The flood and the city news
Hindi news channels cover most of north India. But barring a few stories on water logging in Panipat, Ambala and Agra (oh my god, not the Taj!), they behave like local Delhi TV.
SHAILAJA BAJPAI visits Delhi’s TV floods
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Reprinted from the Indian Express, September 16, 2010
You may have thought, watching Hindi news channels on the weekend, that Delhi had gone underwater. As it transpired the floods had inundated low-lying areas near the Yamuna and TV news offices. News anchors stood waist high in water in studios (IBN-7). You were on the point of climbing into your swimsuit ready to wade through the city when Aaj Tak pronounced Delhi safe (barring the Yamuna embankment); the floods, it said, were "TV floods". Put that swimsuit away.
Other news channels, DD News, NDTV India and the English news channels, agreed: Delhi was not one gigantic swimming pool. But what Aaj Tak did was unusual, even unprecedented: it openly criticised fellow channels for incorrect news. This is fratricide.
Those who read the news report ‘Paani [Live]’ in The Indian Express on Saturday know that some news channels were raising the threat perception for the Yamuna above credible levels. But still, watching the Hindi news coverage, relentless as the rains and the river, was frightening: "Believe me, the speed at which the water level is rising, there will be water in every house of the city" (News 24).
Constant visuals of a flooded ISBT bus depot, buses submerged, homes abandoned and the river flowing fast and furious were plain alarming. Said one young India TV reporter: "Our hearts are beating fast, we have never seen anything like this before, we’re scared of the Yamuna." Perhaps the river was enraged, they concluded — by the Commonwealth Games? Accustomed to it standing still (or there being no water at all), aggrieved anchors complained that it was in spate. What cheek!
The news got only worse. A Zee News reporter fatalistically reminded us there was still dengue, cholera, diarrhoea, skin problems, conjunctivitis and other waterborne diseases to withstand. Or, as Coleridge wrote, "Water water everywhere/ Nor any drop to drink."
Not only couldn’t you drink the water, soon you wouldn’t be able to afford to eat much either. On Monday, IBN-7 reported that the prices of commodities in Delhi were rising rapidly. And crime stalked its colonies: news channels detailed the gruesome murder of a young boy by his paternal aunt. "Dilli ka bhayanak roop," as India TV called it.
Just as you were packing your bags to flee, the strains of "Dilli, gateway to your heart" detained you. Enchanting visuals of Qutab Minar, India Gate, Delhi Metro, shopping malls and green grass inundated the screen, as Euphoria sang the CWG anthem. This is the Delhi we know and love. Now, if only the rains would not blur TV’s vision or flood the studios.
The water certainly overwhelmed all other news. There was the 9/11 anniversary and violent protests engulfed Kashmir. But it was all about Dilli, gateway to the "floods".
Hindi news channels cover most of north India. But barring a few stories on water logging in Panipat, Ambala and Agra (oh my god, not the Taj!), they behave like local Delhi TV.
Coverage of the Yamuna rising emphasised the habit of TV news to rush headlong, non-stop, and exaggerate. English news hasn’t stopped discussing Kashmir and the (non)-withdrawal of AFSPA. On Monday, the Times Now discussion stretched from 8 pm to 10 pm.
Lastly, someone who has nothing to do with the news but still manages to make it to news channels. Rakhi Sawant. She was on Star News with Deepak Chaurasia (Sunday). They looked grave. He pulled out a chargesheet: did you or did you not have plastic surgery? Switched to Aaj Tak’s Seedhi Baat — and Sawant again! Don’t know what she said because we were visually transfixed: a mauve wig, mauve dress, mauve lipstick. Mauve?
And there’s Devil’s Advocate Karan Thapar talking to Arundhati Roy about Maoists, capitalism, communism (CNN-IBN).
What a difference, sirjee.