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Journalism of Courage
Hey, India! We, finally, hit the headlines. Again. The international media is awash with stories about us. Indeed, 2002 has been a very good year. A vintage year. So far, we8217;ve been making news regularly what with Ayodhya, Gujarat and Kashmir. Cynics will applaud: better those than stories on poverty, disease and elephants. For too long, many Indians have felt unaccountably annoyed by what is considered the deliberate indifference of the international media, especially the Western, towards this great nation of over one billion people and the fact that such attention as it receives focuses on our oriental charm or disastrous disasters.
Presently, we are basking in the sunlight of an international blaze, though admittedly for mainly the wrong reasons. However, it8217;s not just the possible threat of nuclear war which makes us, suddenly, so dangerously attractive. Electronic news channels such as BBC World and CNN have a stake in the region.
Last week, the coverage stepped up further. There was Mark Tully8217;s special soft audio-visual essay on Kashmir BBC World, Riz Khan8217;s series of Pakistan Hardtalk BBC World and Tim Sebastian on his Hardtalk featured M.J.Akbar and Dennis Kux from Washington. CNN conducted a long interview with President Musharraf thoughtfully re-broadcast by PTV, a Q038;A with MEA spokesperson Nirupama Rao her most accomplished performance on TV and both channels provided lengthy coverage of the Almaty summit where Vajpayee and Musharraf, famously, did see eye to eye.
The focus of this coverage has been, primarily, three-fold: the nuclear terror of war, the continuing fusillade across the LoC and third, the confirmation of cross-border infiltration from Pakistan into Kashmir. President Musharraf in his CNN interview said as much. Even before he did, there was a small but significant change in the coverage: CNN or BBC now tend to downplay 8216;8216;alleged8217;8217;, 8216;8216;reported8217;8217;, 8216;8216;Indian claims of8217;8217; when referring to India8217;s complaints about Pakistan8217;s involvement in Kashmir. Instead, they talk of mushrooms. Nuclear ones.
Celebration: The Queen of England8217;s golden jubilee was duly commemorated by BBC 8212; more dutifully than the Queen Mother8217;s death. The coverage culminated on Wednesday, in rousing scenes at Buckingham Palace where a 8216;8216;carpet8217;8217; of one million people spread out before the Queen:. 8216;8216;I don8217;t think I have ever seen such scenes,8217;8217; gasped one reporter. 8216;8216;Absolutely amazing,8217;8217; confirmed Dickie Arbiter who had some longstanding relationship with the Palace. However, Nick Higham was 8216;8216;slightly surprised,8217;8217; by the outpouring of affection. 8216;8216;The people really do want to see their Queen,8217;8217; kindly explained another reporter. The Queen obliged by appearing on the balcony. 8216;8216;What a magnificent sight!8217;8217; exclaimed the same chap and you were still blinking at this description of Her Majesty8217;s person when the C17 Clobemaster and the Concorde flew into view! Ah, that explains it.
It was all rather, well, majestic and the Queen waved as Queens must: as though her hand is a delicate Chinese fan. She looked a bit bemused 8212; stiff 8212; but the BBC would have it otherwise: you must realise, its reporter said, that the Queen is 76 and her Duke 81, and all this celebrating up and down their Kingdom is 8216;8216;asking a lot of them8217;8217;. Quite.
Soccer World Cup: The best new edition to the coverage is the bird8217;s eye view from inside the goal post. And there8217;s our very own expert in Bhaichung Bhutia, fashionable in gel hair and grey lapel suit, and he speaks awful well without adding much to our appreciation of the game.
What8217;s absolutely delightful about the football commentary is not its descriptions 8216;8216;there are two good knees between Ronaldo and Rivaldo8217;8217; but how plenty is said through so little. Much of the time is spent simply calling people names, the variation in speed and emphasis, alone, indicating their importance to the state of play: 8216;8216;Ronaldo8230;Ri-valdo, Rin-al- deen-HO! A free kick: Cafoooo8230;8230;Rival-do, RO-NAL-DO!!!8217;8217; And so on. Brief, eloquent, effective.
Tennis: For those who hate soccer, there was the French Open on DD Sports and Metro. The prize for stating the obvious goes to the following: in the semi-finals, Jenny Capriati lunging for a shot, fell. 8216;8216;Oh,8217;8217; cried the French lady in the commentary position, 8216;8216;she fell.8217;8217;
Drama: Kahani Ghar Ghar Ki Star Plus: after the most torturous time imaginable, the two wicked men who raped the blind girl have been brought to justice. For all of us who have watched the extraordinary twists and turns in the tale, it has been a blessed relief.
