes don’t receive DD’s parliament channel which telecast the Nanavati proceedings, so DD News (or better still) DD National should have let us hear the PM — and our representatives — speak on what Singh described as a ‘‘national shame’’. NDTV 24X7, Zee News and Headlines Today relayed important speeches — the PM’s and the Home Minister’s interventions. But when Patil spoke Aaj Tak was busy playing cricket on Khel Aaj Tak, DD News was in Mumbai with Metro News and Sahara Samay preoccupied with diesel usage in Delhi. Hello? This is all the more unpardonable given news channels compulsive obsession with trivial pursuits. For instance, last Friday morning, hours were devoted to the court case filed by Sanjay against actress wife Karishma and reporters waited to catch sight of la Kapoor who never showed up. By lunch time TV attention had shifted to the selection of the Indian cricket captain. If we complain of Aaj Tak it is not because it alone stayed with the ‘non’-story till past 5 pm when the announcement was made, it is not because it simply replayed the same exchanges (Anchor: ‘‘What do you think, will Saurav Ganguly be made captain? Reporter: ‘‘Yes, I think Saurav Ganguly will be appointed captain.’’) but because it is the highest rated news channel and tends to set the pattern for competing Hindi channels. How can a baby’s passport and a Bengal tiger (!) be given more time than a Parliament debate of such importance? Jagdish Tytler and the 1984 riot victims/survivors got their fair share of coverage. Tytler, while announcing his resignation on Wednesday, was petulant: he blamed media hype for creating a high pressure atmosphere that only his resignation would relieve. He claimed Aaj Tak’s reporter was‘‘so biased’’ by which he meant, he asked hard questions. Tytler might as well have given the channel a recommendation letter. No wonder Prabhu Chawla rushed across to his residence to interview him, while other channels were satisfied with telephone interviews. TV news channels had reporters posted at Tytler’s residence from the morning, the one place the Minister for NRIs avoided till he was ready to announce his resignation from the Union cabinet after 9 pm. His timing was perfect and probably deliberate: by waiting till evening prime time he ensured that he was the only news item that night. And didn’t he revel in it: we saw him eager to grab every mobile call from a TV reporter, mindful that the opportunity might not come his way again. By the way, should reporters air their opinions or just report facts? Here is a reporter on Headlines Today commenting upon measures announced by the PM in Lok Sabha regarding further investigations, post the Nanavati Report: ‘‘It is an eyewash. nothing will come out.all the evidence has been destroyed. nothing will happen. George Fernandes came back after Tehelka.’’ He has a point but should he accuse the PM of ‘‘eyewash’’?
