SIGHT & SOUND
Burning issues
Amita Malik

I am writing this column in the aftermath of two great tragedies: The Meerut conflagration and the death from suicide of several farmers. And two sensational happenings, Delhi’s fashion show and the jailing of Salman Khan. And the coverage of these widely contrasting events took me back to the classic question: What is the real function of the media? According to the classic definition, the media’s function is to inform, educate and entertain.

Now, taking into account the unseemly rat race going on in the media for TRPs, the reverse holds good. So, first comes entertainment then education and information. Our largely urban-based, elitist media are more selfishly concerned with their star values than service to the people. It pays more attention to earning revenue from ads than focusing in depth on community problems.

The Meerut fire in which more than 50 persons died was almost overshadowed in TV headlines by Salman Khan’s five-year jail sentence

Take last week as a very sad example for people who have long urged the media to get their priorities right. It is not incorrect to point out that the fashion shows got more coverage than the farmers who committed suicide. And that Salman Khan got as much in the way of headlines and coverage as the Meerut fire. And certainly many times more than the heroic feat of Leander Paes winning the Davis Cup against Pakistan. The dying turtles on the beaches of Orissa get only passing attention. There was much more space given to finding out what Salman Khan was going to get for dinner in prison: "Same daal-roti as other prisoners," said a very camera-conscious jailor, enjoying his moment of glory on television.

Mandal-II and Natwar Singh also got their moments but, clearly, the balance was on the side of entertainment, with sundry Mumbai film folk angrily protesting that the sentence on Salman was too harsh, considering the crores of rupees he would lose over shooting.

A note of decency came into the world of entertainment when we heard that John Abraham had taken the two cyclists he had banged into—because they were coming from the wrong side of the road—to hospital and he had insisted that they should be attended to before him. Some stars, it seems, at least have their priorities right. And thanks to Lara Dutta’s family and friends for only one participant wiped her eyes during their appearance on Shukriya. Well, a heartfelt shukriya from viewers like myself.

To change the subject completely, I must confess I am enjoying Vir Sanghvi’s music-cum-interview programme on NDTV for two reasons: First, because it is perhaps the first time in the history of Indian TV that he had an all-women programme, including the singer Usha Uthup. Normally, Indian TV panels have a ratio of two or three men against one woman. This has happened on every panel I can remember, from the BBC to Doordarshan, so it cuts across channel lines.

The other point in Sanghvi’s favour is that by and large he has avoided the usual suspects on his panel. Even if Shobhaa De, very much of a suspect, bobbed up last week, it was unusual to have Praful Patel, and talking about unusual things.

Similarly in Prannoy Roy’s live dialogues with Pakistan, he has had a good mix of fundamentalists from both sides of the border and real liberals. In the process, except for the Information Minister of Pakistan, who strutted out angrily from the programme without a backward glance or a "sorry", everyone has spoken in a civilised way, even when they agreed to disagree. That is what TV discussions are about and they do not always have to be in the bang-bang Karan Thapar style.