WE don’t have an editorial position on H1N1, Times Now said. Lucky you, H1N1. But unlucky me. Because this is a fascinating question: What editorial position can you take on a flu virus? I really would have liked an answer.

However, if I were an H1N1 virus, I would be very confused. What is news TV’s take on swine flu and India? On Times Now, one heard the anchor saying there’s no reason to panic but one also saw an onscreen caption declaiming “India gets into combat mode”. One heard the anchor reemphasise that there’s no need to panic but one also heard him say India simply can’t go from one flu to another (the plain vanilla flu that happens every year but which this year will probably be heralded as a national emergency). One panelist said India is as afraid as it was during 26/11, and pointed out how P. Chidambaram beefed up security after that attack. Only on news TV, I repeat, only on news TV, can you hear such interesting stuff. I mean, think about it, terrorists and viruses, both have a nasty habit of slipping into this country.

The thing is, I think, news TV is caught between what it should do and what it wants to do. It should be sober, which it wasn’t after the first swine flu death. But instinctively it wants to run with the story as if there’s no tomorrow, or if there is, that tomorrow is a day when H1N1 rules the country. Times Now is the market leader right now in daily demonstrations of this conflict between imperative and instinct.

... contd.