SIGHT & SOUND
The right way to anchor
by Amita Malik

The term "prime time" seems to be as loosely used as the much abused terms "exclusive" and "breaking news". For professional people like us, 10 pm is a good viewing time if we have not gone to a concert or to dinner. If one is at home then by that time one has finished dinner, one is relaxed and it is not a bad time to catch up with the events of the day.

I used to watch The X Factor on NDTV, although I have found the title a bit pretentious for what was just a discussion programme of the type carried on all channels around that time. I liked watching and listening to Rajdeep Sardesai, who has left NDTV and is about to launch a channel of his own. I now find that programme a bit erratic, with frequent changes of anchors, who are not always experienced or authoritative enough to hold one’s attention.

And now I usually watch Karan Thapar Tonight At Ten on CNBC. I have always had mixed feelings about Karan’s style of interviewing. He has a good research team and is always thorough with his facts and figures. But, what irritates me about him is the way he cuts in very rudely, in his eagerness to score a point. He does not let people complete their arguments. He does not let them continue even when they have a clear right of way.

As an experienced anchor and chairperson of panel discussions for many years, I would like to make two points. First, there is always a magic moment when one can cut in without being rude or arbitrary, perhaps that magic moment comes when a sentence has just been completed. But Karan never waits for that and just barges in mid-sentence. He seldom, if ever, says I am sorry to interrupt. This betrays a degree of arrogance which has offended many people who have served on his panels.

The other point is: a panellist can also interrupt the moderator. In a recent discussion with very eminent editors, where Karan was on somewhat better behaviour, the soft-spoken and ever-polite B.G. Verghese went ahead with what he was saying, ignoring Karan’s interruption. And one or two others, like Vinod Mehta, said quite firmly, "Let me finish". Some politicians have also started refusing to be bullied by Karan and have got away with it.

I would, nevertheless, like to repeat that I enjoy Karan’s thoroughness, the seriousness with which he addresses the problem under review and his sincere attempts to get at the truth. We have the example of the wonderful sports anchor, Sonali Chander of NDTV, who somehow manages to keep things under control. The loudmouth Navjot Singh Sidhu, who loves the sound of his own voice, is the biggest interrupter of all.

I am sorry to return to the dismal coverage of sports by Doordarshan but I think it is important, since DD is constantly trying to leapfrog into important international sports events, which it is ill-equipped to cover. The latest is its coverage of the Thailand Open Tennis from Bangkok, which it was picking up from another channel. Mercifully, it had Vijay Amrithraj as the chief commentator.

Sometimes DD Sports showed, and sometimes it did not show, important matches.

The biggest gaffe of all, however, was when after having shown the semi-final between young British player Murray, and local hero Paradorn Srichapan, it showed the final (although not live) between Murray and Federer in full. Immediately after, the main channel made an announcement that the men’s doubles final featuring Leander Paes and his Australian partner would follow immediately. But guess what followed, repeat of the same semi-final between Murray and Paradorn Srichapan which we had seen the day before.

At the time of writing, I am still groping for the men’s doubles final and also feel extremely sorry that they did not show the semi-final where Leander and partner beat Bhupathi and partner. It must have been a fascinating match.