MxMIndia

Category: RANJONA BANERJI

Ranjona Banerji’s hard-and-soft look at nightly news and the fare in the morningers

  • Ranjona Banerji reviews nightly news and the morning papers in Freaking News

    When Arnab struggled, sputtered

    Ranjona Banerji

    It was quite painful to watch Arnab Goswami on Monday night, struggling with his own clear convictions about Team Anna. There was the winning candidate from Hisar, Kuldeep Bishnoi, making it clear that his victory had nothing to do with the anti-Congress campaign led by Arvind Kejriwal and Kiran Bedi. He won because of his father and the groundwork done by him. The Congress said Bhajan Lal’s son, supported in this election by the BJP, was never a contender. Further, he wanted to know what Team Anna would have done if Ajay Chautala of the Indian National Lok Dal had won — given the years of corruption charges against him and his family. There was no adequate answer from Medha Patkar, who was representing Team Anna on the panel. Vinod Mehta, editor of Outlook, wanted to know what Patkar was doing with Team Anna in the first place. And Arati Jerath, political editor of Crest, pointed out that the bigger story, than Team Anna’s role in the Hisar by-election, was the various losses suffered by the Congress.

     

    **

    The Times of India indeed led with the Congress’s 0-4 showing in four by-elections, as did the Hindu. Although each loss had its own specific reasons, the portents cannot be good for the struggling alliance in power at the Centre. Oddly, Hindustan Times carried the election results below the fold in Mumbai and as an adjunct story to its lead about the right to recall in Delhi.

    The Telegraph, Calcutta, interestingly and oddly, had Shah Rukh Khan as a half-page lead on the front page. The Deccan Chronicle in Hyderabad focused on the ongoing battle for AP launched by Jaganmohan Reddy. The TRS winning the by-poll was also prominent.

     

    **

    In spite of all the spankings which Indian news channels get, it is also necessary to thank them — particularly CNN-IBN and NDTV for focusing on less dramatic but equally important news like children dying in UP hospitals, child labour, female foeticide and so on. The documentary features which they run need some more focus than the anchor-generated hysteria.

    **

    At last, the Indian media has picked up on the ‘Occupy’ movement, especially since it has spread across the world. However, Syria remains low on the radar.

    **

    To end, let’s go back to the end of Goswami’s show on Times Now, where once again he was baffled by Gujarat policeman Sanjeev Bhatt, who obviously got bail, got out of jail and was then kidnapped by television. Bhatt openly accused the Narendra Modi government of not just the riots but also a hand in the death of Haren Pandya and various other intimidatory tactics. Goswami and the Gujarat government spokesperson Jainarayan Vyas, both sputtered, obviously unprepared for this odd kind of candour. Makes for good viewing.

  • Ranjona Banerji reviews nightly news and the morning papers in Freaking News

    English channels slipped on Kejriwal attack

    By Ranjona Banerji

    Tuesday evening demonstrated just how far Indian television has to go when it comes to simple reporting. Around 6 pm, Arvind Kejriwal, key member of Team Anna, has a slipper thrown at him at a rally in Lucknow. The English news channels had to borrow the feed from others, fair enough. But instead of concentrating on what exactly happened – there was evident confusion at the site – they promptly started asking other members of Team Anna for their views. The Team members were as clueless as the poor viewers, since we were not told exactly what was going on. Switching to Hindi channels was a major relief since they decided on reporting first and comment later.

    Of course, it was not till the morning papers arrived that we had a clear picture. The who, what, why was set down in print and the comment was minimal. Also, having teased us with running text about cracks in Team Anna, the channels got carried away by the slipper-throwing and forgot all about that.

    **

     

    BS Yeddyurappa got the full scorn of the media as he rushed from hospital to hospital to avoid stepping into a prison cell. This is hardly surprising and it is interesting to see eminent panellists openly laughing at the antics of our high-up-theres. Either the channels have got tired of our permanently outraged usual “experts” or someone in the dial-an-expert department is looking for variety. I never heard Mohandas Pai say a word in the Times Now discussion on the former Karnataka chief minister’s health problems but he laughed constantly. Renuka Choudhury was her usual acerbic self.

    **

     

    The Occupy Wall Street movement is now getting good coverage in Indian newspapers and the business and corporate community in India is also responding. Of course that could be fear that they will feel a similar backlash. Ever ones to take responsibility, several felt that graft was a bigger problem that corporate greed in India. Yeah sure.

