A judgement day for media

September 30, 2010 will go down as a day when Indian private television channels restored one’s faith in the Fourth Estate. On this day TV channels demonstrated that if they wanted to, they could rise above narrow contentious intra-channel TRP warfare and finally stop and think about the country. Intensely critiqued by civil society for their coverage on the 26/11 Mumbai terrorist attacks and under fire from the government to shape up or be censored, they deftly embraced restraint and shunned sensationalism in reporting the landmark Ayodhya judgement.

On CNN-IBN Rajdeep Sardesai, who is also the Head of the Editor’s Guild, led by his editorial which played all day saying that the Ayodhya verdict was a challenge for the country’s politicians and civil society. "The media is on test ??" we are keeping out discussions and speculations in the run up to the judgement ??" we will keep viewers well informed, quell rumours and be responsible. It is the duty of state to handle law and order and the duty of media is to be accurate."

Deputy Editor of CNN-IBN Sagarika Ghose who anchored the channel in the morning in her green and orange sari repeatedly said: "We will report this with dignity and responsibility. We are approaching this coverage from the point of view of citizenship - Is the nation an imagined one or has it come to fruition?"

Arnab Goswami of Times Now echoed the sentiments: "This channel will not show provocative views or extreme opinions," he said. The channel led with an India First campaign in which celebrities from Bollywood, music industry, sports industry were all there with their appeal to citizens to keep calm and maintain peace by putting the country before individual religious groups. Said Amitabh Bachchan to Arnab: "The Indian film industry is a great example of integration ??" in a cinema hall when the lights go out and the film rolls, we never ask who is sitting next to us. We cry at the same time and laugh and the same jokes." Salman Khan fresh from the success of Dabbang said in his dead-pan drawl,"Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Isayi - hum sab Bhai Bhai".

Vikram Chandra kept a sober tone going all morning on NDTV and Barkha Dutt took the baton from the afternoon and carried on in a serious tone as well describing the judgement as a watershed in Indian history. Even correspondents from the ground kept the dialogue of peace going. Rubina Khan Shappoo reporting from a virtually deserted street in the afternoon from Bhopal said, "If 1992 was a divisive moment, then this may be the unifying one."

Meanwhile on channels like TV 9 in Bangalore all day the famous Gandhi Bhajan Ishwar, Allah Tero Naam, Saboko Sanmati De Bhagvan literally became the signature tune for the day while it also beamed reports on Hindu-Muslim amity in remote villages and districts of Karnataka. There was a lovely story about how in a village in Gadag District which had 150 Hindu families and three Muslim families, the Hindus contributed money and built a mosque for the Muslims. The channel also showed stories on Bollywood stars who have romanced or married their sweethearts from across religions - Shahrukh Khan-Gauri Khan, Hritik Roshan??"Susanne Khan, Saif Ali-Khan-Kareena Kapoor and string of such prominent celluloid favourites and also politicians with inter religious marriages like Dinesh Gundu Rao, Congress leader and the son of former Karnataka Minister R Gundu Rao with his Muslim wife.

During a studio discussion in the afternoon Sardesai recalled that in 1992 there was no private television and hence the visuals of the Babri Mosque were confined to still photographs. "I remember sitting in the Times of India office in Mumbai and we received a grainy picture of the demolition from BBC first!" The comment followed a discussion on whether the unleashing of private channels in India has been a good thing or a bad thing for the country. Theatre person Aamir Raza Hussain was reassuring. "The media is doing a very good job, a responsible job, a fabulous job." Another participant on the discussion however had a word of caution for the TV media: "Media should guard against taking a tangential view by departing from their job."

On News X, as is now the channel’s USP ??" sober discussions looking at the history of the conflict were carried out with Seema Kirmani, the National Editor of the channel, leading the debate with the confidence and calm of an experienced print journalist.

As the countdown began the tension was palpable. The entire media was kept away from the courtroom (normally journalists are allowed with their pen and notebooks in courtrooms but minus cameras). Instead they were confined to a makeshift media room at the Lucknow DC’s office. But soon after 4.30 pm all hell broke loose. The prior arrangement that the judgement would be read out at the DC’s media room where the press were waiting was totally thrown to the winds with the Hindu litigant lawyers emerging from the courtroom waving victory signs. The waiting cameras and crews, now thrown off Plan A, went on "roll" mode and what followed was total mayhem.

Clearly shocked studio anchors again showed their restraint in just beaming what was being said by the lawyers and not giving the judgement till the official media releases were made. As the evening progressed the heat in the studios started building with certain groups taking a rigid position and adopting a shrill tone. But barring a few exceptions, the mood in the studios was one of healing hearts, rather than breaking them.