NDTV 24x7

For those who donot know what NDTV 24x7 is. It’s a news channel which I got used to watching ‘The World this week’ on ‘Doordarshan’ which was presented by the NDTV blokes was good & quite different from what was seen on that channel J

Then they appeared in their avatar in Star TV as a new channel and it seemed like a breath of fresh air for a generation brought up on Doordarshan fare where the news always started as ‘The Prime Minister ……… said’. Later when they split from Star they started their own channels NDTV 24x7 (English) and NDTV India (Hindi) and recently NDTV Profit (for Business).

I watch the news as well as the following programmes

1) Big Fight

2) We the People

3) Walk the Talk

4) The Car & Bike show now shifted to NDTV Profit

5) Born Wild

There are a few point I would like to highlight about NDTV as a whole is that by & large it’s a nice news channel except that some of its veteran journos seem to be quite emotional about the news there presenting. I know it’s humanely difficult to contain your emotions when you are confronted by a big tragedy, natural or manmade. But with their experience I would have expected them to have learnt by now. There have been occasions when experienced guys like Mr Sardesai (who has now quit) or Ms Dutt have gone over the top with their comments during the Godhra riots or Tsunami tragedy and sounded absolutely hysterical & not in control of their senses. Remember guys the viewers know that you want good sound bytes but surely not at the cost of your credibility. A case in point was when Ms Dutt was interviewing some guy at Mr Arafat’s funeral; her body language was so gauche & silly. I could not believe this was a so-called ‘courageous’, ‘experienced’, ‘seasoned journalist’ from India. Yuucks.

This channel has a BIG BBC hang up never mind the red graphics, the same studio set up, similar style of presenting the news with a laptop in front of the news reader etc etc. I guess they are all alike in some way J. Another BBC hang up they have is the TERRIBLE accent they put on. I call it the BBC funeral bleat. It’s a sing song style BBC & CNN put on when they are reporting a tragedy. At NDTV they use it as a everyday style. People who excel at it Nupur Basu reporting from Bangalore, Mr Shivraj Prashad (aka ‘Pansy’ Prashad) from Delhi. Also Ms Banerjee from Kolkatta & Ms Gaurika Chaudhri who presents the sports, there are some others but since they are not heard so often (or at least I don’t see them that often) it’s not too bad. I wish they would stop it immediately, if they want to copy any one why don’t they try copying their boss Mr Roy or Mr Chandra who are pleasant on the eyes & ears. I cannot forget Mr Roy’s presentation of the budget & election analysis all these years. It’s a very interesting, pioneering and refreshing prog. to watch . There are some others who try to talk with a lisp thinking they sound stylish. & upper class. BTW has anyone noticed the head mannerisms of most newscasters is identical to the mannerisms of Bikram Chandra J.

Now on the Big Fight is a nice programme if the panelist could be honest and/or frank which is rarely the case most are politicians who as everyone know are rarely honest or frank.L If that happens then it’s a rare day. The host Mr Sardesai has a habit of interrupting his guests very often that’s ok if they are not answering a question, but what bugs me is he has a habit of putting his words in their mouths, which is not fair. He also has a tendency of wearing his politics on his sleeve and talking to his guests in a hectoring manner. Also he gets too emotional. Now that is just not done for a veteran journalist. Mercifully he has quit and has been replaced by Mr Chandra who comes across as sophisticated and not as shrill as his predecessor

We the People is another thought provoking programme. The host of this programme is described as ‘courageous’, ‘experienced’, ‘tough seasoned journalist’ by different people but I feel she comes across as very emotional, awkward, silly & childish in some of her comments as well as her body language. And always seems to wanting to be politically correct at all the times. I wonder if this is self imposed or company policy !!!!. if you can ignore all that it’s a nice prog. Last week she was talking to a person who came from Pakistan after spending 26 years in their jails on charges of espionage. When he was trying to make a point giving examples of Mr Zulifikar Ali Bhutto, she interrupted him saying ‘Oh you think like a Pakistani’. I think this was a cruel & uncalled for remark. Hardly one expected from such an experienced reporter. Barkha please remember that man spent the best part of his life in jail while trying to serve his country, I think he deserves some respect, not catty comments from someone trying to play to the galleries.

Special Report on 16^th Feb at 1730 hrs there was a prog hosted by Nupur Basu on the air show/exhibition in Bangalore. It was BAD.

1. Her style of presenting a programme in a funeral voice with that singsong bleat copied from BBC. (You guys have a terrible BBC hang up. is to put it mildly horrible. I hope you get your presenters to stop that (Ms Basu, Banergee Mr Prashad etc).
2. I could not believe my ears when she actually a Sqdr leader and his sidekick their opinion about something their Air chief had said. Does she actually think they would make a comment on what their chief has said or give an opinion which is critical of the govt. This was present all thru the prog. Even a credulous novice cub reporter would not think that if he/she is familiar with any armed forces.
3. There was very little interesting visuals on the different type of planes present at the show (almost FD class which I used to see as a kid). Looks like NDTV does not have the technology or equipment to film fast moving planes from the ground or from the air. What happened to all that hot air about owning so many helicopters? All hype I suppose.

Overall the programme was a BIG disappointed except for the usual hype and over abundance of adjectives to describe ourselves !!!!! I can suffer a poor prog but PLEASE do something about that sing song accent that your presenters are putting on now a days. Its quite alien to us.

Walk the Talk is hosted by veteran scribe Shekar Gupta. His written word is a treat to read. I have been a fan of is till I saw this prog. I was expecting the same class as his written articles in different mags, newspaper all these years. What I see is a prog where he wants to talk more than his guests, trying to show of his knowledge, putting words into the mouths of his guests even when his guests are the talkative type & forever trying to interrupt them. I don’t understand this need !!!!

The Car & Bike show is an average prog with a pleasant host, but I wish it were longer & more technical & less of cars which are never going to come to India

Born Wild is a nice informative programme, its compere was at one time a newreader, and a good one at that. I wonder why they sent her into the boondocks.

The weather reports are not bad but I get really bugged when the presenters stand in front of the screen showing the cloud cover picture. Can’t they get their angle correct where the presenter is visible (Is that necessary) and also the complete weather picture? J

How can I forget the reports on sports at the end of every news prog also daily at 7.30 pm where you can see the copy cat (the original is on CNN ) Pompous Princess of Perpetual Pout called Sonali Chander and Gaurika Choudhri who comes on screen with a condescending perpetual sneer, as if the viewers are all idiots and of course with the now famous sing song accent. And now to ‘aid‘ them is that ‘Sidhu the MOUTH’. A fellow, who could ONLY play one inning in any match, now is giving his 'expert' opinion on all things cricket. Horror of horrors in the last 2 weeks ‘Pansy’ Prashad’ has now become a full time newsreader on NDTV as well as NDTV Profit. Yucks didn’t know that they were so hard up for newsreaders.

I wish NDTV would come out of this BBC shadow they seem to have crawled under. I think we would all be proud of them for their brave attempt in being one of the first Indian company to venture out into the tough world of news broadcasting. But to be taken as seriously as BBC they should stop their monkey see monkey do attitude. In spite of all this I still watch their programmes (proves we r all creatures of habit) as they seem to be better than their competitors (less hysterical BUT SLOW in getting the latest updates & ‘breaking news’). In spite of my criticism I would still recommend this channel. Of course that’s a personal choice. I wish them best of luck. J