Time was when NDTV stood out as a news channel worth watching. Sadly, unlike the muse’s protagonist, age HAS withered her and custom HAS staled her variety. Commercial success has eroded its credibility and, what is more insidious, competition is rapidly sinking the channel into another of those frenetic sirens that revel in sensation. To cite some recent examples :
During the peak of the swine flu panic last month one of its correspondents (Shai Venkatram?) was so bent on trashing BMC’s SMS idea (that sought opinion on closing schools) that she went to the extent of putting words in the mouth of a lay person she was interviewing. The interviewee did not seem to agree with a pointed question on whether the SMS idea spread confusion but she was swiftly cut off the air as the correspondent turned to the anchor and asserted that the public agreed it was a bad idea and the SMS had spread panic and confusion.
And yesterday I had the mortification of watching another of its veterans, Srinivasan Jain, shamelessly badgering Carlie Pieter of NASA ( I hope I got that name right) and Madhavan Nair of ISRO into saying whether NASA should have acknowledged that ISRO found water on the moon first. It was encouraging to see Mr Nair remain so cool and dignified in his responses as he never drove in Jain’s direction. You could see the embarassment on Carlie’s face. So isn’t our own media spoiling our turf by getting us a bad name as chronic attention seekers ?
Maybe Jain had some inside information, but his tactic was so crude, I cringed. NDTV sorely needs some fresh training in how to stay ahead of the pack instead of being just another loud siren on the screen.