     

    **

     

    Publicity for the upcoming Formula 1 race in Delhi is one full swing and newspapers and TV channels tripped over themselves to show us exactly the same stuff as “exclusive”. Let’s watch a bit to see if F1 will overtake cricket in this country.

     

    **

     

     

    Brand Equity on Wednesday carried an interesting article on the new Levis (Go forth) and Nokia (Epic Dramas) ads, which look at the problems of being young with an edgy feel to them.

    **

     

    The news that the Maharashtra state Election Commission will be tracking paid news for the upcoming elections might serve a warning to media houses that they are being watched. Which in this instance is not a bad thing.

  • In Freaking News, Ranjona Banerji reviews the fare on nightly news and in the morning papers

    Express’s excellent expose of Kiran Bedi’s inflated bills

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    The prize for the day must go to the Indian Express and its expose of accounting fiddles by former IPS officer Kiran Bedi. This prominent member of Team Anna, according to the Express report, regularly overcharged NGOs and other organisations for her airfare by travelling cheap and submitting inflated bills.

    TV channels soon picked up and the story and it must be remembered that they have been at the vanguard of the cheerleading squad for Anna Hazare and his movement. By mid-day, Bedi was on air offering a plaintively-voiced explanation and claiming she had done no wrong. Bedi’s answer to the Indian Express follows, without comment as it speaks for itself: “We follow transparent methods of functioning and volunteer to be questioned or audited. Every penny in our work is accounted for and is for the facilitation of causes we espouse… We have been very conscientious of trust and responsibility… And hence punctual and meticulous in our systems.”

    **

    The media, it has to be remembered, flatters to deceive. Too much expectation should not be placed on endless support for any person or movement, no matter how glamorous or well-meaning. The Anna Hazare movement thought it was good PR to go out of its way to thank the media for its “support” – mainly the non-stop TV coverage of Hazare’s fast at Ramlila Maidan in August.

    Unfortunately for Hazare’s team – and unfortunately for the principles of journalism! – the positive one-sided coverage given to Team Anna could only last so long.

    Cynicism and scepticism will usually triumph over adulation – one must remember that the so-called adulation of celebrities is usually PR and marketing driven and will also go the way of all things one day. One suspects that the internet will push that change faster than our little media darlings realise.

    As for the rest of the world, some disgruntlement soon emerges. Poor Rahul Gandhi, who a few months ago was seen as a worthy heir apparent, is now pilloried all over the place and is often portrayed as the font of all problems. Extreme perhaps but inevitable.

    **

    One which note, I was quite happy that the baby shower party for Aishwariya and Abhishek Bachchan completely passed me by. I only got to hear of it through Twitter and haven’t stopped congratulating myself on my escape!

  • In Freaking News, Ranjona Banerji reviews the fare on nightly news and in the morning papers

    It was Gaddafi all the way

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    Thursday started out with Kiran Bedi, allegations of accounting fiddling, Tamil Nadu chief minister Jayalalitha and a 15-year-old corruption case and the launch of a new train service in Bangalore (I refuse to call it a ‘metro’, because by my reckoning, metros run underground and this one looked like an elevated service). But by the evening, it was the death of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, dictator of Libya, which dominated everything. 

    For the first couple of hours, it was Al Jazeera which provided the most details, CNN and BBC catching up soon after. Indian channels got into it after that and images of people celebrating were soon replaced by pictures of what appeared to be – and was later confirmed as – the body of the dictator. 

    Gruesome as the images were, it was a poignant reminder of how death is the great equaliser and all your power and delusion cannot save you at the end. Please forgive that philosophical digression but sometimes TV will do that to you! 

    Of course, most channels tried to combine reporting with reportage and comment but experts were still grappling with what had happened to really provide any special perspective.

    **

    The prime time news shows on Indian channels mainly remained with Gaddafi – the newspapers on Friday morning informed us of hundreds of ways to spell and pronounce the name – and many ran documentaries on the dictator, his rise and fall. News X did a discussion segment on the Kiran Bedi issue, with a very well put together panel of former Team Anna members — Swami Agnivesh and Rajinder Singh, current India Against Corruption member Abhinandan Sekhri, Tushar Gandhi and activist Shabnam Hashmi. Rahul Shivshankar had to work very hard to allow everyone to speak as Sekhri was in a very defensive mood and took exception to question Bedi as well as the exceptions raised by Singh and Agnivesh. These two were quite clear in their condemnation of Team Anna and the way it operated. The allegations against Bedi were also discussed. Gandhi pointed out what many had foreseen — that the movement was getting lost in personality disputes while Hashmi expressed the viewpoint of those not enamoured of Hazare and his supporters.

