Opinion News and circus
A channel is rebranded. And there’s no escaping yoga or AAP.
Tomar being taken to a police station in Vasant Vihar on Tuesday. The day ended with his resignation. (Source: Express Photo by Oinam Anand)
Just when you thought it had vanished forever, you will be relieved to know that “news is back”. It now appears on a new channel, which is the old one with a new name — in a new format with old faces. It’s like the emperor has acquired new clothes, as Headlines Today is now India Today.
Just when you thought all news channels were a “circus” (as India Today claims in its promos), they’ve done away with the prime roundtable verbal acrobats. Just as the “burning issue” is raging into a flaming row on another channel (Times Now in case you’re pretending to not know), they’ve gone for cold hard news and interviews at 9 pm/ 10 pm.
Now, it’s not “the nation” but anchor Rahul Kanwal in hot pursuit of the Chinese “dragon” after the recent attack in Manipur (Monday). There’s Rajdeep Sardesai, speaking fluent Hindi on an English channel to Lalu Prasad, and the TV screen seems to have expanded obligingly to accommodate more news flashes above and below the main frame, and promos for the weekly magazine on the righthand side. Has the news truly changed on India Today beyond the cosmetics and absence of the primetime “circus”? We’ll have to wait and watch.
The way news channels have been behaving already, there’s every likelihood that pawanmuktasana (otherwise known as wind-relieving pose) may replace the circus for all our gasbags on news channels (no offence intended). In preparation for June 21, News 24 held a discussion-session on yoga (Sunday). On Monday, Ramdevji was practising kapalbhati and many other convoluted poses for World Yoga Day (ABP). Er, maybe he can persuade our news anchors to calm down with a spot of pranayama?
Mani Shankar Aiyar, more fondly known as MSA, is taking a calm look at a violent conflict. Inside Sri Lanka with MSA (News X) takes him to the emerald isle to discover the roots of the conflict between Sinhalese and Tamil Sri Lankans. In a series of interviews with a wide range of politicians (including former President Chandrika Kumaratunga), academics, journalists and diplomats, Aiyar tries to piece together the jigsaw puzzle of the divided nation. The first episode was thoughtful and interesting but featured too many Indian diplomats and too little footage.
The Voice has come to India (&TV) and pits itself against Junior Indian Idol (Sony), and India’s Got Talent (Colors) in the reality contest arena. Singers Sunidhi Chauhan, Mika Singh, Himesh Reshammiya and Shaan make for good judges/ team coaches who have to pick a voice without seeing the contestant, and then train them. There’s plenty of fooling around, which makes it entertaining, but the voices of the contestants are what will make you return this weekend for more.
There’s been a great deal of heartburn over celebrity endorsements of Maggi noodles. But after two minutes of belly-aching, shouldn’t we take a closer look at endorsements of other products, like fairness creams, for instance? What can be more objectionable than Shah Rukh Khan promoting their use? Or the claims of energy drinks of boosting health and vigour?
Arvind Kejriwal and the AAP are at it as usual, with news channels playing eager handmaidens. The latest bee in their bonnets is the arrest of AAP minister Jitender Singh Tomar, which became the “burning issue” across news channels on Tuesday night. Suppose, for a moment, that TV news simply put out the news and moved on without a primetime court martial, what would have happened? Imagine, as John Lennon sang, imagine.
shailaja.bajpai@expressindia.com
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