Hating It: India TV

Read this article about the extent of paranoia whipped up by some Indian media outlets about the Large Hadron Collider, and weep. Weep for the innocent and the naive who take everything shown and said on TV to be true. Weep for the state of journalism in the country. And pour some hate on the fraudster TV channel which is the main culprit in spreading this paranoia about the Large Hadron Collider.

In this village, a woman named Mukesh recounts what she saw on India TV, a Hindi news channel—once a black hole opened up, the earth would be consumed in one second, followed by the moon in another second and the sun in another six. It even set a time for doomsday—noon, sharp.

“This has worried us so much that we haven’t even eaten properly for the last few days,” she says. On Wednesday, “my son Rishipal has an English exam, so I have to send him to school. But I’m not sending him alone. I’m going with him.” And then, very businesslike, she asks: “Tell me, should we go into the hills? Is that safer?” [Live Mint]

My mother called me early yesterday morning to ask me whether the world is going to end at noon. She sounded quite worried, so I tried to reassure her. I hope I succeeded. But what about those mothers who don't have engineer sons to call up for comfort every time this sort of nonsense happens?

The sheer outrageous nature of this channel's coverage of events connected to LHC is beyond belief. I can't find any clips on the web right now, but the excerpt above should give you a hint. Don't forget that this coverage was backed with visuals from disaster movies, flash animation, terrorizing sound-effects etc. Read this for some more details.

Also, please take a look at the descriptions of some of the shows being promoted on the front page of this channel's website:

To strike a balance between high tech modernization and astronomical calculations Sant Shiromani brings you GURUMANTRA with value added remedies of common ailments, foretelling future from Panchaang, and AAJ KA UPAAY. A perfect way to kick start your day.

Introducing you to your horoscope and numerological fortune, the proficient astrologer Acharya Indu Praksh reveals the connection between your celestial mechanics and the terrestrial dynamics. This daily dose of ‘Bhavishyavani’ aims to give you practical solutions to all your problems.Just dial 0120 – 2517251 and make a refreshing start to know your stars, just a phone call away.

'Jai Shani Maharaj' is a weekly show in which viewers get a chance to interact with proficient astrologer Dati Madan Maharaj Rajasthani Ji over telephone and get the solutions for Shani's impact on their life. Just dial 0120 – 251 7 251.

Yes, that's right: three daily shows devoted entirely to astrology. Yes, I know that a lot of people are superstitious and believe in such stuff. But must our media add to such nonsensical beliefs?

It looks like there might be some action taken against India TV and Aaj Tak for their alarmist fear-mongering. But the most effective action can only be taken by the viewers by refusing to watch such idiotic channels. You now have a channel which said that the world will end at noon. Well, it didn't. Isn't that proof enough that the channel was bullshitting you? Do yourself a favour and ask your cable operator to unsubscribe you from such feeds.

Update: There is a lot more evidence of sheer idiocy and inanity from India TV. Thanks to reader Amit Jain for the pointer in comments.

How Can She Slap, Sir?

Apparently, there is this reality show called Dadagiri (TV's meanest game show) on a channel called Bindaas. I'd never heard of either, till this happened (Via: Great Bong):

(Warning: The Audio/Video is NSFW)



After being covered on TMZ, the video is a global hit and copies are available on virtually every video-sharing website.

Here is a short summary, if you can't watch the videos for some reason:

The show pitches college students (contestants) against college bullies (hosts). Every round has different flavours of bullying (all intent on humiliation of contestants, basically). One of the hosts "Isha - The Goddess" - plays the role of the college rich bitch, who is supposed to insult contestants for their ugliness and for their lack of class.

She was doing her usual 'your-sideburns-are-from-60s' routine (Part 1, above) while the contestants managed to remain cool and didn't respond to her comments. Infuriated (scripted, I think) she asked them whether they have tongues in the mouths (direct translation from the Hindi quip - 'munh mein zabaan nahi hai kya'). One of the two contestants said that they are quiet because they don't want to talk to her. She barked at him to "fuck off". The contestant managed a (weak) comeback of "you go". Something cracked inside the hostess, and she slapped the contestant. Shocked, the contestant slapped her back (Part 2, above).

The other host then jumped into the fray to defend the hostess and started beating up the contestant who kept asking "how can she slap, sir?" Thereafter, the whole crew seemed to descend on the poor contestant and proceeded to beat him to a pulp. In the process, apart from getting physically thrashed, he gets thoroughly abused verbally as well. Expletives were all over the place, in Hindi and in English.

Now, quite obviously, the first slap wasn't part of the script. That explains the reflexive return slap by the contestant. Moreover, he kept asking the host about the slap that he received. He has confirmed as much now (and is suing the channel):

“This incident occurred four months ago. The participants of the show had to pass through the litmus test of abuses and spats. And it was all scripted! We were all given our parts where 70 per cent was to be said as is and 30 per cent would be improvisations,” says Ravi. “There was this girl called Isha opposite me who was supposed to abuse me and I was to retaliate, but calmly. After a while when it came to improvisations, I presume she was out of words and came and slapped me hard. I was shocked and in the heat of the moment, I slapped her back. That led to the entire unit of about 70 people jumping on me beating me black and blue. It was a miracle in itself that I managed to escape from there,” he says. [TOI]

Legal tangles apart, I am on the contestant's side on this one. She shouldn't have slapped him in the first place. The rest of the crew had no right whatsoever to beat him to a pulp (he was thrown on the ground and kicked, and was reduced to tears). And the verbal abuse is just shameful, especially coming from a TV crew who are supposed to know better than to scream obscenities when the camera is rolling. Disgusting. Funny too, in a sad sort of way.

The channel, no doubt, is pretty happy with this turn of events. In fact, it probably deliberately leaked the clip to create controversy and raise TRPs.

PS: The incident has also become an internet meme. There is even a dedicated website, which sells "how can you slap" t-shirts.