    It was in fact an interesting, no-holds-barred discussion, if a little short, but then attention had to shift to the end of a 42 year dictatorship.

    A stop at Times Now in the break showed an interview of minister Kamal Nath over the Bangalore trains by Arnab Goswami. No scope for fireworks there.

    **

    Friday’s papers took the Gaddafi fall further but more or less reiterated what we already knew, so exhaustive had been the TV coverage.

  • In Freaking News, Ranjona Banerji reviews the fare on nightly news and in the morning papers

    Times Now finds itself in a bind as the heat’s on Team Anna

    By Ranjona Banerji

    After almost a year, I decided to watch We the People on NDTV. Ever since the Radia tapes were made public, I decided not to watch NDTV or read anything by Vir Sanghvi. This may be ridiculously self-indulgent but I did feel that they did journalism a disservice. However, since this We the People was about the demand for a ‘Right to Reject/Recall’ and featured Kiran Bedi, recently exposed for being a bit creative with her accounting habits, I thought it would be worthwhile to swallow my sanctimony and watch what happens.

    Of course, no one called out Bedi for her bill-making. But the discussion did display the naiveté of Team Anna when it comes to its demands to save the nation. Congress MP Navin Jindal had to point out to the highly decorated IPS officer that it was not the job of members of Parliament to build roads. This task was best taken up at the local level. One would have expected Bedi to know at least that much.

    Several objections over the ‘Right to Recall’ were raised by the audience, mainly to do with electoral expenses and the problem of having incessant elections. An annual audit of MPs was then called for — so that the voter could assess what his or her representative had done. Once again, Bedi  —  whose idea it was — could not provide a framework within which this report card would function.

    Dorab Sopariwalli pointed out that it was arrogance and an insult to the voters of this country if elected representatives were referred to as “galat” as in wrong or bad. He also said that many middle and upper class citizens do not exercise their franchise, which is also a problem.

    Several panellists — social activists, politicians, former bureaucrats — had divergent views on the right to recall/reject, which proves at least that the argumentative Indian is still alive.

    One only wishes that anchors on these shows would push their panellists a little harder and call them out on sophistry, obvious fuddling and ignorance.

    **

     If TV in India very often demonstrates how distance and scepticism are difficult for this brand of journalism, the sheer partisan nature of some of them is very amusing. Times Now, a constant champion of both Indian Against Corruption, Anna Hazare and the remaining core members of Hazare’s advisers, found itself in a bind when Swami Agnivesh alleged that the money donated to India Against Corruption had gone into a trust run by Arvind Kejriwal. As it turns out, Agnivesh’s contention was not denied by Team Anna. The explanation proffered, in a nutshell, was that they had not got down to doing it yet. Times Now reporters and anchors (not Arnab Goswami) went into victim-mode over the allegations and expressed pain that Agnivesh had made such remarks. The reporter pointed out that Team Anna feels that people are conspiring against them, which means that there is a conspiracy against them — the clarification in case, presumably, the viewer did not understand the first time. Why oh why did Agnivesh choose this time to make this allegation, asked an anguished anchor.

    At the risk of sounding like a fuddy-duddy lecturer, one cannot understand TV’s allegiance to ratings. But this looks like they’re monitoring who their viewers sympathise with and then doctoring the news to suit that constituency.

    Hmmm.

  • In Freaking News, Ranjona Banerji reviews the fare on nightly news and in the morning papers

    Amid firecrackers, the papers are quieter

    By Ranjona Banerji

    Although Mumbai is my normal hunting ground, I have spent this Diwali in Hyderabad. And it is wonderful how easily you can get into another news cycle, no matter how unfamiliar at first. There are no large well-packaged newspaper campaigns about roads or health or public transport. The outraged citizen is also more subdued than in Mumbai – Dear sir, I have not yet received my aadhaar card after so many reminders, gentle stuff like that.

    Politics is far more in evidence and clearly Tellywood has not overtaken every page of every newspaper the way Bollywood has done to our Mumbai papers. No one can suggest that the Telugu film industry is not huge and does not command a massive fan following or commercial presence. Yet, no film star has jumped out of the pages wishing us Happy Diwali, Halloween or anything else. Happy Days!

