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THE PRESIDENCY AND THE PAPPARAZI
By M H AHSAN
There is no scandal that hovers around her person, and no controversy that compels her to be ‘shown’ on our rather sensationalist and opinionated telly. She is not a ‘regular’ on those one-of-a-kind-shows on the little box because she is serious and has a great track record, as she stands apart with quiet dignity from the many professional politicos who are forever pontificating, rather superficially, on the idiot box that has become the modern day ‘manch’ for political rhetoric and endless diatribe. The candidature of Pratibha Patil for the Indian Presidency has been one of the more refreshing announcements in weeks. She was not part of the daily party handouts that journalists of today lap up without question.
The press, particularly the television channels, were totally off the mark. One channel had gone out on a limb, patting itself on the back in an ad that told us constantly that it had broken the news before it happened. It was amusing to watch the celebrated anchors cover up their boo-boo after the name of Ms Patil was announced. The channel had not the remotest idea of what was going on in the Congress party. The viewers were then put through non-stop ‘analytical’ chatter to explain away their supreme lack of true information. Over the last month, earnest anchors with a we-know-it-all smirk, had dressed up the Union home minister as the President-in-waiting. They had run a rather absurd ‘poll’, and tomtommed the result as though they were the kingmakers. Their high-pitched excitement made no sense. With Sonia Gandhi’s googly, they have crumbled, and how.
Then, on June 14 after Ms Patil’s name was announced, this one channel told us repetitively through the long evening and into the night that the messy confusion of the Presidential election was because of messy party politics. In fact, the confusion and mess were created by a clueless press that has gotten used to working with ‘press briefs’, doing no legwork whatsoever except at dinner parties. They had managed to create, spread and begin to believe an unsubstantiated story, a modern myth. One of the senior anchors went on to say that Shivraj Patil was Sonia Gandhi’s first choice and that she had to buckle under Left pressure. Again, they were so wrong.
Sonia Gandhi, unless this man had met her secretly and she had confided in him, had announced no name before Pratibha Patil. Why spread something that was not said—an untruth? These guys and gals on TV wrote the screenplay of the farce, enacted it through their pretty faces and strange dialects of English, and when the drama flopped, blamed Sonia Gandhi for their failure because she had pulled the rug from under their pretty feet.
Having gone on and on about Shivraj Patil being Sonia Gandhi’s chosen candidate because of his loyalty, then about Sonia Gandhi wanting a rubber stamp (sic), and all the other simplistic stuff that they churned out, they are now desperately trying to knit a story about the ‘close friendship’ that Sonia and Pratibha share! Hopefully, having manufactured this grand farce, the channel that broadcast this non-news will learn to step out into the real world and give up its ‘lobbying’ instincts, and just report the news as it happens, showing the non-partisan truth through the lens of the camera. There’s no need to make TV reporting a picturised op-ed page.
Many news channels have become so obviously partisan that one is forced to question the veracity of anything presented as ‘news’. Is it the whole truth or half the truth? Are the bits and pieces edited to suit a bias? Is the reality being interpreted in news bulletins? There are other forums on the box for interpretation and analysis, for views and counterpoints. Reporters are there to report, not to add their mindless comments, something they inflict on the audience with undisturbed regularity. English language Indian TV has become predictable even with its ‘breaking news’. Most political reporting is careless, sloppy and juvenile. That Mayawati won Uttar Pradesh by not appearing on the small screen speaks volumes.
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EDITORIAL
