A brief history in sound bytes

The media tracks the making of history without always reporting it. It records moments, momentous events, repeats them till each one is imprinted in some nook of our collective memory. We are mere witnesses. Sometimes that is sufficient and occasionally, it is so inadequate, you slam the remote control, venting frustration on the innocent, inanimate object.

Take the September terrorist attacks on America and the October coalition’s reply in Afghanistan (which continues). The number of times the collapse of WTC has been telecast across TV channels, is incalculable. If you’re a certified television neurotic, you’ll still catch glimpses of the skyscrapers reduced to rubble. The media does not permit forgetfulness. In this case, that’s vital: we must not forget what happened on September 11.

A selective memory is less desirable. The war against terror in Afghanistan is still being fought — four months after it commenced. However, during the last two months, the media’s interest has been polite, perfunctory. It’s the big, breaking stories which wrench the war-striven nation back into the limelight: the formation of the new government, the Powell or Blair fly-ins and outs, Karzai’s begging bowl visits abroad and just last week, the stampede at a football match and the murder of a minister.

Alternatively, there are heartrending and heartwarming accounts of suffering and renewal as the people pick out the pieces of their lives from the rubble of conflict. Alright.

However. From the very beginning, the bombardment of Afghanistan has been conducted under a cloud of secrecy. We’ve never really known what’s been happening. Well, you counter reasonably, military ops, unlike a cricket match are not played out in the open. Agreed, but a few details wouldn’t give the game away, so to speak.

For instance: what is the frequency of bombing raids, where do they take place, who precisely do they target and what are their outcome? What is the loss of life— and to property? Would someone mind explaining the strategic implications in the region for the continuing presence of American troops in Afghanistan and Pakistan? How long are they all likely to remain? How much of Taliban or Al Qaeda remains to be wiped out? How about some guess estimates?

The media makes an occasional hard-nosed assessment of such issues but as we said, it’s well-mannered, cursory. We see pictures every day but they’re simply photo opportunities: they offer one part of the story on a platter, the other is not fit for public consumption — so the media and the American establishment would have us believe and we allow them to convince us.

This was history, second hand, but still in the making.

So, too, the American Senate hearings on the Enron affair. Watching Kenneth Lay and Sherron Watkins — the one refusing to answer any questions, the other readily supplying answers — took you back to the good ole bad days of the Watergate hearings in the early seventies. It is perhaps a measure of how much the world has changed that the bankruptcy of a private company is today comparable to the bankruptcy of the Nixon Presidency.

Watkins was particularly compelling. Here, is your every day employee, a blond in light blue suit, pointing and fingering her former boss Skilling almost casually: ‘‘is it you opinion Miss Watkins....,’’ she’d be asked by one of the committee members. ‘‘That would be so,’’ she replied. The more mundane her answers, the more rivetting the nature of the crimes. And it reminded you of the bespectacled John Dean calmly describing the Watergate cover-up.

Another slice of history. Why is it we can never witness such inquiries in India on television? The UTI scam of JPC on SEBI are perfect cases since in both cases, public money was at stake. We pride ourselves on sharing democratic values with the USA but why don’t we imitate some of their finer points? Transparency in India is as opaque as the clouds in our coffee.

We are told Prasar Bharati has finally acquired a full term CEO. It’s welcome back Mr.K.S.Sarma who, you might recall, has had the pleasure of serving Prasar Bharati before. For the first time in three years, the public service broadcaster has its upper storey fully occupied. If we’re a little lukewarm in our felicitations it is because the long wait has reduced our enthusiasm.

We hope we’ll be able to say it was worth the wait. Mr.Sarma possesses the experience and knowledge of All India Radio and Doordarshan — definite advantages over most other potential candidates. If only the two were sufficient. The CEO and the Prasar Bharati Board must have a vision and a commitment to stay with that vision and do what they can to realise it, no matter what political or economic exigencies they encounter. Nothing in Prasar Bharati’s past performance merits such optimism. But we can always sleep and perchance dream.

Zzzzzzzzzz.