Television is box populi. Everyone talks, talks, talks, many get into slanging matches with occasionally serious consequences. The last time Indian television covered a lengthy hostage crisis was the Kandahar hijack of 1999 when we had half a dozen news channels — if that. The criticism then, was that continuous outpourings of distraught relatives of the victims on TV ‘forced’ the NDA to release three terrorists. 

Nine years later, 100 news channels on (and counting), the chatter has increased.  The Mumbai siege went on far longer than any terrorist attack before and that stretched the resources of reporters/anchors beyond their limits — not least their vocal chords. Nevertheless, tirelessly and in the face of increasing criticism, they stuck to their talk and gave people a voice — above all the Mumbaikars. Everyone from the terrorists to Shilpa Shetty was given free talk time on the air. 

The fact, is we talk too much. As this newspaper has already detailed, such loose talk revealed NSG positions and plans and had the security forces vying with one another to broadcast their versions of the unfolding tragedy. Rebuked by the authorities, channels were more subdued Friday/Saturday. That didn’t stop the chatter but only robbed it, substantially, of information so that often, they were speaking without anything to say. Listen in:   

Times Now: One doesn’t know if the encounter is over, it could be possible that the final assault could be over, it could be possible that the ambulance is there to take away the hostages or commandos, or the terrorists...  

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