Prannoy Roy, Rajdeep Sardesai, Vishnu Som, Barkha Dutt, Sonia Verma.It seems they have got them all.’THEM’ here means the best of the English Media in India.
The channel I am talking of is NDTV 24x7.(24 hours, 7 days a week). NDTV stands for New Delhi television limited. NDTV started out as a production house for producing news programs and talk shows for various Indian television channels. As an 8 year old , I remember waiting for THE WORLD THIS WEEK on Doordarshan on fridays at 10:00 p.m. The Indian media industry has come a long way since then and so have our news channels.
When the media revolution hit india, NDTV started producing news for Star News.Star News became my favorite news channel with its slick news presentation and excellent reporting and anchorage.In fact, it was almost the mouthpiece of the ’intellectually tagged’ populi of our vast nation.
Another churning happened this year when, Star Television and NDTV India parted ways.NDTV started its own news channels:
1)NDTV24x7:The English News Channel
2)NDTV India:The Hindi News Channel
The good thing was that NDTV managed to retain all its news anchors and reporters and thus the same upmarket news quality was expected.The following is my take on the english channel
GRAPHICS , MUSIC :WOW! The best graphics I have seen for a long time.Red and silver ribbons which change shape and a revolving globe which has green indentations.The color ’’RED’’ dominates the graphics which are accompanied by excellent TABLA renditions.It makes me remember the excellent tabla notes of NDTV’s earlier productions. The headlines which appear every now and then flash on the full screen mode before converging in the form of a bulleted list.EXCELLENT!
THE 9’o CLOCK NEWS:9’o clock (9 pm) means news primetime in india.Various news channels keep this slot for their best anchors and NDTV has kept this for Prannoy Roy. Prannoy Roy is considered the doyen of english media in India.If he is busy , his able disciples take centrestage.They are no less and most of them including Vishnu Som, Bakha Dutt, Rajdeep Sardesai have received awards for their contributions.The news is very detailed covering every aspect(national & international).It also has a sports capsule(anchor: Sonali Chander) and a very informative weather capsule.VERY GOOD!
WE THE PEOPLE:This talk show(read discussion forum)is also one of its kind.Anchored by path breaking iron lady Barkha Dutt, it brings out the voice of INDIA on hot topics like women reservation in parliament, Kashmir, INDO-US relations.It is especially good for people interested in group discussions.
WALK THE TALK:This program features a prominent Indian personality’s interview who is out on a stroll with Shekhar Gupta(Indian Express).He has taken Shankracharya of Kanchi, CM of Karnataka, CM of Andhra Pradesh, Dhanraj Pillai on long walk talks.INTERESTING AND INNOVATIVE
THE X FACTOR:Anchored by Rajdeep Sardesai, this show looks at the ’X’ factor behind the news.
THE WEATHER:This is the only news channel in India which gives live temperatures of all major cities constantly.
SPEED:The speed of reporting is quite good and sometimes even better than AAJ TAK.For eg:This was the first news channel to report the ranbaxy factory fire and the first to report the Ratnagiri Rail Disaster.However, some improvement on this front is required
EXCLUSIVES:Interview of Prannoy Roy with Pervez Musharraf(Pakistani President)
The feature on Bismillah Khan(Bharat Ratna) Shehnai Player which led to a donation of 2 lakh by the Indian Prime Minister!
The Maharashtra State Education Scam:Admissions Stopped!
THE PROBLEMSThe channel has had some teething problems:
1)SOUND:In Chandigarh, the sound disappears abruptly and then reappears when the story is over!
2)REBOOT:The channel computer reboots because of power failure displaying the message:REBOOT :POWER FAILURE!
3)CRIME IN THE CITY seem too pessimistic and gory.I recommend dropping it.
All said and done, I think that if you want to watch an english news channel, there are two choices:
1)HEADLINES TODAY:Produced by TV TODAY(AAJ TAK Sibling):Pathetic!Really!i can say no more....
2)NDTV 24x7:This one is good and improving.
SO GO TRY IT NOW !
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