    Telengana is a big issue obviously, but everything has been a bit quieter over the holidays. Diwali-related allergies, pollution and injuries also got their fair share of attention, proving that social consciousness is a seller.

    Between the Times of India and Deccan Chronicle, the former is more national in its outlook and the latter more local. The day after the Metallica concert was cancelled in Gurgaon, TOI led with the story while DC was happy with a single column.

    The colour pages however are as full of the vacuous page 3 stuff and the scale varies, presumably depending on celebrity activity, which appears to have been quite slow. Or it could be that local celebs are not yet professional party goers who make deals with photographers to ensure themselves so many pics a week and all from the most flattering angle!

     

    **

    Not surprisingly, the Formula 1 race and the continuing travails and protestations of Team Anna hogged TV and newspaper headlines. The Big Fight on NDTV had a discussion on the corruption charges against Team Anna and its anti-Congress stand at Hisar, featuring former Delhi police commissioner Maxwell Pereira, actor Kabir Bedi, politician Renuka Chowdhury, former TOI editor Dileep Padgaonkar and a young girl from Team Anna. Anchor Vikram Chandra tried to ensure that Team Anna got fair treatment but even he was a bit stunned when Kabir Bedi said that he was not bothered by Kiran Bedi’s creative accounting. Audience members were far more critical.

     

    **

    The fiasco over the Metallica concert in Gurgaon demonstrated how TV needs to up its reporting skills. Anchors and reporters clearly did not have the wherewithal to probe what had gone wrong and relied on unsubstantiated claims made by fans. Oddly, TV channel websites appeared to have more clarity. It took the newspapers the next day to answer most questions. Yet, even now, the facts seem a little hazy, that is, juicy details of why the concert was not held are missing.

     

    **

    Most intriguing of all is the fate of some 130 tourists who have apparently been kidnapped in Lakshadweep. TV ran the story late one night and forgot about it the next morning. Newspapers have been silent and the web, normally a fount of information and misinformation both, has provided only sketchy details. So what’s happened to them?

     

  • In Freaking News, Ranjona Banerji reviews the fare on nightly news and in the morning papers

    Freaking News: One event, two interpretations

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    One event, two interpretations: Monday morning’s Times of India and Hindustan Times had two completely different interpretations of LK Advani’s rath yatra’s entry into Gujarat. TOI found in an empty chair between Advani and Gujarat CM Narendra Modi a symbol of the growing distance between the two leaders and described their interaction as cold. Advani apparently added to the distance by praising Modi’s bete noire, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar. Hindustan Times however perhaps read nothing into empty chairs and said that Advani and Modi put up a united front to turn the heat against the Congress.

    Surprisingly, Headline Today, known for its slightly rightwing stance – No, Mr Katju, not all media outlets have identical reactions – also perceived a freeze in Advani-Modi relations.

     

    **

     

    Mamata Banerjee’s dramatic declaration – although her speech itself was very well-reasoned and delivered most matter-of-factly – of withdrawal of support to the UPA over the petrol price hike did not turn into a weekend drama. Mainly because the Congress barely responded and Banerjee herself said she would wait till the PM returned from his travels.

    It was interesting that Times Now broadcast her whole speech which was in Bengali and took a good few minutes to get translations up. Perhaps we need to have a more instant translation technique given the languages listed in the Constitution or at least faster paraphrasing abilities.

     

    **

     

    The death of composer and singer Bhupen Hazarika received both airtime and newsprint space and more importantly, honour and respect. Perhaps this means that we in the media are not as shallow as we ourselves feel or are made out to be – Mr Katju please note.

    **

     

    Our Sunday papers felt the need to reconnect us with the “other India’ and we had special reports on our labour policies and how unfair they are to labourers, the problems of contractual workers as well as focus on our perennial health problems. Not sure if this was proving a point to Mr Katju or in fact, it was the Katju effect at work.

     

    **

     

    Mumbai’s law and order problems were highlighted once again as the spotlight remained on the deaths of Keenan and Reuben in a Mumbai suburb in October. Most say this as an opportunity to focus on similar problems elsewhere in the country as well as on the treatment of women on our streets.

