Is cynicism a virtue?

The English News TV Media in India - NDTV, Headlines Today, Time Now and IBN Live is filled with cynicism in the name of debates, shrill notes, screams and rude interjections. These have filled news hours and prime time TV. That brings me to the question "Is cynicism a virtue”. Is this the basis of the TRP system? Don't stalwarts like Dr. Roy see through this rubbish - these loud debates and skewed presentations with a sole aim for managing and manipulating TRP - even if this means that it is steering the public opinion towards a bitter and hopeless society. Why do these gentlemen look absolutely helpless in this rat race? Is this the real heart of journalism and its core purpose at work?

Let's consider these questions and check if all hope is lost. Or as leading anchors of the Indian Elite TV primetime news network world point out - "all hope must be lost". Have a good meal and fill yourself with sarcasm and cynicism we throw at you and that is your Calmpose / Valium for a pleasant sleep and good digestion.

In an earlier blog, I had used a simple premise on which my argument is based upon.

Given that all political parties and players have serious aberrations, weaknesses in their resumes, it is easy for us to have an endless charade where one side simply points to the flaw or an error in judgment in the past from the other side, as the reason for justifying their current stance.

For example, “Why did we bring down the masjid?” “Well, remember 1984 Sikh riot – what’s your stance” - is no way to make progress in any discussion in civil society. There must be a basic acknowledgement that all side have made serious mistakes in the past. “An eye for an eye is not a good response. Think of something better” – must be the defining principle that must emerge in TV debates. That will take us to the next step - the real question - where do we start today? How do we make a start? What are the choices?

Take the Newhour debate on TimesNow on China. It leads us to a serious headache instead of distilling the essence of the problem at hand. Re-running the same clip over a 1000 times only leads to rote learning, my friends and not to any serious analysis. In sharp contrast, I came across a piece by Shekhar Gupta http://www.indianexpress.com/news/our-chinese-wall/516211/ that deals with the same issue. It is more incisive than anything that we hear on the TV channels. I am sure you will agree that both these are examples of journalism. When I speak of a civil discourse, I am not seeking a meek, spineless, pro-government mindset. I am seeking a clarity of thought and expression that transcends the temptation to be loud and TRP focused; just be balanced and layout the options in the solution space. I am certain that this can be done in the nightly-debates that seem to the TRP battlegrounds.

TV Producers must hire better content creators and not allow loud-mouthed news anchors to get away with screams and shouts. Recently on TimesNow, there was interesting line - "we need to take a quick break to break into the breaking news that breaking right now". What on earth is this? Then, we have endless "we told you first", "we were the first" bore from CNN IBNLive.

My Math teacher once told me, being first to finish, just means speed. Being accurate and complete is an equally important metric in Math. If you finished 100 problems in 3 minutes means nothing, if you got 99 of them wrong. Speed and accuracy goes hand in hand in Math. There must be some similar balance in journalism as well. I am no expert, but I am sure there are intelligent folks in that domain to think of such balancing metrics.

What we need is balance in everything we do. Are there examples of good journalism? IMHO, all is not lost. I see several good examples. We do have Nidhi's "Left, Right and Center”, which allows the invitees to speak their minds. TimesNow needs to emulate this virtue. They must stop taking a break and shout down your participants in the name of interjections. Listening skills require attention. Even the Last call is a good example of something I look forward. The anchor, Sonia Singh, actually smiles. You would think I have gone bonkers. Check out the anchors - but for Sonia, Suhasini, Anubha and Nidhi, I have rarely seen any others even attempting to smile. Most people have a grim expression on their face. “Sonia Gandhi is flying Economy Class” does not deserve a “Nation is mourning” expression. Smile :-) It improves TRPs :-)

TimeNow needs another program that is moderated both in terms of sound and content. The current every night debate is simply bad press, bad journalism. Period. No one but Arnab gets to speak, even if they have another anchor on the program. It's a pathetic sight to see Rahul nodding his head with an expression - "I could have said the same thing in a much better way".

I don't have words to express my disappointment with CNN IBNLive. There used to be good programs in the past. FTN needs a make over. Sagarika writes outstanding blogs. I just love them. Why does she not bring out her creative magic in FTN? Her suggestion on an elite Indian Teachers Service was the biggest idea. She and her viewers can present a solid proposal to Mr. Sibal if we can debate on ways to make this happen and present a balanced view - pros and cons included. In business plan parlance, this is called SWOT analysis - strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats as a matrix. Would this not be a wonderful contribution?

Rajdeep was awesome when he anchored NDTV's Bigfight. Where did that talent go? He did not have to recite - we were the first - when he was at NDTV. Does he have data to demonstrate that chest beating is the sole reason for his channel’s viewership? CNN in US was always behind Fox News in US presidential election predictions and making a call based on trends. But, CNN is not quite shrill and chest beating news channel. Can he re-engineer and re-package his channel in favor for better clarity and differentiated content?

Come on, folks! You all can do much better. Let’s be incisive but balanced. Let us be solution centric and not sarcasm centric. Lets err on the side of hope instead. The power that you wield can be put to good use to mould public opinion, to discuss and debate ways of making our land much better governed.

Like the Hindustan Times ad says - Its time for better journalism. It is time for us to change the content and presentation.