War of Words

For the last seven years I have been very regularly reading Vir Sanghvi's Counterpoint on HT. I have been a great admirer of his style and the subjects he chooses to write on each Sunday for the readers.

In this age of 24 hour news channels there won't be a single day on prime time television where we don't get to see politicians taking potshots at each other; at times their fights are reminiscent of the fights, we as kids, used to have when debating a controversial run out decision while playing box cricket in our building compound. And the journalists are like those kids who gain sadistic pleasure as the discussion leads to a physical cat fight.

What we also see with great regularity (and which I agree is very annoying as well as amusing) is the way in which all these news channels (more markedly the one's in Hindi) stake claim that a particular piece of news is being bought exclusively to the viewers by their channel (e.g. Aaj Tak - Sabse Tez, Hum apne darshako ko bata de ki Harbhajan Singh ki mataji ki pratikriya sabse pehle apne darshako tak keval Zee News lekar aaya hai). The hilarious news being televised these days on news channels merits an entire post, if not an entire blog in itself.

However, and surpringly, we have never quite seen senior journalists confront each other in open and question each other, say the way in which Karan Thapar grills his prey each week on CNN-IBN's Devil's Advocate. That is the reason it shocks me today to read noted political commentator Ramchandra Guha's dissection of Sanghvi's Counterpoint column from the previous week in the same newspaper.

Guha begins his spell of bowling with a well directed boucer -

"Sanghvi’s one-sided approach is (as I shall presently show) at odds with the historical record. But it is also at odds with his own record as a political analyst"

To Guha's credit, the content of the column does make very interesting reading and it provides a different dimension to Rajiv Gandhi's years in office. That being said though, one can't but gets a feeling that the article is being written with a primary motive to take on Sanghvi than to drive home a point on Rajiv Raj. Why else would you find names being taken so openly by such senior journalists?

This does open up a can of worms in my mind. Is the newspaper trying to purposely create a war between two of its own journalists? I don't think this has ever been tried at this level (journalists of very high stature and repute) in India. While it may not augur well for quality journalism, but it may certainly bolster the sales of newspaper (hits on website). It certainly would be mouthwatering to see two such journalists wrestle it out week after week - Very interesting prospect.

And if not, then well, why don't try the approach. It would bring out some very interesting news items which the people may have never ever seen. As it is, our nation seems to love dramas of this kind - Be it the gossip on Bigg Boss or be it The Big Fight on NDTV. We, as a nation, just love the big bang, don't we?

Go Sanghvi Go!! Let the game begin!