     

    **

    The Hindustan Times has been running a series of accusations and counterpoints between Goa theatre veteran Hartman de Souza and Tehelka editor Tarun Tejpal which has now spilled over into cyber space. Tehelka has been holding a “Think Fest” in Goa and de Souza and others have accused the journal of having double standards when it comes to the issue of exposing the mining lobby in Goa. It is a fascinating series of accusations, some petty and some serious. This is one more example of how the media is looking more at itself as a “story” as well as how the internet has changed the game when it comes to public interaction.

  • Ranjona Banerji reviews nightly news on television and the fare in the morning papers.

    More confusion and pyrotechnics

    By Ranjona Banerji

    At last television managed to extract some excitement from the news. NDTV’s Nidhi Razdan tried to get her guests Renuka Choudhary, Subramaniam Swamy and Vinod Sharma of the Hindustan Times to decode the 2G intra-ministry note controversy, the call to prosecute P Chidambaram and the arrest of former LK Advani aide Sudheendra Kulkarni in the cash-for-votes scam. Sadly, the verdict was the same as it has been all these days – confusion. The audience however was not convinced with the explanations provided in the cash-for-votes episode by the BJP and Sharma just laughed at all political parties. Chowdhury was her normal dismissive self while Swamy was a bit nonplussed by the CBI’s refusal to listen to the government, saying it was an autonomous body.

    Thus it was left to Arnab Goswami to provide the pyrotechnics. However, the subject of his choice – NGOs breaking the law – can only create foam-in-the-mouth for the most diehard supra-nationalists who see Maoist conspirators around every corner. Even the news that an Essar general manager had been arrested for paying protection money to Maoists could foment the crowds or the viewers. Goswami was pained that NGOs were breaking the laws of the Government of India. This from a man who just last month appeared to have been quite happy when members of Team Anna tried to destroy the entire Indian system of parliamentary democracy.

    However, as far as television was concerned, the arrest of Kulkarni was big news as the BJP scrambled to prove it was being victimised and the Congress retained its disdainful position regardless of how foolish it sounds and how little anyone believes it. Still, the fact that Parliament was sullied by MPs waving wads of cash around apparently rankles in many Indian hearts. The goodie-goodie whistleblower explanation does not cut much ice when confronted with patriotism.

    **

    The death of Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi obviously caused great pain to the Indian nation as tributes and obituaries to the great cricketer carried on for more than a week. This was surely unusual, made even more unusual by the fact that few of the writers actually knew the man very well and had to depend on hearsay and legend to bolster their articles. It showed if nothing else, an interesting view of contemporary Indian life and one where the truth cannot ever come in the way of laudatory praise.

    Or, as it happens, criticism. Some stray remarks made by controversial Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Akhtar about Sachin Tendulkar created a little tizzy, causing the launch of Akhtar’s “controversial” book to be cancelled. However, most of the tizzy was created by the pre-release publicity machinery to drum up a little extra interest. Instead, the tactic appears to have backfired. The publicity tiger is a dangerous beast to ride. Remember the limerick about the Lady of Niger, who smiled as she rode on a tiger? They came back from the ride with the lady inside and the smile on the face of the tiger.

    **

    I see that little news items about transgressions by Reliance Industries have started to make their way into newspapers. Will track this and see if it goes any further.

  • When our hysteria-obsessed TV channels realised that a natural calamity was more newsworthy than a man-made one

    Why democracy can so easily be an ‘obstacle’

    Four days of a severe throat infection meant little TV news and or newspapers. This I thought would save me from minute by minute updates on the condition of Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi’s fast for amity or goodwill or whatever he called it. But as it turned out, I was wrong. The fast may have been covered but Modi’s condition was left out of it. So unlike with Anna Hazare, whose weight, blood pressure and such were reported in detail, we were given few clues on how much weight Modi had shed. Also, since the earthquake struck Sikkim on Sunday evening, even our hysteria-obsessed TV channels realised that a natural calamity was more newsworthy than a man-made one.

    Unfortunately, not only is our knowledge about the North-East of India decidedly dim, so is our television coverage as few channels have correspondents or camera crew stationed close by or even perhaps adequate arrangements with local channels. Thus we had to depend on telephone reports and as usual it is not till you get the next day’s paper that you really know what’s going on. Also given our India-obsession, our channels behaved as if the earthquake only affected Sikkim, pretty much ignoring the damage in neighbouring Nepal and Tibet. This is, one assumes, a form of patriotism.

    The damage which obsessive TV – with regard to the coverage of the Anna Hazare movement in particular — can do was brought home to me quite severely while addressing students of a media course at a Mumbai college on Saturday , when one wanted to know how we can get around an obstacle like democracy when it comes to reducing corruption!

