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| TV leading India into darkness -Ravish makes his point with humility, a rare quality among TV anchors, as the nation knows (Video below). |
February 20, 2016, NewsCrunch
After NDTV senior executive editor Ravish Kumar aired his Prime Time show on Friday night, Veteran journalist Nikhil Wagle tweeted saying it was historic.
Among other things, in the 40 minute plus show, Ravish blackened the TV screen urging his viewers to close their eyes and listen to him with an open heart.
Ravish came on TV for a few minutes and said he was blackening the screen, but would continue to speak. He urged the audience to imagine that the lights of their drawing room were switched off and that he was speaking only to them.
This is the gist of what he said:
TV has fallen sick and anchors are infecting the viewers as well.
They have forgotten that their job is to ask, not shout or incite. They are shouting maro maro pakado pakado, targeting people, labeling some as traitors and killing voices that dissent. And they are doing this intentionally.
Shouting is counter productive - we don't shout like this in our families. If shouting was good, the prime minister and army chief should go on TV everyday and scream.
The sacrifices of soldiers are being politically exploited on TV; people who may disagree with them are being called traitors.
We have forgotten that a few months ago, at Jantar Mantar soldiers' uniforms were torn and medals were snatched. Even those soldiers had fought in the wars. (Ravish was referring to police actions on retired soldiers agitating for one rank, one pension.)
These TV anchors have forgotten journalism ethics that tells them not to publish or show anything to incites hatred in the society.
By telecasting doctored tapes, TV channels showed JNU students as traitors. JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar was talking about freedom from poverty not from India, as has been alleged.
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| It is unprecedented for a prime time show to switch off lights and Ravish pulls it off with remarkable eloquence. |
Ravish says his colleague Manish went to Kanhaiya's home in Bihar. The family is so poor, they could not offer a cup of tea to him. If a man, who comes from a place like that, cannot talk about freedom from poverty, who else will.
Ravish stands up for Umar Khalid as well. He made a mistake by absconding, but that is the only difference between Kanhaiya and him, till courts settle the matter.
After a 10 minute narration, Ravish continues with the black screen and plays sound bites of different TV anchors and politicians screaming sedition and inciting people to become lynch.
So, what makes this show so impressive?
First, the format. It is unprecedented for a prime time show to switch off lights and Ravish pulls it off with remarkable eloquence. It's gripping, keeps you engaged.
The timing and the content. Just as India threatens to slip into into jingoism and mob rule, a timely wake up call urging us to pause and think.
What truly makes the show historic is on prime time, Ravish stretches our notion of nationalism. He suggests we need better yardsticks than waving Pakistani flag and shouting pro-Afzal slogans to label someone as a traitor.
The incident, which threatens to taint JNU, is routine in Kashmir, the entire state would be guilty of the charge of supporting Afzal Guru. BJP's alliance partner in J&K, PDP, holds Afzal Guru as a martyr not traitor, he reminds.
Lastly, Ravish makes his point with humility, a rare quality among TV anchors, as the nation knows.