WATCHING DOORDARSHAN

I  do not know whether others too have felt , but in the recent past I am unable to tolerate the sight of Arnob Goswami, Rajdeep Sardesai and Barkha Dutt( even though she has tried hard to reinvent herself after the ‘Radia tape’ episode) and other such similar NEWS  anchors. Their belligerent approach annoys me. The  hallmark of the recent journalists  as one analyst aptly put it is –‘arrogance and ignorance’. At the cost of being called  a cynic I wholeheartedly agree to it. In this age of consumerism quantity has overshadowed ‘ quality’. Refinement has fallen victim to ‘bulk transfer’. So  over enthusiastic these aggressive anchors appear on TV that it seems that the new world order is just round the corner. Protected by their corporate leaders and a battery of lawyers they seem immune to any  sense of caution or responsibility.

  Therefore invariably I flip through to other News  channels and over a period have observed that the D oordarshan offers much balanced News and views. Firstly the primary aim of Doordarshan is not to multiply its money, in its earlier days it would only telecast what the ‘ high command’ desired, the image it suffered during the emergency days haunts it still , but it seems that it has turned the corner. The advertisements are few and therefore less  interruptions. The news is indeed critical of Government, just the other day the discussion on ‘Air India’ in ‘Lok Sabha’ tv  brought out many shortcomings of Govt. The ‘ Rajya Sabha’ tv also covers entertainment programme and discussions with imminent Artists  which is conducted leisurely and the conductor is not racing against time.  In fact there was a detailed discussion on the recently concluded congress of the CPM at Kozhikode, this was unthinkable earlier. There is a certain style and sophistication  which makes it competitive and at par with other commercial channels, the panelists are learned and  respectable  unlike the standard set of people of commercial news channels.

    I also realized that we were wooed away from Doordarshan/prasar bharti as the many news channels gave much better news, it was not filtered, it was faster too. However over the years the true character of the commercial channels has surfaced, they too are building an opinion either  in favour or against the Govt, at times there is an invisible face which is controlling it for a vested motive whether it is corruption  or failure of security these commercial channels have gone over the top. Therefore since all the channels are for a commercial cause and not social it is indeed better to watch ‘doordarshan’ a known old face which has matured over the years and perhaps has learnt from the BBC.

    The recent remarks of Justice Markandaye Katju the Chairman of Press commission of India regarding the poor standards of journalists lacking in social commitment, the menace of paid news also supplement my thoughts.

  It is time that for longevity of  our democracy we restore faith in the established systems over the years . We have to believe in ‘public distribution system’ rather than in mall culture and FDI in retails. We have to believe in the CBSE and State educational Boards rather than in IB and other foreign standards which cater to only miniscule of our population. We have to believe in our own patent policy rather than that of WTO. We have to believe in our own agriculture seeds rather than that of multinational. Similarly we have to believe in our own NEWS and views for they can deliver.

 I strongly recommend my friends to watch DD, Lok Sabha/ Rajya Sabha channels.