Prasar Bharati Board decides not to take any decisions

NEW DELHI, Dec 11: No,there was no tea, in keeping with Prasar Bharati executive member Surrindar Singh Gill's new diktat for visitors to M...

NEW DELHI, Dec 11: No,there was no tea, in keeping with Prasar Bharati executive member Surrindar Singh Gill’s new diktat for visitors to Mandi House. But there was much amusement in the first press conference of the Prasar Bharati Board, which apparently after two days of intense discussions could only decide not to decide on anything.

With the spectre of elections looming large, clearly the 10-member board has decided to play safe. Even Gill has been politely told to refrain from passing off his “individual” opinion as the view of the board. So, apart from deciding that the National Network will be a people’s channel in the popular language of the day and that maximum importance will be given to regional kendras, nothing else has been confirmed. Not even how often the board will meet.

And even decisions that Gill seems to have arrived at – the scrapping of teleshopping – appear to be discounted by Chairman Nikhil Chakravartty, who was in fine obfuscatory form. Will DD International be scrapped? The decision is still under consideration. Will DD3 be closed? There is no decision on that as yet. What will DD2 be like? It has not been decided. What will DD1 look like? Yes, you guessed it. Chakravartty said it had not been decided, except that advertisements would not be excluded.

The board, which will now meet on January 6, will convene in individual groups before that. “All programmes will be reviewed,” said Gill, in one of those rare concrete comments. “But I never said mythologicals or any other programmes will be scrapped,” he said. In fact, Gill was prompted to deny another comment he had not even made – that he wanted a live prime ministerial debate on the lines of the US Presidential debate (it turned out to have been made by Election Commissioner M S Gill).

The only question that really animated Chakravartty was one on election coverage. “We have asked a board member to find out from the Election Commission its requirements. We will have many discussions on corruption, criminalisation of politics… .” Would DD reverse its policy of sharing anchors with rival networks, asked one, with reference to rumours of the national channel sharing election coverage with Star TV. “We have never had such a policy, or allergy,” said Chakravartty, oblivious to the disbelief of all present.

The board had decided that programmes needed to be toned up without making them dull as on the BBC. “There is no point comparing our autonomy with Britain,” said Chakravartty. Autonomy would be in place by the end of next year, he assured, and wherever it was truncated, it would be explained, he added.

Though Chakravartty occasionally forgot he was dealing with the broadcasting world – more decisions would be taken at the next “issue” of the Prasar Bharati Board – he did take a swipe at critics of the rather aged panel. “Though we are old, we are busy. We are not idle,” he insisted.

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And so, the first meeting where “everyone met each other” ended. The photographers and news crews took over, even though Gill protested that “their photogenic juice was long exhausted”. For the hapless members of DD and AIR, though, there was a stern warning. “We will evaluate the worth of every staff member before he/she is absorbed in the Prasar Bharati Corporation,” said Chakravartty.