    Changes made to the Board of Control for Cricket in India were examined threadbare on television and with many anchors palpably upset that there had been no public executions or floggings after India’s losses in England. It becomes clearer every minute you watch TV news why democracy can so easily be an “obstacle”.

     

    **

    Newspapers covered Modi’s fast as well but with far more scepticism, many choosing to concentrate on the fissures within both the BJP and the NDA. The Telegraph, Calcutta, has a story with Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar of the Janata Dal (United) making it clear than Modi was not a suitable prime ministerial candidate. Of course, all this jumping the gun a bit since the next general election is in 2014 and it is unlikely that Modi will be fasting all the way up to then, amity or no amity.

    Tuesday’s Hindustan Times underlined its scepticism of Modi’s amity fast with an editorial, a lead edit page piece by Sitaram Yechury as well as a column by its senior political analyst Vinod Sharma.

    The Times of India reduced Modi to a second edit, ‘Strange Sadbhavna’. The front page concentrated on its Social Impact Awards, to honour people who make India a better place. The Times of India has fine-tuned the knack of being all things to all people, greedy, socially conscientious, middle of the road and of course as with Times Now, decidedly rightwing.

    Also expectedly, newspapers concentrated on the devastation and death toll in all the quake-affected areas and not just on Indian casualties. Clearly, whatever the sure signs of degradation of standards in the Indian media, some of the better practices still manage to rise about the sludge.

    Most mainline daily choose to downplay or ignore US president Barack Obama’s plan to increase taxes to cut down the country’s budget deficit. The pink papers however could not. And weeks after Warren Buffett wrote an impassioned column in the New York Times on how he and his rich friends did not mind paying more tax, Indian papers picked up on it. Of course, this was because of a throwaway line in Obama’s speech – but since the speech was telecast live by all international and business channels, you could not escape it. Indian newspapers and channels seem to have one mantra down pat – never upset rich people. Obama apparently – and the New York Times for that matter – has no such qualms.

     

    **

    We need someone to explain our country’s nuclear policy to us cogently and intelligently as ever since the Japan tsunami there have been very real fears and very strong protests. Indian television goes overboard and Indian newspapers play it down. Help?!

  • Ranjona Banerji reviews the fare on nightly news and the morning papers

    Of Tarun Tejpal’s travails

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    Last night on Times Now was terribly entertaining. The media’s romance with Mamata Banerjee as Bengal chief minister seems to be over and Arnab Goswami exchanged nation-saving passion for sarcasm while discussing with Banerjee’s rather odd decision to enter a police station to rescue party workers. Trinamool Congress’s spokesperson Derek O’Brien also bore the brunt as he spluttered and exploded his way through the discussion.

     

    He also made some strange digs at Arati Jerath, editor with Crest (and a former colleague I must admit). Arati very graciously laughed it all off but O’Brien did not show himself as a gentleman. Goswami put up a spirited defence and all the other panellists seemed quite amused.

    **

     

    Sadly, Wednesday mornings’ newspapers largely ignored Banerjee’s police station search and rescue but they did focus on the high-octane pull out threat on Friday which has now dwindled into a ‘if you ever do it again we shall think about it again’ damp squib.

    Sometimes you wonder why India needs Bollywood at all when it has our political masters for entertainment.

    **

    Having reported that LK Advani and Narendra Modi were at loggerheads on Monday, by Tuesday, the Times of India decided they were not – but then added the rider that the negative publicity had made the two BJP leaders decide to put up a united front. The Hindustan Times also reported the same thing so now everyone appears to be on the same page.

    **

     

     

    Deccan Herald reported that the Think Fest organised by Tehelka last week in Goa had run into all kinds of problems, starting with a controversial comment made by Tehelka founder and editor Tarun Tejpal, apparently exhorting his guests to drink and “sleep well with anyone you think of”. There was much outrage, either because he advocated sex or he insisted that they do it well or indeed because he implied that that’s why people go to Goa.

    Apart from this, Tejpal is already in trouble with Goa’s environmental activists and journalists for his apparent closeness to the government and the mining lobby.

    As a result, not must has appeared on the thinking that was done – if indeed there was any time for it amidst all these other admittedly more interesting activities.

