Opinion News with the Big P
A News broadcaster invites the star of a Bollywood film that critiques news TV ethics to play guest editor the day before the movie...
A News broadcaster invites the star of a Bollywood film that critiques news TV ethics to play guest editor the day before the movie is released and during that special show the star of the film interviews the director of the film is that okay journalism or is that journalism plus co-promotion without saying thats the case? And isnt the irony all the richer because (a) the film that looked liked being promoted on the channel has big,dramatic things to say on news TV morality and (b) the films star and the channels journalists engage in a conversation,albeit a brief one,on what ails TV journalism? I mean,would it be outlandish to suggest that the show that was asking what ails TV journalism is probably the kind of show that ails TV journalism?
Amitabh Bachchan was,as always,a remarkably impressive screen presence. But his guest editorship on CNN-IBN the day before the release of Rann raised even more questions than usual soft-focus pre-movie release TV journalism does. You can hardly blame the film people. If they get a chance to talk their project up,they will. Its news TV that needs a spot of self-introspection.
CNN-IBN,while in conversation with Bachchan,made a very brief observation that the importance of very brief sound bites is making form trump content in news TV. But the problem,in this case,isnt all this cool media studies stuff about form and content,its a simple issue: can you decide not to do this kind of journalism,which is sort of hard to distinguish from promotion of another partys content?
The News with Big B,CNN-IBN called it. Lets call this sub genre of TV journalism,The News with Big P.
Talking of form and content,the evening after I saw it,and as I write this,I still find it hard to believe I saw a child who was allegedly raped being interviewed in a news TV studio. NDTV interviewed the young Russian girl and her mother; their story is the latest reason why Goa has hit national headlines.
I have no comment to make on the ladys decision to appear before news TV cameras with her child. Thats her call. But how did NDTV take the call that it was okay to broadcast images of a nine-year-old victim of alleged rape? That her,and her mothers face,was blurred is no excuse whatsoever. By the way,the face-blur was one of the most ineffective I have seen every now and then,you could,disturbingly,see quite a bit of the childs face.
How does news TV take these decisions? And if premier English-language news broadcasters are going to practice TV journalism of this kind,how long should we the class that primarily consumes news from English-language media continue to make the automatic assumption that its in vernacular news TV that media ethics are the most elastic?
By the way,it is not just NDTV,but other broadcasters too. Times Now,for example,edited their Goa news story to include shots of the mother and the child walking in beachwear. Yes,thank god,the visuals didnt show their faces. But I am puzzled why the visuals were necessary what was it adding by way of journalistic content to a story about the alleged rape of a minor?
My many deficiencies will make a long list. But the one thing I am not is reflexively moralistic. So,believe me,when I am asking this question,it is because,for what its worth,its really troubling.
saubhik.chakrabarti@expressindia.com
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