So much hot air about so much hot air!

IN Opinion | 28/11/2005

Letter to the Hoot: Ultimately what came across was an over-hyped event centering on an old man and a large balloon, with a world record thrown in

Vijaypath Singhania is not just a very talented balloon flyer, but also a very lucky man. Had he not managed to set a new world record for flying a hot air balloon at 70,000 feet, all of India`s news channels would have been there to record his failure. As it was, Singhania`s intensive balloon flying training in Italy, high quality technical support and London-imported equipment served him well - the television channels were able to document his record breaking flight in painstaking detail, with live hits and constant updates through the duration of the flight.

Admittedly, it is quite a feat for a 65-plus man to attempt and succeed in flying at 70,000 feet in a 22-storey ballon 15 times the size of a normal hot air balloon. Even more credit goes to him since his success means that India will get its second Federation Aeronotique Internationale gold medal - supposed to be equivalent to an Olympic gold in aviation.

But to treat it as a developing story, with hype being drummed up three days in advance and constant live updates during the flight seems a bit much. There were two aspects to this story: on one hand, here`s a rich man with money to burn, and he blew it up on a balloon..on the other hand there was the sporting angle - assuming he was in line for a medal equivalent to an Olympic gold, one would assume it has a sporting angle. While the point about Singhnia being a rich old man was plain for all to see, the sporting aspect was hardly visible. At the same time, news channels didn`t go whole hog and peddle the event totally as a socialite do since that wouldn`t reflect all that favourably on them.

Ultimately what came across on television screens was an extremely over-hyped event centering on an old man and a large balloon and a world record thrown in for good measure. Anyone who was tuned in wouldn`t have heard much about Singhania`s painstaking training or the merit he can claim for his feat. We had reporters talking about the dimensions of the balloon and the crowds that turned up to `cheer him on`.

Not every story has to be earth shattering or intensely serious, but one would imagine that with so many resources being expended on covering this record breaking event, there would be some serious attempt on behalf of news channels and their reporters to place this event in context and to prove why it was worth so much hoo ha.

Meenakshi Ravi

Mumbai

Nov 25, 2005

TAGS

hot air

Subscribe To The Newsletter

Media Watch Briefs

Amazon resisting voluntary censorship

The new term for self censorship is voluntary censorship, as proposed by companies like Netflix and Hotstar. ET reports that streaming video service Amazon Prime is opposing a move by its peers to adopt a voluntary censorship code in anticipation of the Indian government coming up with its own rules. Amazon is resisting because it fears that it may alienate paying subscribers.

Let the games begin

Clearly, the run to the 2019 elections is on. A journalist received a call from someone saying they were from Aajtak channel and were conducting a survey, asking whom she was going to vote for in 2019. On being told that her vote was secret, the caller assumed she wasn't going to vote for 'Modiji'. The caller, a woman, also didn't identify herself. A month or two earlier the same journalist received a call, this time from a man, asking if she was going to vote for the BSP.