Sunetra Choudhury: In defence of the subaltern TV reporter

For the past fortnight, as the adventures of Anna Hazare have unfolded before our eyes, my ears have developed a buzzing sound from the constant carping.

Everywhere I go, every non-TV person I talk to, says the same thing: ‘You 24-hour channel people are really overdoing it’ ‘Don’t you have anything else to do?’ ‘You have made a hero out of Anna Hazare’ ‘Look at the dumb TV anchors and the questions they are asking’ ‘How can you say India is with Anna when so many people are against Anna?’

I’m not even going to try to defend every complaint against TV coverage. Lord knows some of the cribs are really valid, but I think it is high time self-proclaimed TV critics really understood what the medium is all about, what logistics they deal with and what kind of pressures that TV reporters, anchors and producers face every second of the day.

As a TV reporter, I know that my role is only secondary. The beauty of TV is that the chemistry is really between you, the viewer, and the camera lens. The lens that stands outside Tihar jail, waiting patiently to bring you the moment that Anna steps out of jail after three days so that you can see for yourself whether after three days of fasting Anna is steady or weak in his steps; so that you can judge his body language and the power of his voice; so that you can hear his chants of ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ and decide what it says about his patriotism.

And while you’re having this drawing room moment analysing Anna and his supporters, the TV reporter and cameraperson is getting elbowed in the gut by other members of the media. Some female reporters are getting felt up by some of the crowd and while Anna moves under his wide umbrella for a kind of rath yatra, the rain threatens to spoil the camera worth Rs2 lakh or more.

I have been a newspaper reporter so I’ve seen the other side too.

It’s true that even as print reporters, we’d brave all this out but what about the luxury of time and the difference that it makes. As a newspaper writer, I’d visit Ramlila ground, take in the crowds at leisure, maybe share a snack or two, choose my subjects wisely to give a fair representation, head back to office and over the course of the evening, hammer out my copy which would reach you at home, only after it’d been vetted by several senior eyes.

Even then, you only have to turn to the fine print of newspapers to see the number of mistakes that they acknowledge they’ve made.

Us TV fools are given no time. We stand outside gate number 4 of Parliament come rain or sunshine because that’s used by the ministers. As Team Anna goes from one demand to another, we chase these ministers to see if they’ll agree, to gauge whether the government will give in.

Many TV reporters have got an earful from senior minister Pranab Mukherjee for interrupting him as he headed from the Lok Sabha to his room, followed by Congress’ crisis managers. We do this not because we love to stick mikes into ministers’ mouths, it’s because we have to ask those questions for you.

And when these ministers do speak, when they hold press conferences to announce changes in strategy, we can’t stand around discussing major news points with our colleagues like newspaper reporters might do. In just a matter of seconds, we have to digest it, put it in perspective and spell it out so that you, the viewer understands.

God help us if someone like Mulayam Singh Yadav is speaking with his half-eaten words. I have to step over my colleagues feet just to hear what he’s saying and then soon afterwards put it on air for TV. Of course, we’ll make mistakes but we are also putting ourselves out there to be judged.

Before Anna Hazare sat on his dharna, we TV reporters were called for an editorial meeting. Unlike what the cynics among you like to believe, the strategy wasn’t to grab eyeballs by exaggerating the number of the crowds.

The problem was more basic. How does a newsroom with limited reporters cover an indefinite fast like this? How do you ensure somebody is always at the site so that if anything untoward happens, we are there to bring you the news?

Remember the unearthly hour Baba Ramdev was shooed out of Ramlila ground? It was because TV reporters were there that any police excess was captured and checked.

As a political reporter, I only have to chase two or three ministers or party leaders as they try to find a way to resolve this deadlock. It’s not very easy, but compared to my colleagues who have learnt to stay up through the night, who’ve learnt to hold back hooligans while they speak to the mike, who handle abuse from the junta and the civil society representatives, compared to all this, my job is a cakewalk.

My colleagues and I aren’t asking you to applaud every time we arrive at a spot but if you don’t like what we’re saying or showing, switch off and take a walk to Ramlila Grounds.

Sunetra Choudhury is an anchor/ reporter for NDTV and is the author of the election travelogue Braking News