Opinion News TV Wins Again
How to take credit for everything?
Wednesday on Times Now,the mood was celebratory. Dont get us wrong,the country was still tanking,but Times Now had much to celebrate: they had single-handedly brought down a cabinet minister. No Lies to Help Maran Anymore,screamed the ticker. Exposed Maran Out,it added. Why was the exposed in quotes? Because Times Nows ticker-entry operators,careful with their nuance,felt that a reference should be put within quotes. And what were they referring to?
To Times Nows exposés of Maran,nine reports over 38 days, the ticker proclaimed. Indeed,the news of the hour seemed to be less Marans departure and more that Times Now had Won.
Times Now alone,not anybody else. First Exposed on Your Channel,said the ticker,taking full credit for uncovering shady dealings between Maran and the Malaysia-based Maxis group over the ownership of cellular operator Aircel. Umm. Except it wasnt quite their scoop,was it? Just as Times Now claimed credit for unearthing the cast of the almost-forgotten Purulia armsdrop exactly a fortnight after the UK Independent had done so,for a magazine-length piece the Maran-Aircel-Maxis news had been on the cover of the news magazine Tehelka already. Indeed,Tehelka,too,followed other reports,such as one in the Economic Times on February 15,three-and-a-half months before Times Now began exposing Maran.
Even so,Arnab Goswami said on the News Hour: To reiterate thanks,we needed reminding for six weeks,through a series of nine investigative reports,we laid bare the lies of Dayanidhi Maran. Notice how even mathematics bows before Times Now,as 38 days heroically rounds itself off to six weeks. Of course,its not as if a couple of days makes a difference except the Tehelka issue was out and digested by the day that Maran responded to it legally,May 31; Goswami was speaking on July 7,exactly six weeks later. Do the math.
The question,Goswami said on a show entitled Can Maran Hang On?,seems to be not of whether or not,but when to sack Maran. He turned to a guest and asked: If the PM asks Mr Maran to go,does the story end there? Oh,we hope that was rhetorical. Because the PM asked Mr Maran to go,and the very next day Goswamis show was titled,Did Maran Hurt UPA by Hanging On? Presumably he should have had the decency to be sacked before,rather than after,9 pm.
Meanwhile,on other news channels,better things were happening. A few weeks ago I wrote that Indian news TV needs to create space for news-making documentaries. One such,I argued,was Channel 4s horrifying account of the last days of the Sri Lankan civil war. Headlines Today decided to show it,and did so on Thursday,unedited and uncensored and some of the visuals were very distressing at 10 pm. It will be repeated on Saturday at the same time. It will be among the most powerful programmes you have seen on news television. Watch it.
And,finally,a slightly lighter tailpiece: not all ticker operators are doing as well as Times Nows. As Sports Minister Ajay Maken went through his list of reasons why we should not blame our athletes for doping scandals including that some of them didnt finish school,so are apparently to be thought of as children NewsX was kind enough to flash highlights from his words on the screen as he spoke. And thus we were treated,for minutes at a time,to the following gem: Our athletes are illetrate Maken.
mihir.sharma@expressindia.com
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