VARUN MANIA

The first phase of polling for the 2009 elections was being held on April 16. Naturally, one would have expected full length coverage of the excitement that went with the greatest day of democracy when voters lined up before the polling booths. But what dominated the small screen of news channels on that day was Varun Gandhi. Cameras were positioned before the main gate of Etah Jail where Varun was kept for a couple of weeks, to capture the scene when Varun walks out of jail on 2 week parole granted by the Supreme Court.

Obviously, the jail authorities have their own formalities to complete before allowing anyone to walk out. But the channel anchors had no patience. Times Now anchor Arnab Goswami must be honoured at the next award function for television anchoring for his speculation which amounted to misleading his viewers no end.

When the cameras were positioned around 2.00 pm and there was no hint of Varun coming out, Arnab was sharing his doubt with his panellists. First, he said that Maneka Gandhi and her aides are inside and there seems to be some wordy duel with the jail authorities which is causing the delay. Then, his speculation was yet another wild guess. Was it because the BJP was waiting to gather enough people for a ruckus and hence they are delaying. We have to pity his naivety. Will the jail authorities keep him inside in order to oblige the BJP whose hostility with the ruling establishment in Uttar Pradesh is common knowledge?

Arnab has been constantly asking perhaps the viewers: “What is happening? Look at the crowd. They are so restive and they might create trouble. Why did they allow such a massive crowd to assemble there?” He seemed to have got the news, from where God knows, that Varun might be taken in a rally to Bareilly and from there to Philibit. Arnab got more worried. “Why is the BJP doing this? It is a sure invitation for trouble. Probably, they want to milk this event to the maximum”. Then some communal remarks were attributed to the local MLA, even as he was denying it in another channel. The speculation that floated was that some Muslim jail official is delaying the release of Varun.

It was left to the NDTV to come out with the actual reason for the delay. The Jail superintendent is reported to have said that he cannot accept a photo copy of the Supreme court order and that the original has to be presented to him and that was the direction he allegedly got from his higher-ups. So, the original copy had to be brought from Delhi to Etah.
Interestingly, when Varun actually came out of the prison around 6.30 PM, Arnab was showing preparations for IPL in South Africa. It was NDTV who beat them in the game with the first visuals and realistic information without any hyperboles or concern for law and order that was put up for public consumption. As it ultimately turned out, Varun was taken in an SUV from Etah to Agra by road and from there by air to Delhi. Neither was there any rally nor was the crowd unmanageable after seeing its media-created leader.

This is yet another occasion when the undue hype over an issue made the media to come out with all sorts of misinformation and disinformation. What happened to the self-regulation?