As TV botches the poll and crime stories TV news loves cricket. It fills in time that would otherwise need filling in with news (or more crime) and, lends itself to quips and witticisms for anchors looking to sound clever. So: if elections were a cricket match, what is the first thing you would look for? The score. Therefore, Sunday morning, when Karnataka dragged us out of bed, we wanted the latest on the scoreboard. We sprinted from one channel to another, chasing the numbers that changed faster than Rajdeep Sardesai and Arnab Goswami could catch up with them (on second thoughts, no, Arnab and Rajdeep spoke as fast as the leads changed) looking for the latest score.Should have switched to the regional/news channels. They are consistently ahead of the others in the numbers’ game. Thus watching ETV Kannada or TV9, you knew that the BJP was pulling away from its rivals, 5-10 minutes before the other channels caught up. Switching back to the latter’s coverage thereafter, was like listening to cricket commentary knowing the game’s result. At approximately 10.40 am when ETV already showed 106 for the BJP (Congress 78 and JD(S) 38), Arnab Goswami (Times Now), on the basis of his channel’s figures, said this was a case of ‘so near and yet so far’ for the BJP and led the discussion into a Congress-led coalition. His Congress guest, voice already burdened by the responsibility of government formation, whispered that his party was thinking of how best to provide a good government. Perhaps TV news should resist (a) polls, (b) crystal ball gazing and ‘chatter’ as Arup Ghosh called it (News X) on (im)possible future scenarios until the final score. To rephrase the hackneyed cricketing commandant: “(elections) are a game of glorious uncertainties — till the last vote is counted”. Problem is, what will TV channels discuss for well nigh three hours? Suggest the following options (unlikely to be followed): run a feature film as Doordarshan used to with brief updates on scores, sorry leads. Or, return to the rest of the NEWS.These days that means revisiting the scene of terrible crimes. Hindi news coverage has become one long crime anthology — like watching Star News’ Sansani, throughout the day. Sansani’s presenter now masquerades as a news anchor. NDTV India, which this column incorrectly said had used the services of a private detective to investigate the murder, is the only one holding the line. The coverage becomes more lurid and disgusting. Last week saw reenactments of the Neeraj Grover and Aarushi Talwar murders. In the former, a young man and woman on a bed, comb each others’ hair with their fingers. The assailant arrives, murders the man and replaces him on the bed with the girl: “(phir) kiya bedroom mein sex,” proclaims the voice-over (India TV). On Friday, Rajesh Talwar was arrested and suddenly, the TV discourse veered between being voyeuristic (the police press conference was almost soft porn) and sympatico. Headlines Today might scream, “Is he a butcher or a father?” but other English news channels went soft on the family. Friday night, NDTV 24x7 ran extensive footage, supplied by relatives, of Aarushi on a happy family holiday. All day, Saturday, it had the Nupur Talwar interview whom the anchor, Sonia, treated like a visiting royalty, asking her not even one semi-hard-boiled question. And what to say of last Wednesday’s spectacle of two female relatives of alleged suicide victim Shelly, in a live melodrama at India TV’s studio? The women flung themselves about, eyes rolling, moaning and wailing in stunned grief. This invasion of private grief, its public outing for the edification of viewers, is one of the most heinous crimes TV news has perpetrated. Will it stop at nothing?shailaja.bajpai@expressindia.com
