Rewind 2008

Tuesday 30 December '08

This year, perhaps more than others, the media was the message, the media was the massage...

Out of THE BOX

Sunday 28 December '08

The year ahead for couch potatoes

Talking coconuts

Tuesday 23 December '08

On Sunday, there were no images of a burning Taj or wounded Trident.

Screening room

Monday 22 December '08

Are news channels convinced of the virtue of self-regulation?

Entering The Spin Zone

Tuesday 16 December '08

In efforts to be completely impartial, BBC is often unfair. Reporting on the Lashkar-e-Toiba links to the Mumbai attacks...

As seen on TV

Tuesday 9 December '08

Conventional coverage dictates that politicians begin counting day by appearing on television in their Sunday best, armed with one common statement that cuts across party lines: “Our party will win an outright majority”.

Talk is cheap

Tuesday 2 December '08

Television is box populi. Everyone talks, talks, talks, many get into slanging matches with occasionally serious consequences.

Days before D-day, no sign of voter ID: Election’s sorry story

Wednesday 26 November '08

A year ago, I had a voter’s identity card and a face. Today, I have neither.

Light bondage

Tuesday 25 November '08

At the risk of repeating ourselves — perfectly acceptable in times like these when everyone else on TV is doing so - Rahul Mahajan was everyone’s choice for Bigg Boss.

Change has come to our TV screens

Tuesday 11 November '08

This Tuesday morning, we are not breaking news because we’re still shattered by last week’s blast.

The time is now

Tuesday 4 November '08

Why does Manmohan Singh always miss the moment, just when we need him to lead?

Gay abandon

Tuesday 28 October '08

The government may wish homosexuality away, but popular culture won’t let it. In the latest Airtel TV commercial with SRK and Saif Ali Khan...

What’s the big joke on news television?

Tuesday 21 October '08

A funny thing happened to bad news: it’s become a joke. Nowadays, in times of deep financial crisis...

The bigger the better

Tuesday 14 October '08

Goodbye Parvati, farewell Krishna and om shanti om, Kahani Ghar Ghar Ki. They’ve been with us for eight years...

Measure for measure

Tuesday 7 October '08

Now that a redressal agency headed by Justice J. S. Verma is in place to oversee TV news content...

Dance dance revolution

Tuesday 30 September '08

Here’s our question: when Rahul and Priyanka went for a stroll, on a balmy afternoon last week and walked into a live...

The heart of the matter

Tuesday 23 September '08

Last Friday, CNN-IBN, promoting its entertainment channel, rightly claimed that Colors has made a splash with Balika...

Deja vu all over again

Tuesday 16 September '08

The Delhi blasts made for some explosive TV coverage, and some rare displays of control.

The media mushroom cloud

Tuesday 9 September '08

Hope all of you (or all of us?) were safely ensconced in non-proliferating nuclear zones or nuclear shelters last week...

Comfort television

Tuesday 2 September '08

Whoever said that humankind cannot bear very much of reality meant we cannot bear too much of harsh reality.

Spectacular finish

Tuesday 26 August '08

Now that you’re gone, I’m so lonesome I could cry. It’s the end of an affair. Sixteen glory days of the greatest show on...

Bigg Boss watching: As Goody drops out, RPI fights to get Athavale in

Wednesday 20 August '08

Imagine a house which houses a jailbird, a fading turncoat politician, the son of a celebrated politician allegedly...

Navel-gazing with Shilpa Shetty

Tuesday 19 August '08

The contrasts are too stark. You don’t know how to write about the volatile and tragic events in Jammu & Kashmir...

Less talking, more shooting

Tuesday 12 August '08

There’s a lump in the throat. It’s called the O-lump-ics. It appears on those rarest of occasions when an Abhinav Bindra...

‘Colors’ offers a full spectrum

Tuesday 5 August '08

For those who find the present Hindi entertainment channels dull, and the news insufficiently entertaining since...