    **

     

    Speaking of sex (well, in a manner of speaking), Indian politicians are very lucky that the Indian media does not chase or publicise their sexual escapades. Like most US presidential candidates, Republican Party hopeful Herman Cain finds himself tumbling down the ratings as at least four women have accused him of sexual harassment and misconduct.

    Perhaps one day the day will come?

  • In Freaking News, Ranjona Banerji on the petrol hike coverage, Times Now on Modi, Omar Abdullah’s marriage…

    Arnab Goswami as a BJP adviser?

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    Expectedly, the petrol price hike was top of the mind on Friday morning, as readers already depressed with the news the night before, groaned their way through morning chores. Most newspapers slammed the hike, pointing out that it would add to inflationary pressures, that this so-called drop in the rupee was not reason enough for a Rs 3 hike and that most of the price per litre went towards taxes anyway. In addition, the apparent move to push people towards diesel was short-sighted because one day diesel subsidy would also have to go and then, the environmental cost.

    **

    Hindustan Times’ Delhi edition lead with the new India-China standoff over oil exploration in the South China Sea but put the story on the fold in Mumbai, taking the petrol hike and a local municipal story on top. The Times of India gave prominence to its newly constituted Social Impact Awards.

    **

    The end of Jammu & Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah’s marriage was in the papers, but then everyone respected his right to privacy. This meant that the juicy stuff was left out. Interestingly, The Hindu, follows the media coverage in disapproval and finds out that a possible new wife named for Abdullah – as a sort of political alliance – is an imaginary or invented person. Of course, should one wonder whether anyone would care if Omar Abdullah looked like most other Indian politicians (ugly)? Or perhaps if it is time the media dropped the pseudo-coy line and went all out and attacked famous people? Or if it is fair to tempt the reader with titbits and then hold back, claiming goodie-goodie rights?

    **

    Sonia Gandhi’s return to a workday was frontpaged as was the United States dubbing the Indian Mujahideen a terror outfit. Most papers pointed out that the authorities were still a bit lost on solving both the Mumbai and Delhi blasts. The rains in north India – which are wreaking havoc – got little play in the rest of the country but were covered in the north, with the Tribune in Chandigarh warning of more rain in the next 24 hours. The Ahmedabad edition of The Times of India carried prominently the story of policeman Rahul Sharma describing how he was charge-sheeted by the Gujarat government for talking to the Supreme Court appointed amicus curiae Raju Ramachandran about the 2002 riots. Chief minister Narendra Modi’s fast for goodwill did not feature on page 1.

    **

    This is of course in stark contrast to our friends in the world of television. Modi’s fast is getting a minute by minute update on some channels. Times Now or at least its biggest hero Arnab Goswami could become adviser to the BJP on how to win the next election, since his News Hour debate on Thursday night brooked no opposition to his view that Modi’s fast for goodwill (sadbhavna) was in the rightness of things. This line appears to be in contrast to The Times of India’s coverage and editorials of Modi and the latest events, but who knows? It must be added that Headlines Today runs neck and neck with Times Now when it comes to the rightwing slant, but then it has far more practice.

    **

    The petrol hike was given its space and so was cricketer Rahul Dravid’s retirement from One Day Internationals. On Wednesday and Thursday, Indian television did what it does best and to good effect here – it showcased the story of Indian hockey players being given peanuts in prize money and so shamed governments into coughing up more. Several newspapers – Mid-Day particularly in Mumbai – also did their bit.

    **

    The images of Bihar policemen beating up villagers were frightening and truly a triumph for television.

    **

    Here’s to a promising weekend, with all our drama kings and queens in full flow!

     

  • Introducing a near-daily blog that will see Ranjona Banerji review the nightly news and the fare in the morningers.

    Of 25-year-old TV journos and their half-baked ideas

    Ranjona Banerji

     

    This week was a roller coaster as far as news was concerned. It started with the continuing aftermath of the Anna Hazare-led anti-corruption movement, with members of what has so trendily been named Team Anna felt they were being targeted by the government  for saying nasty things about MPs, for being exposed in a sting operation and for not paying their income tax.

    But soon Amar Singh, discredited and beleaguered, had his moment in the sun as he was hoisted off to join his political friends in Tihar jail for his role in the cash-for-votes scam where BJP MPs walked into Parliament waving bundles of money, claiming they had been bribed by the UPA. But one more horrific bomb blast on Wednesday morning, this time outside the Delhi High Court, meant that TV attention moved away from Singh. TV attention is a bit like the eye of Sauron in Lord of the Rings. While it is on you, you burn under its gaze but when it goes away, you can scurry into Mordor and do what you want. It may be advisable for Indian TV news channels to get eyes like a housefly instead which looks everywhere.

