On Sunday,DD News carried the following report: curfew lifted in Kashmir,the Valley was absolutely normal. Cut to a visual of a truck and a deserted flyover in Srinagar. People,it added,were out on the streets. Cut to shot of one street with a few men opening their shops. The people were happy to be out,said the correspondent. Cut to a man sitting in his shop,his expression obscured by the distance between him and the camera.
On Headlines Today,the same story. The people,said the anchor,had heaved a sigh of relief as curfew was lifted after seven days. Normal life had resumed,people could shop for essentials. Cut to visuals of different parts of the city with people bustling about. There is calm today,said the report. Cut to visuals of vehicles plying the roads and there is a semblance of normalcy with no casualties in two days.
That is the difference between a good news report and an official version of the news. The official version of the news follows one simple rule: underplay it. No wonder we dont trust DD News as much as we should,a pity because more often than not,it carries more factual news than the private news channels.
As the Supreme Court has just reminded us,the media,particularly private news channels,are guilty of overplaying their hand the Aarushi case being only the most sensational example of how not to report a crime. If you watched some of the coverage of the Mumbai oil spill,you would have thought it was as bad,if not worse than the BP oil spill off the Gulf of Mexico. The reporters were hysterical even if we make allowances for the decibel levels out at sea,their voices crashed about our ears like the waves. None more so than the Star News reporter,Monday,who couldnt stop screaming about the hazardous impact of the oil on marine life. We should be seriously concerned: he seemed to have been affected too.
He could have learned from Suresh Kalmadi. The embattled Commonwealth Games Organising Committee chief took the stand on almost all the news channels to be cross-questioned on allegations of impropriety. He was remarkably composed: not once did he betray the slightest discomfiture. Several possible explanations: he has nothing to hide,he is an accomplished actor,he has more sang froid than the dead cold fish we saw the Times Now reporter holding up after the oil spill on Tuesday.
And a first: the prime minister addressed the nation on a live TV broadcast,straight from 7,Race Course Road where he was about to chair an all-party meeting on J&K. It was good TV: we saw the leaders seated around the table looking purposeful and Manmohan Singh imparted a sense of gravity. It was clearly addressed to the people of Kashmir and not to the TV viewer anywhere else. The PM read out from a prepared text extempore may have been more dil se.
Those of us who believe our elected representatives do nothing but disrupt House proceedings,should switch to the Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha channels. Had you done so,you would have heard a lively and informed debate on the price rise situation,another on the Commonwealth Games. We also stand to improve our knowledge: on Tuesday afternoon Prakash Javadekar,BJP,dissected the Trademarks (Amendment) Bill something most of us know nothing about but clearly he did. The news channels broadcast the hungama in the House,but these telecasts may restore some of your confidence in our representatives.
shailaja.bajpai@expressindia.com
