Opinion O Laila!
Or how news TV makes waves....
Top of the screen,a red band carries this scary message Facing Lailas Wrath and just in case you missed the point,bottom of the screen,another red band carries this message In the Eye of Cyclone Laila. This was NDTV 24×7,India 60 Minutes. The double anchor team grim,shots of pelting rain and big waves,correspondents from the wet spots in Andhra Pradesh reporting reporting what? Reporting essentially,without quite saying so,that Laila wasnt quite as wrathful as NDTVs red bands were telling us.
A cyclone,being a cyclone,isnt going to come and just ruffle your hair with a strong breeze and go away,is it? When do you,though,take the editorial call that a cyclone is wrathful,as in,particularly,awesomely damaging? For news TV,it appears,this moment comes the moment the Met announces a cyclone. Last November,there was Cyclone Phyan. Mumbai was facing Phyans wrath,except it wasnt,even though TV reporters posted along the citys shoreline looked at sea and looked at the sky and told anchors,yes,the situation is very,very serious,bordering calamitous. This May,it was Andhras turn to be designated as the place where terrible things were going to happen,whether or not terrible things happen. The Met says Laila,news TV plays Majnu everyone in TV journalism loves a cyclone.
Life was thrown out of gear,an NDTV reporter in Nellore was saying. Bad,huh? But wait. There on the screen,as the reporter was talking,was a shot of a man riding a two-wheeler,quite comfortably,gears evidently working. But I may be totally wrong,okay? Maybe that was the only life in Nellore that wasnt thrown out of gear. Maybe Nelloreans in the eye of Laila,like Mumbaikars in the eye of Phyan,just were not smart enough to realise what was happening to them. The Met was not smart either because,imagine,it said Laila is weakening. No way. NDTV Indias anchor said our reporter on the ground is saying the cyclone is quite intense. Times Nows anchor said the worst isnt over yet,the worst may be coming now. Yes,its coming! Stay tuned. CNN-IBN said the danger is not over. Of course,it wasnt. The danger would remain as long as news TV cameras were kept pointed at the Bay of Bengal. As IBN 7 said,yes,the Met is saying Laila is weakening,but the situation is you got it,grim.
CNN-IBN had its own red band,to rival NDTVs. True,NDTV had two red bands. But CNN-IBNs single band was big and its message was: Laila Brews Up a Storm. Witty,witty. And I just loved it when the CNN-IBN anchor said heavy rains in the Western Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh have been noticed. Also has been noticed,heavy rains and biggish waves mean calamity-is-coming on news TV. Also has been noticed,a sensational meteorological phenomenon on Times Now: the anchor on Morning News says Laila is heading towards Orissa after wreaking havoc in coastal Andhra Pradesh while the band on top of the screen red,of course says Cyclone Laila Spares Andhra by a Whisker.
So,Laila wreaked havoc in Andhra and spared Andhra. Of course,silly me,now I understand,life will be thrown out of gear if you were in Nellore,and watching television news. Indeed,if you were anywhere watching news TV reporting on Laila. My life,for example,was momentarily thrown out of gear.
PS: A big part of news TVs cyclone-will-blow-us-away reportage comprises repeat mentions that the administration is taking the threat seriously,that the administration is on high alert,and that so many thousands have been evacuated. My question: After the Met announces a cyclone,will the administration ever say,nah,we are on low alert,we arent taking it seriously,we arent evacuating anyone from the first impact area,let them watch TV in their homes? Those are standard statements/responses,right? So,the fact of the administration being on high alert doesnt indicate the near-certainty of high damage,right? And the fact of evacuation doesnt indicate the near-certainty of devastation,either,right?
Wrong. When the Met announces a cyclone,and news TV starts covering it,when the situation is such that heavy rains have been noticed,life will have to,it just has to,get thrown out of gear.
saubhik.chakrabarti@expressindia.com
Share