    Since the Delhi police and India’s one zillion other investigating agencies had no clue about who was behind the blasts, TV reporters have to be commended for coming up with their own theories within 10 minutes. Why waste time reporting on the events when you can hold forth like an expert, pretending that you know what you are talking about? After all, no one in your studio is going to stop you, question you or, shock, horror, cut you off.

    I realize that youth must be worshipped in India today but there is something disconcerting about inexperienced 25-year-olds running around with mikes and cameras, bombarding us with their half-baked ideas. (My advice for young journalists: spend the first five years with your mouth shut, learning! Radical, eh?)

    It would perhaps be more sensible if TV news channels in India tried to first report and then speculate. It seems incredible that that they go back to the same experts over and again in spite of no one having any clue about who has actually done what. One would have thought that the embarrassment of every expert blaming some Islamic group of the other for the Norway attacks would have been lesson enough, but clearly, no. The evening shows with the star anchors were full of former police commissioners and general celebrity experts holding forth. The amount of hot air released in TV studios could be used as a form of renewable energy once fossil fuels disappear.

    Most language news channels switched from their normal combination of astrology and Bollywood to cover the blasts but some like Sahara Mumbai were happy with their comedy corner. The ticker at the bottom kept us informed of events. Guess you have to keep laughing, no matter what.

    Business news channels are rarely if ever distracted from the stock markets and sometimes even major global monetary policy changes in which politics is involved, pass them by.

    International channels airing in India like Al Jazeera, BBC World and CNN are all gearing up to the 10th anniversary of the September 9 attacks on the USA. The rest of the while they keep us informed about what’s happening in Syria, Sudan and such like places that are too far away for Indian news channels to acknowledge.

    **

    The newspapers had it easier. Early in the week, they focused of course on Amar Singh’s arrest and his fall from grace. The Telegraph, Calcutta (it does not use Kolkata) also talked about him being a Calcutta boy. The prime minister’s trip to Bangladesh also got space, with fans and detractors of West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and her refusal to agree to the water-sharing agreements with Bangladesh having their say. The boxing bout between Mayawati and Julian Assange also front-paged, including with the Hindu which of course printed the Wikileaks revelations in India.

    The Reserve Bank of India asking banks to allow borrowers to pay back floating home loans without penalty got second billing in Mumbai, perhaps understandably. The Hindustan Times called the BJP to task over protection to the Reddy brothers in Karnataka in a hard-hitting editorial.

    The Times of India did an analysis of three versions of the Lokpal bill on its edit page and seemed to agree the most with Aruna Roy and the NCPRI’s version. This is a break surely from Times Now’s vociferous championing of Anna Hazare’s version and no other.

    Mid-Day launched its new look on Tuesday, with bolder lines, less clutter and better use of pictures. It also reintroduced its edit page.

    By Thursday, the bomb blasts were everywhere with legitimate rage over the fact that the authorities neither had improved intelligence nor security measures in place. It is easier to read these arguments than to decipher what several guests shouting at the same time are trying to say.

    By Friday, Praful Patel’s defence of a CAC report slamming the merger of Air India and Indian Airlines and the acquisition of several aircraft took the headlines. The probe into the Delhi blasts is veering between Harkat-e-Jihad-al Islami and Indian Mujahideen, both of whom have claimed they did it.

    The Times of India chose not to front-page LK Advani’s announcement of an anti-corruption yatra and his impassioned speech in Parliament, while Hindustan Times made it the second lead, focusing on the fact that Advani took his own party by surprise. The gist of the newspaper angle seems to be one more political drama, while TV milked what they could from it before moving on.

    The brewing revolt in the tennis world between the top players and the International Tennis Federation over rain problems at the US Open also got play.

    International media is mainly looking at the tenth anniversary of 9/11, stories of victims and heroes and some new chilling tapes of voices from one of the planes which crashed into the World Trade Centre. Irfan Husain in The Dawn has an excellent piece debunking all the 9/11 conspiracy theories. A threat to New York on the anniversary is being taken seriously, making ample effort not to spread panic.

    It seems likely that 9/11 will dominate over the weekend although it will be interesting to see if the BJP is taken seriously in this new effort to regain political centrestage.