It was only after watching a bit of India TVs coverage of the news story on the Bollywood actor and alleged sexual assault that I began to appreciate something I had heard earlier on news TV this week: the news anchor on CNN-IBNs evening prime time bulletin,discussing the same story,repeatedly and emphatically making a point about our inner demons and our dark side. Bollywood actors have inner demons and a dark side,the anchor and the guest agreed,and so do all of us. Yes. And when you watch India TV,even a bit of it,covering a story like this you know exactly where our inner demons and our dark side can lead us. But I dont want to be unfair to CNN-IBN. Those observations would have been notable even without India TVs unwitting aid to your correspondent. A two minute anchor-guest chat on humanitys hidden unwholesome impulses in the course of an evening news bulletin is one of those things that make news TV what it is: full of surprises. One minute you are hearing chatter about BJPs inner problems,the next minute its our inner demons.
Bengals,as it were,outer demons and its dark side deservedly got hours of news TV attention. Something was missing. CPM and Trinamul TV talking heads got away relatively lightly in their encounters with studio anchors of NDTV,CNN-IBN,Times Now. Saugata Rays start as a regular on the talk TV circuit should have seen him tested more. Sitaram Yechury and Nilotpal Basu never looked discomfited. Dinesh Trivedi put Times Nows news anchor on the backfoot. This was not just because TV guests like Yechury are smart and experienced enough to dodge tough questions. It was primarily because there werent that many tough well-informed questions.
This was a point covered rather well in CNN-IBNs debate on Lalgarh,with both the anchor and the non-party panelist pinning Nilotpal Basu down on the issue. But Basu got away with saying the area seeing all the violence has benefited from development. Moments like these need good backup research. Armed with that,anchors can make sharp,short,tough-to-answer interventions. Saugata Ray was never asked to answer yes/no to this question: will the Trinamul use the full might of the state against Maoists.
Even when you apparently have four news teams covering a story – Times Now told us it has put one team in Lalgarh,one team with the security force,one in Kolkata and one in Delhi you can still not get a story as complicated as this if you dont make a little effort to go beyond the obvious. In Times Nows debate,the one featuring Dinesh Trivedi,the consensus was obtained that bet you havent heard this before we must condemn violence.
You dont watch Indian news TV for Iran stories. But who knew Christian Amanpour and CNN in general could be so disappointing on this story. CNNs reporting was ordinary and its analysis even more so. BBC beat CNN every time there was something to explain about a regime whose inner demons and dark side really do deserve lengthy mentions on prime time news bulletins.
saubhik.chakrabarti@expressindia.com
