As we approach the festival season, the television news media seems to have taken the lead in the discounts race. On sale at heavy, never-before rates of discount are accuracy, accountability and honesty.

The coverage of the recent disappearance and death of Andhra Chief Minister YS Rajashekhara Reddy demonstrated how some channels are not just economical with truth but unabashedly and unapologetically so. Last Thursday (Sept 3) Times Now lied through its teeth, making deliberately false claims that its reporter was “moments” away from the “the exact spot” where YSR was supposed to have crashed. (See post below, Lies, damned lies and breaking news on Times Now.)

But Times Now was not alone. Its Hindi twin of hyperbole, India TV, had set the stage by opening the discount sale overnight. On the night of September 2, when the search operation had actually stalled because of bad weather and nightfall, India TV declared unequivocally that the CM was alive and safe. It attributed the information to a “highly placed (uchch padast)” source in the CM’s office (or was it house, the channel was confused). It didn’t stop there. The same “highly placed” source, the channel claimed, had personally spoken to the CM on mobile. Twelve hours later (Thursday morning) it became clear that YSR had died 12 hours earlier. So India TV, through their “highly placed” source, was effectively communicating with the CM’s ghost! (Doubt: Was that a source or a “medium”? Idea for my next journalism school lecture: Are mediums reliable sources?)

I missed it when it was happening live on Wednesday night, but went back to the tapes a few days later. Riveting stuff:

The boo-boo begins at 9.16 pm with an announcement from the anchor and a toss to the managing editor of the channel, no less. As the screen starts screaming “CM ka surag mila (clue to CM’s whereabouts), the managing editor takes over on the phone: “We have been told by highly-placed sources that the Adivasis have spotted the helicopter and the CM. A search party will soon reach him. We have no idea of his condition but pakki khabar  hain (sure shot information) from our sources that he has been found.”

By 9.20 pm, he’s digging his heels in deeper, detailing the information chain that got India TV the hot exclusive. “The Adivasis saw him first, informed the forest department which in turn alerted the search party. The latter relayed the information to the CM’s house and that’s where India TV accessed it from.”

At this point the anchor chips in with an attempted disclaimer saying “nobody is ready to confirm or deny the information in Delhi or Hyderabad” but breaks off mid-sentence, almost hollering his guts out: “There’s information from the CM’s house…. the CM is fine… he is fully fine… CM’s office has clearly said CM is fine…search party will reach him soon…”

The managing editor comes back on (9.21 pm) with an even bigger announcement to put the issue of the CM’s safety above and beyond doubt. “The official who tipped us off has actually spoken to the CM…One minute ago we spoke to the official who spoke to the CM…India TV is giving the nation the good news it’s been waiting for…No official confirmation but we have spoken to the official who has spoken to the CM.”

By 9.45 pm the channel is digging a deeper hole. It is now talking about the chopper landing safely, as a natural corollary to finding the CM in good health. Just past 10 pm it is discussing if the CM will have to wait till sunrise to be rescued even as they cut live to Hyderabad where Finance Minister Rosaiah is addressing the media. One look at the proceedings there should have been enough to warn India TV that something is terribly, terribly wrong with their “national exclusive”.

Rosaiah is looking glum and totally unexcited. India TV should have immediately asked itself “why”. Why, if his CM was safe, was Rosaiah looking so glum? Was Rosaiah crestfallen because he realised that India TV had better sources in the CM’s house/office than him? Nah, Rosaiah was saying the search was still on; there has been no word on YSR’s whereabouts yet. He is talking in Telugu so you wouldn’t hang the anchors for not comprehending. But there’s what is called body language. They were too busy to read it, blundering away merrily on their ghost-hunt. That’s the second reason why you wouldn’t hang them: they were craning their necks into the noose ever so willingly.

It’s now 10.06 pm and the reporter in Hyderabad shows the first signs of concern because he understands Telugu. “The government is saying that they still have no news about the CM,” he says tentatively. For another six minutes the telecast goes on on similar lines but the energy and the hype is beginning to wane; indication that it is finally sinking in that they have goofed up big time, that they are looking for an honourable way out and are very confused in the interim.   

