Telescope: The ruse of balance

Must the media give space to every viewpoint, no matter how prejudiced?

Written by Shailaja Bajpai | Updated: August 23, 2018 12:10:56 am

Kerala Floods, Kerala flood victims, kerala flood relief, Narendra Dabholkar murder case, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Atal Bihari Vajpayee death, Vajpayee speech, indian express

Must the media give space to every viewpoint, no matter how prejudiced?

“Floods caused by cow slaughter”, “Godman insults Kerala victims”, “Punish this bigot”, “This is outrageous”. The news breaks, “first on Times Now” (Wednesday).

Well, of course it is outrageous — can think of several other choice epithets to describe the gentleman’s views, including vile, but why dignify him with any attention, let alone headlines? He deserves a mighty ignore. People like him seek publicity for their views; the more you condemn them, the more “outrageous” they become, the more outrageous they become, the more coverage they receive.

The same goes for the Hindu Sanatan Sanstha member who appeared on a Mirror Now discussion, Monday, regarding the murder of the rationalist Narendra Dabholkar. Her views, and those of her organisation, are also pretty disgusting but they are still invited to TV studios to air them. Must the media give space to every viewpoint, no matter how objectionable, in the interests of a “balanced” coverage?

Kerala has been the focus of news coverage in the last week. Only the death of former prime minster, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Thursday and his funeral on Friday, stole the headlines from the flood of stories on the human tragedy that has unfolded in the state. For some reason, which is not immediately clear to this viewer, the channels have not captured the immensity of the destruction wrought by the incessant and heavy rains or the consequent human suffering, despite their efforts.

We saw aerial shots of the ravages, especially after the prime minister’s visit on Saturday, and the touching “Thank you” composed on the rooftop of rescued inhabitants (ET Now); we watched the video of a man almost neck deep in water, walking as if on water through his flooded home, not knowing if he would survive.

Reporters across news channels waded into streets, spoke to as many stranded people in distress as they could, the cameras looked inside their abandoned or devastated homes and channel after channel proclaimed, “worst floods in 100 years” (India Today, News X).

The “good news trickling in from Kerala” as CNN News 18 put it, began on Sunday as the rains lessened and the water began to recede. There was good news, too, in the tales of heroism, exemplified by the man who bent his back and crouched to form a human step so that others could walk across him into a rescue boat (CNN News 18); the baby, carried across a raging river and to safety by security personnel (NDTV India); the rescue of a 101-year-old man (India Today). Moving tales of individual or collective bravery were picked up by the international media — both BBC World and CNN International recounted such stories.

“India stands with Kerala” (Mirror Now) echoed across some channels as nationalism was linked to humanity. There were the accompanying appeals for assistance too. All well-meaning and highly commendable. But most of it was mobile phone coverage by bystanders and already shared on social media. TV news’ own coverage fell short — and perhaps that’s how it will be in times of widespread devastation when TV cameras cannot be everywhere, all the time.

Perhaps, also, it is a little difficult to feel the depth, the enormity and the pain of loss alongside advertisements of a family savouring ice-cream and fruit salad (Jeevan Anand) or a man hanging on to a railing for dear life as a savage wind blows, only to survive and be told by an appreciative young lady, “everything was blown away. Except your perfume” (Fogg).

Vajpayee’s demise was like the title of the Gabriel Garcia Marquez book, Chronicle of a Death Foretold. The day before he passed away, the lengthy obituaries had begun on TV news with discussions on his contribution, prime time Wednesday (Times Now). By Thursday morning, even as “India prays for Vajpayee”, you felt “the tallest leader of the BJP” (Republic) was too “critical” to survive, a feeling confirmed by the presence of TV news reporters outside his home, “where his relatives will return” (CNN News 18).

The overarching theme of the homage paid to him by countless people across discussions was to contrast him with the present BJP leadership (NDTV 24×7, India Today, CNN News 18 and News X). His, we were told, were gentler times. By the way, WION did well to get former Pakistan President General Musharraf to pay tribute to Vajpayee.

Congressman Navjot Singh Sidhu hogged the headlines early in the week for hugging the Pakistan army chief of staff at his friend Imran Khan’s swearing-in ceremony as Prime Minister of Pakistan (Republic, Times Now). He was called, yes, you guessed it, “anti-national”.

Virat Kohli, meanwhile, scored yet another hundred and was hailed as “terrific player, world class” by an English commentator. A world class understatement. Now, let’s see what they say after India’s win on Wednesday.

The writer is vice-dean, School of Journalism and Communication, Jindal Global University

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