Hope all of you (or all of us?) were safely ensconced in non-proliferating nuclear zones or nuclear shelters last week, as you watched the news; were those nuclear missiles falling on English news channels, or what? The headlines fairly exploded in our faces, Wednesday evening: ‘Nuclear Bombshell’ was how most described the Washington Post letter bomb that exploded with a bang just in time for the NSG meeting in Vienna.

Before the contents of the Washington Post leak of an internal correspondence on the Indo-US nuclear deal were clearly understood, news channels had trained their guns on the government. They painted a frightening picture: India Betrayed, India Compromised. The ammo fell thick and fast — carpet-bombing at its best or worst. The general drift on channels such as Times Now was that the government either did not know of the correspondence (in which case it was half foolish), or that it did know and hid this from the nation (in which case it was treacherous).

You rushed for the safety of your nuclear-free toilet or whatever, your ears ringing with dire warnings , as every single prophet of doom — Indian, American, even Dutch — in tones of deep foreboding warned us that the end was near (of the deal, of us?) and that the government had sold India down the drain on the deal.

The government’s sedate reply was broadcast and pro-dealers such as Arundhati Ghose on CNN-IBN tried to dismiss the leak for what they thought it was worth — nothing. But, the shrillest voices with the most dire and dour opinions drowned them out. The shrillest and most alarming sounds emanated from Times Now -- a channel that is arguably the first with the news , with a liveliness and urgency that makes NDTV 24x7 appear staid. But at times, and this was one of them, its strength becomes a weakness as sensationalism oversets sense. On Wednesday, it threw caution to the winds and went for the government’s jugular — so did others, but Times Now was the most speculative, with the most superheated hyperbole. This makes for good (combative) television, but it can also be damaging.

... contd.