Punjabi antenna
Channels pull their punches
Randeep Wadehra 

EVER since 1950s when television arrived on the global scene as the latest purveyor of news and views, many paradigm shifts have taken place in the world of journalism. If it was the Vietnam war and Watergate in the USA that brought out media’s role as conscience keeper in stark relief then, in India, too, it has been quite active in exposing crime in high places.

In the case of Punjabi television, although it has been reasonably efficacious as watchdog, its attempts at becoming an arbitrator between the government and the governed have not been so impressive.

Perhaps, the most striking example has been Lok Bani of PTC News, which was doing a great job as an interface between the various government agencies and aggrieved people in Punjab’s villages and small towns. Regrettably, later on, the channel changed its format and concentrated on soft-focus interviews.

But there is this nagging feeling that the law of diminishing marginal utility has set in as far as media-as-watchdog is concerned. For example, a police constable in Batala grabs his relatives’ land.

When ordered by the court to vacate the land so usurped, he manages to thwart the order’s implementation. PTC News highlighted the case. If you thought this would have led to prompt implementation of the said orders, perish the thought. But this is not the only case where the law has been flouted with impunity despite the news television having highlighted such malfeasance.

There were news reports of powerful politicians preventing the demolition of shops in Ludhiana despite court orders.

Even the much reported Shera murder case languishes in Punjab & Haryana High Court’s case files. Clearly, the news channels have been less than effective in facilitating the implementation of the country’s laws. Who is to blame, the extant superstructure of governance or the tepid public opinion? Perhaps the rot is much deeper and widespread.

However, there are other cases, such as pursued by Day & Night News that has been reporting "quid pro quo between ex-policeman Surinder Pal Singh and the Badals." Similarly, the channel has been going after Sumedh Singh Saini, highlighting misuse of power by this senior cop. Although the channel has been citing various court cases and legal experts/social activists, one cannot be sure that the wheels of justice will begin to move anytime soon.

Why has Punjabi television failed to take various campaigns for justice and reforms to their respective logical conclusions? The reasons are obvious. There is no basic unity of ethics amongst the competing news channels. One can understand ideological differences but to give news content slants to please specific political masters has resulted in creating doubts about their credibility.

On 30^th of April Masle of PTC News took up the case of Pakistani nationals who have sought asylum in India on humanitarian grounds. Most of the viewers were not even aware of this lingering, sad saga of people in the no man’s land. They comprise a few hundred Hindus from Pakistan who fled their homeland to seek solace in the liberal, democratic and secular India. However, although they are happy to be here, the local police and bureaucracy do not take kindly to their presence. All their efforts to get Indian citizenship are being thwarted on one ground or another.

Their tales are heartrending. "Back home" they were not allowed to perform the last rites of their dead and had to travel more than 150 km to conclude the antim sanskaar. If this is the fate of the dead, one can imagine what the living among the minorities must be enduring there. But despite Avinash Rai Khanna’s intervention, would the powers that be in New Delhi do the right thing and ameliorate their ordeal?