MxMIndia

Tag: The Daily Show

  • In Freaking News, which will now appear every Tuesday and Friday, Ranjona Banerji reviews the fare in the morning papers and the nightly news. And sometimes the afternooners, the newsmags and all that's on the Web

    [MJR] It’s all about how the media operates

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    The most serious news programme on TV sometimes is The Daily Show by Jon Stewart, aired every week night on Comedy Central at 11.30pm. The only show that comes close is, of course, The Week That Wasn’t on CNN-IBN with Cyrus Broacha.

     

    On Monday night, on The Daily Show, Stewart was all ready to discuss the fact that the Trayvon Martin case was finally going to trial. He was ready with the legalities of the case. Only, his reporters all vanished on him. There they were in Florida, standing outside the courthouse, because story was now no longer about George Zimmerman shooting Trayvon Martin: it was about the media and its reactions.

     

    A programme with a 24-hour discussion on whether the media was over-reacting was proposed. As Stewart had fits in the studio and ordered his reporters to get back to New York, they refused saying that this case was already being called the “case of the century”, “case of the millennium” and “case of the millennia” and they were not going to lose out.

     

    What a fine exaggeration of the way the media operates, I giggled to myself.

    Then, at midnight, I shifted to Times Now. Only to see Arnab Goswami in fine form, as he held forth on morality and the nation and the alleged sex CD featuring former Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi and a lawyer. Some mention of becoming a high court judge as a result of this slap-and-tickle was made.

     

    The panel was three journalists (four, if you count Goswami) and Siddharth Singh of the BJP. The BJP was, as far as I could understand, upset that Singhvi had resigned from his posts. They wanted him to explain the CD in the house (presumably not in a sex education way but knowing the BJP’s penchant for porn in legislatures, anything is possible). If the CD was real, then a probe (not like that!) was required. And if it was not real – as Singhvi has said – then another probe was required.

     

    Vinod Mehta, guiding light of Outlook said it’s all over and done with, Singhvi has resigned and let this remain a private matter. Vinod Sharma of Hindustan Times said the BJP was trying to squeeze every last drop of political mileage out of this, in spite of their own transgressions and once the Pandora’s Box was opened, they would not be safe. Arati Jerath said if this is the way high court judges are appointed, it is shocking and the matter should not be ignored.

     

    Goswami said that politicians can no longer as for privacy when their private lives are made public by the media, given the BJP’s demands.

     

    If this wasn’t fascinating enough, the next debate turned to the rift within Team Anna. Here the viewer was spectator to an incredible public squabble between three Team Anna members as Goswami and Hartosh Singh Bal of Open magazine watched with their mouths opening astonishment. Truly it was jaw-dropping stuff. All sorts of internal problems and ego battles were revealed.

     

    At the end, Goswami sternly admonished Team Anna that the fight against corruption was not anyone’s monopoly!

     

    At the end – 1.30 am — there was only the terrible truth of The Daily Show to think about. I didn’t sleep till about 3am as a result.

     

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    There is plenty of cyber rage over Press Council chairman Markandey Katju’s “proof” that 90 per cent of Indians are fools. People, get over this. The man is entitled to his opinion!

     

  • In Freaking News, which will now appear every Tuesday and Friday, Ranjona Banerji reviews the fare in the morning papers and the nightly news. And sometimes the afternooners, the newsmags and all that's on the Web

    For the 100th edition of Freaking News, some TV awards

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    Outright, hands down, CNN-IBN wins the award for Silliest Debate Topic Ever On A Monday Night: “Is Yuvraj Singh the next Lance Armstrong?”. For those who have been living on Mars, cricketer Yuvraj Singh has been under treatment for cancer in the US and has just returned to India. A long recovery period lies ahead. Ace cyclist Lance Armstrong, a tour de force on the Tour de France, won his battle with cancer and didn’t let it affect his sporting prowess and achievements. Surely however, it is far too early to comment on Singh’s condition and future at all, although there must be every hope for a full recovery and return to form. Under the circumstances, this kind of discussion appears insensitive and illogical.

     

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    The Earnest Sadness In The Face of Terrible Facts award for Monday night goes to Arnab Goswami and Times Now on the discussion about a spurt in incidents of violence committed by teenagers. Goswami rued that the motto of “Simple living and high thinking” no longer made sense to the post-reforms generation and participants talked about how the drive for money and success had skewed values for young people. There was a pall of gloom all over the Times Now set as actors ruminated on the terrible effects of money and lack of supervision on young people. I had to use at least three hankies. Note to self: keep a box of tissues next to the television.

     

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    The award for showing Immense Fortitude In The Face Of Severe Provocation is shared jointly by Nidhi Razdan of NDTV and Sagorika Ghose of CNN-IBN as they attempted to control Trinamool whatever-he-is Derek O’Brien as he defended his Supreme Leader Mamata Banerjee from the wicked media. First on NDTV and then on CNN-IBN, O’Brien shouted, flustered and blustered his way through as he got angrier and angrier that anyone had dared to criticise his Supreme Leader. Razdan had him first and she barely managed to get him to stop talking so that the other guests could have their say.

     

    By the time he reached CNN-IBN, he had worked himself into a fine rage. He then “had words” with a CPI spokesperson which descended to phrases like “You are not the king of me” being bandied about. He then called Lord Meghnad Desai ‘Lord Swarj Paul” which led to another bout in which O’Brien emerged bloody. Then he and Desai got into another spat.

     

    All in all, Ghose was out-shouted and had to use her diplomatic skills (come on, we’re all born with them) to stop her guests from killing O’Brien. Even Dexter seemed kind and gentle after all this.

     

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    After all that, Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show on Comedy Central gets the award for Restoring Sanity to News Analysis as he took on the shooting of American teenager Trayvon Martin by a Neighbourhood Watch member George Zimmerman in Florida. Stewart asked all the questions that anyone following the case wants answers to.

    Phew.