Spare us over-the-top TV anchors

The electronic media is at it again. Joining hands with an intemperate Opposition to constantly bait the former Congress-led government- whose communication skills as we all know were non-existent- they had helped make it completely non-functional. Now, one would have thought that they would, at least during the honeymoon period of the new government desist from creating and stoking unnecessary controversies. Instead, they seem to be going from bad to worse. With ‘tweets’ becoming their main source of bytes, they are once again embroiling the country in a 24/7 slugfest reminiscent of the just reviled past. 

At the ‘coronation’ instead of doing what they were supposed to but never ever do - ‘describe, report and inform’ --we got their characteristic excesses. Going overboard with the Pakistan Prime Minister’s visit, the other dignitaries were given the go by with nothing more than a few casual mentions. ‘A historic’ event it might well have been but in the process did they have to show our other neighbors that they didn’t really matter? Was there also the need to constantly run down the previous government especially when you have Pakistani experts on the panel? It was left to the BJP spokesman to step in and tell our across-the-border experts when they too joined in, that they had no right to decry Manmohan Singh however much it was done internally. 

Then came the value judgments. Barkha Dutt even going as far as to say that, ‘Manmohan Singh did not have the gumption’ to attend Nawaz Sharif’s swearing-in ceremony (May 27, 2014, NDTV). Really? Does ‘freedom of the press’ give these anchors the right to play judge, jury and executioner? The right to insult and scorn? Is that their role? Let’s not forget what NDTV and Barkha Dutt did to that poor blogger when he blogged about the anchor and the channel’s role in the Mumbai attacks telecast. 

So now it’s time to say it cannot be one sided. What is sauce for the goose should so be for the gander as well. 

Justice Katju is right. With freedom must come responsibility and accountability. These anchors are without doubt, quick on the uptake and amazingly versatile with brilliant minds but they need to be accountable to something/someone other than their employers. And there needs to be some kind of curb placed on the electronic media sooner than later. If defamation suits can be filed and newspapers called to account for anything they print, the same should apply for electronic media comments as well. Just as it was done by Indian cricket team captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni against the Zee network recently. He said ‘they tarnished his image and reputation by publishing and telecasting defamatory news content.’ The fact that the court in its wisdom chose to admit the case and restrain the network from exercising their right to target and play out in public something that was yet to be established is a hugely welcome step. The courts thus, if need be, must step in and do this more often as is being seen increasingly now. But the question is how many can afford the time, money and yes the energy to go to court or even sustain such an action? 

Now with a new government in place these channels have, for perhaps want of anything else have begun latching on to tweets by various leaders - once again creating needless controversies. 

It was thanks to the electronic media which carried it endlessly, that Shashi Tharoor, who first introduced the art of tweeting by people-in-office, had to pay the price for his ‘cattle class’ remark. Lalit Modi’s tweet on the Indian Premier League not only again cost Shashi Tharoor his franchise but also Modi’s own dismissal. If television channels had not chosen to constantly air these bytes and give them life, many lives rightly or wrongly would have been much the better for it. 

Another example is the current imbroglio over Smriti Irani. Blown out of proportion by asking for sound-bytes from all and sundry they debated the story, including Sonia Gandhi’s educational qualifications or lack thereof, for a whole day ad nauseam. When there are so many other important issues of national interest which could be debated upon, should this have been a priority? Not that their shouting matches that pass off as panel discussions are any different. They actually do more harm than good. While tweets express the sentiments of the tweeter and are often innocuous, they also have the potential to be dangerous if picked up and debated on national television as was seen with Omar Abdullah’s recently.    

These 24/7 anchors vitiate the atmosphere with their gratuitous pronouncements and hysterical assertions and get away scot free. Arnab Goswami, Barkha Dutt, Rahul Kanwal, Gaurav Sawant Sagarika Ghose – the list is endless and I’m not even mentioning the Hindi ones - can all be accused of promoting their own agendas or at the least a biased interpretation of whatever the issue under debate is. So if the idea is to grab eyeballs and increase TRPs, they need to be shown firmly and legally that the present module has no place in our society. Their actions not only do not define ‘freedom of the press’ as it is understood, they are in fact detrimental to the very idea of what that word entails. If they are patterning themselves on Fox News and other such Western channels - as it is reported - then it must be assumed that, that is not what our sensitivities or even ethos’ are or should be. 

Admittedly the new minister Jitendra Singh’s statement on article 370 was provocative. The media knows that just as well as anyone else. But instead of playing it down in the larger interests of the country, our TV channels chose to stoke it. By carrying it and discussing ad nauseum a matter which should well have been left alone they exacerbated the whole issue. Pouncing on the various tweets and statements that promptly appeared, they have succeeded in creating a situation where the very unity of the country is being threatened. It definitely needs to be impressed upon the media (anchors!) that they exist in order to keep the people/nation informed. They do not exist to fan and incite hysteria needlessly. 

The very freedom we exercise today has been paid for by the blood, sweat, tears and even fortunes of the founders of our nation which, by the way, also includes the Nehru-Gandhis who they now so love to hate. By chipping away constantly at every institution/personality, by indulging in nit picking for mere sensationalism, by going competitive and combative – all in the name of ‘freedom of the press’- is to fritter away that very freedom.

Relevant links:

AAP files defamation case against web portal, television channel
Naveen Jindal releases footage of 'sting' against Zee; claims extortion
How to register complaint against news channels?