Punjabi Antenna
Disturbing IMAGES
Randeep Wadehra

Last fortnight the small screen was buffeted with calamitous news of several kinds. Even as people were coming to terms with the Leh cloudburst’s aftermath, news of threats from separatists to the miniscule minority of Kashmiri Sikhs hit the headlines. This was closely followed by the news of the Bhakra Dam water reaching dangerously high levels — making it essential to release it, resulting in inundation of several villages and towns downstream. One watched in horror the scary visuals of waters rising menacingly in Punjab’s Ferozepore, Tarn Taran and Fazilka – the entire Indo-Pak border areas were flooded.

In Haryana, the Ghaggar was doing the same to Ambala and other places.

The cloudburst over Leh caused widespread damage A Tribune photograph

News channels highlighted the manmade and natural threats by interviewing politicians, bureaucrats and community leaders. We had Avtar Singh Makkar asking the state and Central governments to provide protection to the Sikhs in Kashmir. Then there was a Congress politician blaming the Akali-BJP regime for mismanaging the flood-control machinery. We also had Shruti Singh, Deputy Commissioner of Ludhiana, enumerating the various precautionary measures taken for protecting people’s life and property.

Khabarsaar (Zee Punjabi) came up with a discussion on environmental pollution that has been insidiously destroying Punjab’s agriculture and economy as also the Punjabis’ health. The alarming growth in cancer and other pollution-related cases exercised the panellists no end. There are quite a number of feasible corrective measures that can be taken by the state and Central governments but only if they actually summon up the will to read the writing on the wall.

Tirchhi Nazar, too, focussed on a vital aspect of our environment, viz. the alarming rate at which the region’s fauna, especially birds, is becoming extinct. A panellist pointed out that more than 80 percent of vultures have disappeared. Many other birds like partridges, house sparrows etc, too, are rarely seen nowadays. They squarely blamed the agricultural practices for this sad situation. The use of chemical fertilisers, pesticides and herbicides has wiped out entire populations of various species of flora and fauna in the region; the long-term consequences of which cannot be predicted, let alone calculated.

PTC News has made several changes in its programming. It has replaced its prime time news bulletins with news-based live discussions and/special programmes wherein current issues, backed with visuals, short comments etc, are highlighted. The live discussions appear to be modelled on Arnab Goswami’s News Hour on Times Now. Obviously, the programming has become skewed. Most of the issues would be better dealt on the channel’s Masle, which is moderated by Ritesh Lakhi, who also hosts Straight Talk and Guftagu.

Every journalist has his perspective and style. If the same journalist begins to handle all news-based talk shows, which have similar content, their profundity and quality suffer. On August 30 there was a show on the "Indo-China (sic) policy," wherein the invited panellists portrayed India as a weakling vis-`E0-vis China. A knowledgeable journalist would have pointed out the Indian Army, the IAF and the Navy’s impressive build-up. He would not have allowed them to get away with ill-founded alarmist exclamations. Was anybody on the show even aware of the strategic and diplomatic countermeasures taken by India?

Talking of newspersons, one never misses the DD Punjabi’s morning news-based show Khaas Khabar, Ek Nazar. Every morning different journalists from the print media are invited to give their comments on the main news items published in the region’s various newspapers.

It goes without saying that they are well informed. Their treatment of various subjects varies from academic to tongue-in-cheek. However, Friday mornings remain the brightest because Jatinder Pannu provides well informed backgrounders to his upfront sardonic observations garnished with typical rural Punjabi maxims. Terse and intrepid, that’s Pannu!