But, you have to hand it to India TV. In six short minutes, it finds a way out. The press conference has just killed their exclusive but India TV would twist that to make it look like the government is actually confirming what they now knew to be a wrong story. Here’s the slight of a journalistic hand: While trying to explain why the chopper’s ELT did not go off upon crashing, the state’s chief secretary has just said that experts are not ruling out the possibility of the chopper landing safely (in which case the ELT is not activated). India TV latches on to this straw in the wind, turns it around on its head and goes to town. “GOVERNMENT DISCLOSES: Search operation is on, Chopper has not crashed”. (Lie, the government said no such thing). The anchors are drumming up the “chopper has not crashed” line (which suggests to the viewer that perhaps India TV’s story is correct after all) without once bothering to explain why the search operation is still on if the Adivasis have spotted the chopper and contact has already been made with the CM.

Some might say that that was a stroke of genius but the channel was being too clever by half. Until now it was only guilty of putting out a wrong story. Mistakes happen all the time. Even this could have been put down to an error of judgement, unintelligent risk-taking or editorial adventurism. But now they were hiding a fact, or plainly lying to their viewers to make the story look good. The one thing that came out of the press conference was that neither had the CM been found nor had anybody spoken to him. But India TV chooses not to come clean and implicates itself further. It could have got away with charges of manslaughter of news, now this is first degree murder.

It is now about 10.18 pm, a full hour after the odious report was put out and the stench of the story is perhaps finally bothering the newsroom’s nostrils. Suddenly, the anchors shift attention to the weather; on how satellite pictures had predicted bad weather so why was the CM allowed to fly, etc, and plays a long recorded story on the weather! Then the anchors say let’s talk about the press conference and proceed to discuss the 41 pictures that the ISRO plane has taken. Diversionary tactics…you can almost hear the whirring of the brain as they try to figure how to wriggle out of the story.

There’s only one way; an unqualified apology to the viewers but, alas, that’s not India TV’s way. So at 10.26 pm the anchor makes one more attempt to falsify: “The government has made it clear that the chopper has not crashed. We will come back to the story after the break.”

Break over, story over. YSR is left to his means in the cruel jungle as the channel takes refuge in more familiar territory: love guru ka romance dekho, a canned show on Salman Khan’s upcoming flick to wipe out bad memories. The same anchor is now mouthing sweet nothings about Salman’s ladies and Priyanka’s whatever without once flinching!

Somewhere around 10.50 pm the channel blows up the last chance to come clean. The “breaking news” header below starts running what looks like a retraction but is actually another pathetic attempt to compound a lie. “INFORMTION FROM GOVT SOURCES: Adivasis gave wrong information…Adivasis mistook shining object for chopper…”

That’s a cheap one, putting the blame on faceless Adivasis. Just for a moment let’s suspend reason and believe it. Then what about India TV’s other claim? Their source in high places who spoke to the CM? Did he/she disappear? Or was it just an imaginary source having an imaginary conversation over an imaginary mobile phone with an already dead man? Was all that an Adivasi illusion as well?

 Ugh, I tell you…they can do strange things, these Adivasis!

By B V Rao

The simple truth about breaking news of the sort that lasts 30 hours is that time stands still but TV has to run. Or at least it has to appear to be running all the time. In the 30 hours between the disappearance of Rajashekhara Reddy’s chopper and the declaration of his death, information was sparse and nobody knew what was happening. But 24×7 news demands that information or no information, you have to keep the talk-shop going. That’s almost mission impossible, so you wouldn’t nitpick if the channels missed one here and goofed one there or if the anchors run out of steam or stumble.

But when a channel takes recourse to exaggeration, deliberate falsehoods and outright lies to create an illusion of victory over its rivals, you have to call the bluff. Times Now, India’s leading English news channel, built its entire coverage of the last few hours of the rescue operation on a tissue of lies.

