Lady Saga has done it again. In a prime time show in her husband’s news channel CNN-IBN, she cheated her viewers into believing that a per-recorded interview was live. She even invited 3 panelists to debate with a recorded tape 🙂
She planned to carry a live debate on Ravishankar’s anti-corruption activism. An interview was recorded with him a few hours before the show. And then at 10pm, Sagarika Ghose announced that the yoga guru is live with them along with three other panelists. Not just that, at about 9 minutes into the program, she actually asked him to respond to criticism. And therefore the news editor proved her skills as a video editor.
When found guilty, she clearly implied that these things happen very regularly. She got away with a small apology. Later, Indian Express tore apart the entire program. I am not a media person. And ethically I don’t believe in speaking of individuals, but of issues. However, this unfortunate event raises a lot of intriguing and disturbing questions, as disturbing as the Radia tapes did.
This is not the first time this might be happening. If a reputed national English news channel can resort to such unethical means of debate, think of what other news channels do in the closed walls of their studios! Airing a fabricated and biased panel discussion in a desperate attempt to silence or tarnish someone is simply ridiculous! Is this the depth into which the free media of our democracy has fallen into? Will political parties continue to own media houses and get their means met? Is there no returning back?
सौरभ राय | Sourav Roy 