There is a Time
for Everything…
There was a time when the nine o’ clock evening news bulletin on All
India Radio was the most awaited event of the day, before retiring to bed. The bulletin used to be for 15 minutes with ace newsreaders like Melville de Mellow,
Lotika Ratnam, Shurjit Sen, Nobby Clarke, Manoranjan Bharati and Preminda
Premchand, giving news to the nation
with a sense of mission. “This is All India Radio”- these five words were hugely
credible to affirm that this is the voice of the State discharging its duty,
giving the nation truthful facts. The newsreaders made no off the cuff remarks.
They were aware that the nation wanted to know from them factual truth and they
gave it without offering their subjective comments in high pitched hysteria.
The News that one heard on AIR - good news or sad news- was credible,
authentic, reassuring, restoring confidence, but not disturbing and unsettling.
This was before the arrival of Doordarshan that lured the audience away
from Radio by virtue of its visual input to complement the audio news.
Doordarshan like AIR began with its objective to broadcast factual news but gradually
it became the voice of the government in power. Nevertheless one could still turn
to DD for authentic news without any frills. But with the arrival of private TV channels in
the post Liberalization era, both DD and AIR lost their monopoly and slowly
lost their importance with the news hungry audience. AIR was the greater loser though
to be fair and honest, AIR News continued(and continues) to be the most
trustworthy to listen to. In the last
few years, Doordarshan that had eclipsed AIR news had to change its format to
include debates and discussions as a part of its news broadcast and could no
longer limit itself to offer information about events of the day. The going is tough for broadcast news as it
has to compete with 107 private Channels
offering news that has gone beyond information to comment, describe and
sensationalize the events that had happened.
Today News analysis has now become a part of the News bulletin. There
is nothing wrong so long as news is given about the major and significant
happenings in the country and in the world. But the News channels decide what news
to give and what not, depending upon the status of the newsmaker-such as the
Prime Minister or a visiting dignitary or a popular politician or a cine star
or a social celebrity or a sports star. Of late, the control of the news
channels by the Ministry of I&B has become the deciding factor in the
selection of news items to be broadcast. Those who want news of the day about
the nation and the world will have to peer through the scroll at the bottom of
the TV screen, a luxury denied to Radio News.
Well, nothing wrong in debates and
discussions overarching the news. Times
have changed and one should not long for the old form of news and nothing but
news. In this fast moving twitter age, all information is twittered for
everyone to have ready access. No one seems to have the time and the patience to
sit and read and analyze topics. The age of reading is almost gone. The age of
print media is on the decline except for old die-hards. It is far easier to
listen to the TV debates and follow the opinions of the debaters than strain
one’s brains to arrive at an informed view. The TV debates are the new quick
fix substitutes for news analyses, as our thinking faculties are on an extended
holiday. In fact the twitter culture has overtaken us and rendered us
impersonal. The twitter messages of
condolence, good wishes , and congratulations has made them all impersonal as
they are shared by all and the message is no more meant exclusively for the one on a one-to-one
personal level. If Amitabh Bachhan twitters congratulations to Virat Kohli and Anushka, it is not sent only to the couple but it is viewed
by all others. Even if If you are not a Twitterati, still you get to read the
message from the media. Similarly twitter abuse and twitter comment give the pseudo
satisfaction of be knowledgeable without knowing.
The level of the TV debates has touched a new low in the last three
years. There is no trace of civility as the debaters try to grab attention to
what they say and not hear what others say. On some channels, the decibel
levels are so high to instill fears of rupture of the ear drum. The anchor
wanting to keep his job intact, follows the ideology of his channel boss and in
his excitement to be his master’s voice, harangues the debators who do not toe
the channel’s line. He turns caustic, vituperative and insulting towards those
who are not on the side of establishment( as most channel bosses today are pro
establishment). It is like a boxing ring with punches delivered only by the
anchor and the spokespersons of the establishment whereas all the
counterpunches from the opposition are either muted or lost in the din. As
students, we have been trained in schools and colleges not to raise our voice
during a debate, not to heap insult on one’s opponent, silently listen to the
arguments of other debaters and employ civil and courteous language even when
there is a high degree of difference of opinion. But today it is different. Civility,
thy name is forgotten.
The low level of TV discourse is an offshoot of low level discourse
engaged in by politicians from public platform. The politicians have literally
lived true to the old adage to stoop low to conquer. It is sad that those known
for their oratory power and communicative skills have made use of invectives,
half truths and falsehoods against men who have devoted long years of
distinguished service to the nation with unimpeachable honesty and commitment.
The party spokespersons have been so emboldened by their political masters that
with a glint of mockery in their eyes, they revile and ridicule their
opponents, at times hitting below their belts. It was hilarious when an announcement was made
by the top echelons of the ruling party that no one from their party should call
Rahul Gandhi “Pappu”- something similar to the story where a man asks his
neighbour whether he has stopped beating his wife.
Political speeches are bereft of decent language and the means to
success is to spread wild charges and accusations, invoke pity for an alleged
insult of caste slur, bruising not only one’s personal ego, but also that of
the entire community to which s/he belongs. What a pity that Gujarat, the land
of Mahatma Gandhi, the preceptor and practitioner of truth, of Sardar Patel,
the iron man with a commitment to the idea of one India and representing the
democratic and plural spirit of the nation, of Morarji Desai, who stood by his
convictions to act in life “according
to truth and one's faith"
has now witnessed the most acrimonious, bitter and spiteful campaign in the
history of democratic India.
Gujarat elections are the recent ones, but there has been a continuous
erosion of civil language in our daily discourse. There is something terribly wrong with our social and political culture
inebriated by noise and aggression, hatred and loathing, intolerance and
repugnance. Language has lost its purity, its pristine quality. It is not that
we have forgotten the art of civil discourse; it is simply we have not learnt
it. Universities which at one time prided itself as a bastion of true culture
and civilization have failed to inculcate in the students the discipline needed
to articulate in chaste and correct language. Even the articulation of the faculty members leaves much to be desired.
What we see is the use of language in which the emptiness of ideas is charged
with hysterical emotion. George Steiner had warned the demise of language sixty
years ago when he wrote: “ When a language dies, a way of understanding the
world dies with it, a way of looking at the world.” Can universities,
academics, learned men and women, intellectuals and cultural purists bring back
the art of civility and correctness in our words and actions by encouraging
young students to take to reading good books? Can the Universities and colleges
start a Good Book series to give them a peep into the world of books? Books
alone have the quality to wager against the current assault on culture and
refinement, polish and gentility, urbanity and good taste.
Gujarat Elections are over. There will be a brief respite from election
battles. Now is the time to get back to books, time to read and time to
learn, time to mend and time to heal, time to speak and time to
be silent, time to end hostility, and
time for peace, time to start a new age civilization and culture.
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