The channel claimed that reporter, Dhanya Rajendran, was the first correspondent to reach ground zero! That was incredulous considering that it was with great difficulty that the rescuers were air-dropped on the spot. Dhanya had to be a SuperGirl to reach anywhere near ground zero. It was not a one-off claim that you could let pass. Between 9 am and 11 am on Thursday, anchor Rahul Shiv Shankar made this laughable claim again and again, even though his field reporter was repeatedly hinting to him that she was miles away from action.

Here is a chronological deconstruction of the channel’s spurious claims (all comments in italics being mine):

9:00 am:

Word is out that the chopper debris has been spotted on a hill. But the forest is so dense that rescue choppers can’t land there. The only way is to air-drop rescuers. Even that takes a long time because it is risky manoeuvre.

9:38 am:

Rahul Shiv Shankar: OUR CORRESPONDENT DHANYA RAJENDRAN IS AT GROUND ZERO. She is within sighting…visual distance of the area between Rudrakonda and Rallapenta. In fact, she is at Rudrakonda as of now. Dhanya, what are you seeing around you?…Describe exactly what you see and how far away are you actually from the chopper? (How far is ground zero from ground zero? And if she is within visual distance of the chopper in that dense forest, how far “actually” could she be, a few metres?)

Dhanya: Well, Rahul, we have to travel 10-15 km more to reach the Rudrakonda area…about 200 cars, politicians and villagers are travelling…a huge procession is travelling. (Remember that, a huge procession is travelling.)

Rahul: Who is with you Dhanya?

Dhanya: Policemen, villagers, politicians..We will reach Rudrakonda in 30 minutes and get visual contact of the area. We have no confirmation yet. (Lie 1 nailed: She is not at ground zero. She is not even at Rudrakonda. Lie 2 nailed: She has no visual contact. And incredible truth: She is a SuperGirl to cover 15 km of thick jungle, walking uphill, in 30 minutes flat.)

9:41 am:

Rahul: Let me go back to Dhanya. Dhanya, you are at ground zero. You are a few km away from YSR’s chopper (You are now closing your eyes, you are now seeing the CM’s chopper…man, is this a news bulletin or a hypnosis session?). Describe the terrain…Dhanya Rajendran Times Now correspondent is a few km away from where YSR’s chopper has landed. (A few kilometres? Forget the forest, try walking 15 km on Lutyen’s clean roads, son.)

9:43 am

Rahul: Let me go back to Dhanya because she is at ground zero (looks like he’s the one  hypnotised). In fact, as the rescue operation is converging, Dhanya Rajendran is on the road to that spot. Just a few km away. She is sending us latest visuals of that particular area as well (then why are you stealing visuals from TV9, Sakshi and Ntv?) Dhanya, what are you seeing?

Dhanya: Rahul we are still travelling…In fact…we have to go on foot now. We are getting out of our vehicles, the media, villagers and politicians. We have to go on foot  (what she is not telling is that they have hit a stream and the vehicles can’t cross). As soon as we get to the spot, we will give you an update.

9:45 am

Rahul: Well Dhanya, you are giving us very very important news…Dhanya Rajendran is the first correspondent actually there at ground zero. (Dhanya herself is saying she is still travelling, and travelling with the media, a huge procession as she say, so how does it make her the first correspondent?)

Dhanya again says hundreds of others are travelling with her, though it’s clear by now that she has parked herself on this side of the stream. If she wades through to get to the other side, she will be separated from her OB  and that would have been the end of all “live” telecast from “ground zero”. Tchcha!)

9:49 am

Rahul: Well, that is the big breaking news now on Times Now. The breaking news on Times Now is within a few moments the forces are going to reach the area. (Word has reached the channels around this time that the rescuers have been  air-dropped. Lie 3 nailed: It has taken the para-troopers about 50 minutes to carry out their manoeuvre, but Dhanya was at “ground zero” at 9.38 am, a good 11 minutes before the airborne rescue team. SuperGirl indeed!)

