Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Debate?

Since mainstream Indian Television (I will not call it TV!) has been unavailable for the past year or so, I've made it a point to watch clippings of videos put up on websites like the Times of India and IBNLive at regular intervals to catch up with the goings on in India.
Now IBNLive does a very good job by hosting a large number of video clippings, of nearly all the major programs that run on air in India. Most of the times, these clips load fast, stream well and are void of problems like poor clarity, etc.
Good job there, IBN, you have a much better site than other mainstream Indian media outlets, at least than the ones I've visited.
I have a complaint, though. In the so called 'discussions' that take place, the program hosts always seem to have made up their mind as to which side they are on. The questions seem to be directed at the participants with that conviction in mind.
My complaint is this: If you are so convinced as to what the real problem is/what the solution is, then why invite people from opposite views to present their case?
Why not pass off your judgment to the viewer. Why don the greasepaint of discussion/debate to cover your prejudice/pre-conceived notions.
Right from the question that people are supposed to respond to (Don't organizations like the Bajrang Dal need to be banned just like organizations like the SIMI? TYPE QOTD YES/NO and send to 5525), to the questions asked to the participants and the flippancy with which opposing(opposing the host's view, of course) viewpoints are dismissed, the whole god-damn attitude that some of the show hosts seem to have is irritating at times, though you might at some point of time even agree with them. Your prejudice, no matter how logically correct it may be, is no cause for being dismissive of other peoples' views, especially if you're asking them to participate in your show and thereby sustain it.
Stop it IBN, it's just not correct.

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