Wonder how many of you remember ‘The World this week’ .That was some 25 years back. At least more than half of India was not even born then. Prannoy Roy (I am not sure if he was a ‘doctor’ , back then) was beginning to be a household name and probably one of the most suave journalists/reporters we had around. Nobody told us then, that paid media existed and how, all we saw and heard was not so true. Also we didn’t know that Prannoy was married, to whom he was married and that it mattered so much for the country! None of the Khans were a superstar then and India was still a ‘secular’ country with no ‘sickulars’! Needless to say – Nobody ever heard of a word called corruption in the land of gods. Well, there were some murmurs about ‘Bofors’. But then who dare question the lords themselves!
Anyways, the reason to go so far back in the memory lane is – We are approaching yet another end of a year. One of the things I used to look forward during my growing up years was the WTW (you got it! World this week) finale- ‘The year that was ‘. The last Friday of the year whence you got a recap of the major events in the year. Well, the world was a small place then and major events could be summarized in a 30-60 minute time slot! It is incomprehensible in today’s world. Forget about covering the world in 60 minutes, you would be left stuck at where to begin first. Ok Let me take it back. 2015 is an exception. From an Indian perspective, the ‘World this year’ should be pretty easy to report. You can start with Prime Minister Modi’s visit to Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Singapore moving to Australia, right across to Canada with stop overs in Germany, France, and Denmark ….you just covered half the globe with those visits and good visuals of the prime minister plucking the ears of kids across the globe! You won’t get enough time to cover the ‘strategic partnerships’ with USA or Russia and neither to cover the visits of these heads of states to India. But if you are an editor par excellence and manage to still get some room, you have enough material to cover from ISIS (this year its ISIS ...Not Al Qaeda-Banner changed) or the gun shootings in US ( you don’t even have to change banners, you can show the same footage as last year including the comments from the President). If you don’t trust me, check this out –That was 25 years back!
http://www.ndtv.com/video/player/the-world-this-week/the-world-this-week-the-pamela-bordes-effect-aired-march-1989/276724
But were it not for Modi the savior, it would be very difficult. If you don’t believe me, just -imagine how it would be to cover the year domestically. As I said, forget about deciding the priority events, you can’t even figure out how to report them. Again, I mean, it is relatively easy if you are on either side of the fence. But you know how difficult it is to sit on the fence. And to report sitting on the fence is too ‘painful’ at the very least! Sample this – Should we report ‘Modi Crushed in Delhi’ or BJP triumphs (yet again) in BBMP! Or for that matter, should we weigh in more on the ‘air’ pollution in Delhi or the ‘Noise’ pollution there, letting the viewer’s decide which one is more harmful? Should one report “Parliament disrupted for two continuous sessions. Key Bills hanging. A blot on the 60 year tradition of seamless parliament sessions wherein elected representatives conducted serious business all the while since Independence” or should the narrative be “ Opposition holds government accountable for key issues of national importance and demands sacking of ministers since they are convicted criminals “. Tough questions for someone who is 'unpaid'!
Then there is this paradoxical situation where one needs to decide whether to report “There is extreme intolerance in India- Sharukh Khan “or “There is no intolerance in India – Sharukh Khan”. Again it would be a challenge to determine and report the list of people Mr. Kejriwal calls as corrupt or the list of people from his government and party who are facing charges! The last time I was talking to a journalist friend, he had a tough time reporting this news -“Modi is running an autocratic government and party – Rahul Gandhi”!
Well not all the events are that complicated. You could as well report that a host of luminaries returned their ‘awards’ to the government protesting ‘growing intolerance’ in the country. As a reporter you may be obviously faced with the question why the ‘Award Wapasi’ stopped after some time. Was it because the countrymen were so perturbed by the act of these luminaries that they decided to forego their culture of 5000 years and suddenly become tolerant? But then, you may want to skip these nuisances and move ahead! After all you got a limited slot of 60 minutes! There is this question about the relative intelligence of Azam Khan vis-a-vis his buffaloes which shouldn’t be too difficult to crack. One should not forget to mention the ‘ongoing peace processes between India and Pakistan to ‘ensure peace and stability in the region’! Of course the year should not end till you report the huge defeat of Shah (– Well Amit Shah! If you thought Adil Shah or Nizam Shah, you are reading too much of history or influenced by Thackray!) in the Bihar elections. It was a momentous event which led to the resurgence of the ‘democrats’ after decades of fundamentalists rule in India! In case the narrative is turning out to be too serious, throw some ‘punches’ from Rahul Gandhi, Mamata Banerjee, Digvijay Singh , Yogi Adityanath and that should keep the audience in good humor.
On the entertain front, the news of the year is – “Bhai acquitted of all the false and malicious charges “. Nothing surpasses that! Of course, as an enthusiastic reporter, you may wonder, why it took so many years. But don’t even venture there! You are not supposed to question the judiciary in India! It’s only the judiciary who get to question everybody else. Incidentally, there is a movie by the name ‘Court’ which won the national awards and is India’s official entry to Oscars. You could make a passing mention to that. As for sports, it’s very easy. Look at all the milestones achieved by SRT (well you should know who he is!) and mention those dates as anniversary of those milestones. That should sell it. After all nobody sells better then SRT even today!