9:52 am:

Rahul: Well, real time breaking news coming in here, Kurnool is the area where the CM’s chopper been located. (That was one-hour old news). In fact, Times Now has been able to give you…narrow it all down to two specific locations, it’s between two specific locations, Rudrakonda and Rallapenta. (Wow, now Times Now has narrowed down the search area! Shame on you ISRO, IAF, Greyhounds…)

9:53 am:

Rahul: Let’s go to Dhanya who is just a few moments, a few moments away from the spot. (Except that this “moment” has lasted a full 15 minutes and Dhanya is still stuck kilometers away downhill, across a stream that she can’t cross!) Dhanya is heading very very close to that spot even as we speak (so  you going to speak forever, because she is not going to go there ever). We are just a few moments away now from where YSR’s chopper is. Times Now becomes the first crew really to get very very close to where YRS is. Dhanya, what can you see, what can you tell us about the rescue operations as you are just a few minutes away now from the exact spot where YSR chopper has been located? (Hypno-therapy again).

Dhanya: Rahul, we had to keep aside our vehicles. We are walking now. In fact, there is a stream (now she is talking) in our way. People are wading across the stream to get to the other side of the hill. Then we have to travel another 5 km by foot to reach the spot. (Voila, just by dropping anchor on this side of the stream, she has been able to cut the distance from 10-15 km to 5 km!).

9:56 am

Rahul: That’s right Dhanya. Very momentous time… at this moment… given that we are just a few moments away (the moment is now 28 minutes long!) from reaching the physical area. That will enable us to determine the condition of the CM and others . (Times Now hain na?)…Dhanya becomes one of the first (modesty, thy name is Times Now) reporters to get very close to the spot, she is effectively reporting from ground zero. Dhanya, give us the latest. Dhanya reporting from ground zero….

10:14 am:

Rahul: In fact we can bring you more information from ground zero. Dhanya reporting from ground zero. Dhanya describe to us what you are seeing around you, you are the first journalist (modesty gayi bhaad mein) to reach the exact spot.

Dhanya: Rahul, this is where everybody has stopped (indicating to a bunch of vehicles). In fact, just one km beyond this point (waiting at the same spot some more time, she has knocked off another 4 km). We’ve been asked to stop here (lie, everybody stopped there because vehicles couldn’t take them further and since they needed to stay close to the OB van, they could not move forward.) A lot of media people too have gathered here (Lie 4 nailed: there were many other reporters where Dhanya is, she was not the only one).

10:22 am:

Dhanya: Less and less people are going forward (meaning there are people who were closer to the “exact spot” than the intrepid Times Now reporter). Most of the media people have restricted themselves here because they do not know the terrain. We are trying to get news from those who have already reached Rudrakonda (cheating, cheating, it was second-hand info all this while).

But the anchor still doesn’t get it.

10:24 am:

Rahul: Critical moment now. There is a possibility Dhanya that those who have accompanied you in this search operation ( it now turns out this was Times Now’s rescue mission, helped by a few state agencies) would have told you there is a possibility the CM may have survived…

10:28 am:

Rahul: Dhanya, tell us how close we really are to physically verifying the condition of the CM (Really, Rahul, we are no closer than a few freaking miles of dense forest.)

Dhanya finally gives up:

Dhanya: Rahul, standing here, whatever information we are getting is from people who have gone to where the chopper is supposed to be. Standing here it is difficult to guess what’s happening.

Phew! Only, and only because the government announced the death of the CM, the anchor  erased Dhanya and ground zero from his memory but there were other lies too. Such as stealing visuals of local channels and claiming triumphantly that they had managed to go where no channel had gone ever before…and forgetting to mask the identity of the channel so robbed. Not only that, right through the telecast they claimed: TIMES NOW EXCLUSIVE: First visuals of rescue taking place near Kurnool (Ntv’s); Times Now is Ist crew to close in to (sic) site where chopper was located. I have specific instances to cite but all that will take too much space to list out here.  

So let me call it quits with another Times Now gem (Rahul at 10:12 am): There we are. Eight km from Rudrakonda is the exact spot. We don’t know about the condition of the helicopter. Times Now is not going to hazard a guess before we have official confirmation. There are many theories but we’ve chosen to be discreet in nature where our coverage is concerned because it can lead to a lot of spurious information being put out.

Tell me about it!