I was going to start this edition of the column talking about general TV reportage on two definitely bearded men, Amitabh Bachchan and Swami Ramdev, who allegedly infiltrated a proud entity, Great Britain. But 24x7 TV news is so unsettlingly dynamic. I was forced to switch my attention to a Times Now “exclusive” on two possibly bearded men, LeT chaps apparently, who allegedly infiltrated a proud entity, the Indian Air Force.

My first-millisecond reaction to the Times Now story was that of any journalist: LeT guys in IAF?! If the story held, it would be something. My thirtieth-second reaction was, Would the story hold? I had remembered a Times Now “exclusive” on Abu Salem’s videotaped confessions that had turned out to be somewhat less explosive than an LeT bomb without a detonator. By the sixty-sixth or sixty-seventh second I had started thinking, When did our national security advisor send the warning missive on which the Times Now story was based? It turned out that the letter was sent in September 2005. The IAF spokesperson quite frankly acknowledged the receipt of such a warning and said his force was found to be LeT-free after a thorough search.

I could understand that Arun Jaitely, as the Opposition spokesperson, had no time to consider such details but announce, to the visible delight of Times Now anchors, India’s “last bastion” was under grave threat. Congress spokespersons would have done the same thing had the BJP been in power. But I couldn’t understand why the datedness of the letter — 10 months are an eternity multiplied by infinity in journalism — and the IAF’s fairly open-faced clarification did not persuade Times Now to give the story less than star billing.

... contd.