By Smita Deshmukh

First things first – I’m not an avid TV news watcher..I’m a TV listener (genre of people who listen to TV news, while they continue to do other things, yes, we do exist). Since I was almost quarantined in my room due to a severe bout of flu, I decided to do the impossible – watch the news channels.

A massive, heavy duty, noisy, debate on Times Now caught my attention as they have been following the Aussie racism attacks for a while. The channel created quite a stir when India-born British writer Farrok Dhondy actually asked Indians in Australia to retaliate against the racist attackers. Buoyed by the fact that Aussie PM Kevin Rudd actually saw their report (that’s what TN claims), the second part of the debate on Thursday night, went on to make TV history.

Amidst frequent interruptions by Arnab Goswami (which none of the panelists cared for much), Dhondy threw a doosra that would be music to the ears of babus eager to slap a code of conduct on news channels. “The only punishment to the racist attackers would be to remove one of their testicles.” Also, in another Talibansique imposition, he said” “They should have a tattoo carved on their bodies symbolising their gruesome acts,” Dhondy fumed.

Even as a red-faced Goswami tried hard to make light of this comment on live national TV by dubbing it “funny”, an unsmiling Dhondy was not to be made fun of. He quickly reminded Goswami that Adolf Hitler too had one testicle and the racists deserved to be in his company..

While G Parthasarthy, former Indian ambassador to Australia made valid points like the need for the Indian community to be united and why there would be no such attacks on say the Chinese out there, the confusion and chaos on the show never allowed the viewer to dwell on these issues at all.

For non-TV lovers like me, this is catastrophic. And for the journalist inside me, it reflects three things. The moderator (in this case, Goswami) often has no control in his own newsroom (in this case, his studio). Despite his interruptions to ask questions, he was totally ignored by all. Second, the moderator must focus attention on all panelists and especially the one who makes most sense. And third, the more noise everyone creates (which TV channels believe delivers good TRPs) the more I am actually puts off.

Bottomline – a valid newsy subject for debate lost in sensationalism.
PS: Wonder what Kevin Rudd must have thought of the show. “Mate, these Indian news channels are kinda funny, huh?”

Smita Deshmukh is a senior journalist based in Mumbai and now runs her own media company. She can be contacted on smita.meenu@gmail.com