In the end, do remember to pose this question to the viewers as a ‘revenge’ for all you had to go through while editing this version of ‘World that was’!
“Why did Kattappa kill Bahubali"!
Happy New year!
Anyways, the reason to go so far back in the memory lane is – We are approaching yet another end of a year. One of the things I used to look forward during my growing up years was the WTW (you got it! World this week) finale- ‘The year that was ‘. The last Friday of the year whence you got a recap of the major events in the year. Well, the world was a small place then and major events could be summarized in a 30-60 minute time slot! It is incomprehensible in today’s world. Forget about covering the world in 60 minutes, you would be left stuck at where to begin first. Ok Let me take it back. 2015 is an exception. From an Indian perspective, the ‘World this year’ should be pretty easy to report. You can start with Prime Minister Modi’s visit to Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Singapore moving to Australia, right across to Canada with stop overs in Germany, France, and Denmark ….you just covered half the globe with those visits and good visuals of the prime minister plucking the ears of kids across the globe! You won’t get enough time to cover the ‘strategic partnerships’ with USA or Russia and neither to cover the visits of these heads of states to India. But if you are an editor par excellence and manage to still get some room, you have enough material to cover from ISIS (this year its ISIS ...Not Al Qaeda-Banner changed) or the gun shootings in US ( you don’t even have to change banners, you can show the same footage as last year including the comments from the President). If you don’t trust me, check this out –That was 25 years back!
http://www.ndtv.com/video/player/the-world-this-week/the-world-this-week-the-pamela-bordes-effect-aired-march-1989/276724
But were it not for Modi the savior, it would be very difficult. If you don’t believe me, just -imagine how it would be to cover the year domestically. As I said, forget about deciding the priority events, you can’t even figure out how to report them. Again, I mean, it is relatively easy if you are on either side of the fence. But you know how difficult it is to sit on the fence. And to report sitting on the fence is too ‘painful’ at the very least! Sample this – Should we report ‘Modi Crushed in Delhi’ or BJP triumphs (yet again) in BBMP! Or for that matter, should we weigh in more on the ‘air’ pollution in Delhi or the ‘Noise’ pollution there, letting the viewer’s decide which one is more harmful? Should one report “Parliament disrupted for two continuous sessions. Key Bills hanging. A blot on the 60 year tradition of seamless parliament sessions wherein elected representatives conducted serious business all the while since Independence” or should the narrative be “ Opposition holds government accountable for key issues of national importance and demands sacking of ministers since they are convicted criminals “. Tough questions for someone who is 'unpaid'!
Then there is this paradoxical situation where one needs to decide whether to report “There is extreme intolerance in India- Sharukh Khan “or “There is no intolerance in India – Sharukh Khan”. Again it would be a challenge to determine and report the list of people Mr. Kejriwal calls as corrupt or the list of people from his government and party who are facing charges! The last time I was talking to a journalist friend, he had a tough time reporting this news -“Modi is running an autocratic government and party – Rahul Gandhi”!
Well not all the events are that complicated. You could as well report that a host of luminaries returned their ‘awards’ to the government protesting ‘growing intolerance’ in the country. As a reporter you may be obviously faced with the question why the ‘Award Wapasi’ stopped after some time. Was it because the countrymen were so perturbed by the act of these luminaries that they decided to forego their culture of 5000 years and suddenly become tolerant? But then, you may want to skip these nuisances and move ahead! After all you got a limited slot of 60 minutes! There is this question about the relative intelligence of Azam Khan vis-a-vis his buffaloes which shouldn’t be too difficult to crack. One should not forget to mention the ‘ongoing peace processes between India and Pakistan to ‘ensure peace and stability in the region’! Of course the year should not end till you report the huge defeat of Shah (– Well Amit Shah! If you thought Adil Shah or Nizam Shah, you are reading too much of history or influenced by Thackray!) in the Bihar elections. It was a momentous event which led to the resurgence of the ‘democrats’ after decades of fundamentalists rule in India! In case the narrative is turning out to be too serious, throw some ‘punches’ from Rahul Gandhi, Mamata Banerjee, Digvijay Singh , Yogi Adityanath and that should keep the audience in good humor.
On the entertain front, the news of the year is – “Bhai acquitted of all the false and malicious charges “. Nothing surpasses that! Of course, as an enthusiastic reporter, you may wonder, why it took so many years. But don’t even venture there! You are not supposed to question the judiciary in India! It’s only the judiciary who get to question everybody else. Incidentally, there is a movie by the name ‘Court’ which won the national awards and is India’s official entry to Oscars. You could make a passing mention to that. As for sports, it’s very easy. Look at all the milestones achieved by SRT (well you should know who he is!) and mention those dates as anniversary of those milestones. That should sell it. After all nobody sells better then SRT even today!
In the end, do remember to pose this question to the viewers as a ‘revenge’ for all you had to go through while editing this version of ‘World that was’!
“Why did Kattappa kill Bahubali"!
Happy New year!
