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Ever
since the Election Commission (EC) announced last month that the
assembly elections to the four states of Delhi, Madhya Pradesh,
Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan would be held on 1 December, all the
leading news channels have been gearing up to "deliver the
best".
In
a mad rush to impress upon their viewers that they are unmatched,
news channels are promising on-ground surveys, in-depth interviews
with politicians, viewers' opinions, weekly polls and even a common
man representative to face the power-wielders.
As
if the existing competition was not enough, a couple more channels
have jumped into the fray in the recent months, possibly with the
hope of leaning on election coverage to carve their niche. Yesterday
(3 November) pubcaster Prasar Bharati resurrected its 24-hour news
channel DD News. Not so long ago, on 17 October, Sahara Samay, rather
strategically, launched its regional edition for Madhya Pradesh
(MP) and Chhattisgarh.
While
all eyes are on these new channels, established ones like NDTV,
Aaj Tak, Star News and Zee News seem to be in no mood to lie low
- they have been working overtime to sustain viewer interest.
And
with every other channel promising to be the finest, fastest, smartest
and the unrivalled, it is left to the unsuspecting viewer to figure
out who is the fairest!
Who's
showing what
Channels do have an impressive line up of initiatives to keep
people across the country informed. What more - with innumerable
analysis, surveys, news reports, talk shows and introspects on air,
every possible arena of the forthcoming polls seems to have been
covered. Here's a brief look at how every news channel is presenting
the elections:
 Considering
that the assembly election is viewed as a build-up to the general
election next year, Zee has started a daily programm called Singhasan
Ka Semi Final across its prime-time news bulletins.
An
interactive show MLA Ki Class is aired from Monday to Friday
at 7.30 pm. Zee News editor Alka Saxena says, "Throughout this
month, leading up to the elections, our reporters will visit each
constituency through MLA Ki Class. Reporters will look at the problems
faced by people in India and the burning issues. Zee News plans
to cover over 200 constituencies through this exercise."
Zee
News is also doing a weekly poll across the four states Delhi, Madhya
Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh in Kaun Kitne Paani Mein
on Sundays.
Netaji
Kahin, another weekender, is a rapid fire volley of questions
on a known leader from each state. The show, based on Aap Ki
Adalat, looks at the people's perspective and investigates the
leaders' performance since the last elections.
Kissa
Kursi Ka, a daily half-our prime time programme invites two
prominent leaders from opposing political parties for a discussion.
Star News' Kaun Banega Mukhyamantri (KBM), hosted by
Vinod Dua, began its election special late night show, Kaun Banega
Mukhyamantri - Aaj ki Baat, from 27 October. This one-hour show
is telecast from Monday to Saturday at 11 pm. Aaj Ki Baat features
a complete wrap up of the day's latest election news from the five
states (including Mizoram which goes to polls on 20 November) readying
for the polls.
Vinod
Dua in Kaun Banega Mukhyamantri, Star News |
Star
News president, Ravina Raj Kohli says, "Elections are a people's
event and it is for the first time, a news programme has really
gone to the masses, visited remote areas - that are often just election
stopovers for politicians - and brought the voice of the people
to a national platform where the authorities are forced to listen."
KBM
also has its own symbol "reflecting the common man's agenda"
- the humble 'autorickshaw'. The programme started its Auto Yatra
in Delhi recently and travels to Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh,
and Rajasthan to deal with 'real people' and 'real issues'.
Star
Plus says that via this yatra, it has made the politicians answer
janta ke sawaal. Former Delhi chief minister Sahib Singh
Verma, former minister for education in Delhi Harshwardhan and transport
minister Ajay Maken, who are currently a part of the Delhi legislative
assembly, have as yet been featured in the show. In Rajasthan, Congress
leaders like Girija Vyas and BJP leaders like Gulab Chand Kataria
were grilled. In Chhattisgarh, chief minister Ajit Jogi and other
prominent leaders of this newly formed state were questioned. In
MP, chief minister Digvijay Singh faced public queries.
 Probably
to focus more on quality than quantity, NDTV 24x7 is airing just
one show Vote Matters on Sundays 10.30 am.
 NDTV
India has a 10-minute segment every night on 9 O'clock News giving
an insight into the elections. In Vote Yatra people voice
their opinions and concerns on electoral activities. The show also
broadcasts live the promises made by the candidates from their constituencies.
It explores election campaigns, the preparations by respective parties.
NDTV India Executive Editor Dibang hosts Vote Yatra at 8:30
pm on weekdays.
Vote
Matters on NDTV 24X7 |
Another
interesting show is the half-hourly Khaberon ki Khabar-Votenama
on weekdays at 9:30 pm. The show takes audiences through campaign
trails of electoral candidates.
The
channel airs its Chunav Vishesh - Monday to Friday at 8.30
pm. The shows cover extensively the states of Delhi, Chhattisgarh,
Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Mizoram.
Finally,
the channel's yet to release Battleground will discuss state
by state the political scenario and which way the vote is likely
to go. Reputed political analysts will appear in this show.
NDTV
India also has some intersting vignettes on the elections. Ek
Sawal as the name suggests has one question shot at two opposing
candidates who have two to convince the voters as per their arguments.
This two-minute vignettes will be telecast through out the day.
Janta Bole is another public opinion vignettes of two to
three minutes.
The
two channels will have interviews with MLAs, public opinion polls,
election forecasts, among other features through out the day.
 News
channel Aaj Tak is planning to launch a daily show Aaj Ka MLA
from 15 November, as a part of its comprehensive plan for the
forthcoming multi-state elections in the country. This daily programme
is slated for 8 pm every day with repeat telecasts. The promos of
the show are on air presently. Aaj Tak promises that Aaj Ka MLA
will be the first-ever survey of its kind on television.
 Sahara's
two channels - Sahara Samay Rashtriya and Sahara Samay Madhya Pradesh
and Chhatisgarh seem to be covering their constituencies rather
thoroughly.
While
Sahara Rashtriya is tackling serious problems in the northern states
through its spokesperson Dharti Pakad, Sahara MP and Chhattisgarh
has a line up of progammes concentrating on MP and Chhattisgarh.
Its
daily fifteen minute show, Chunav Chakra, which now is being
updated and telecast every hour, contains all election related activities
of the two states. Shankhnad Chunav Sangram Ka is a one-hour
show at prime time (8 to 9pm). This programme focuses on one burning
issue everyday. One of the channel's on beat (OB) van has been converted
into a multi-camera studio named Chunav Rath. The rath yatra
which started from Bhopal today plans to cover the entire length
and breadth of the two state, into the remote corners, live at least
four times a day.
A team
of journalists have accompanied the rath. The channel has other
shows like Aapka MLA and Public Funda.
Doordarshan
News: As for DD News, the channel hasn't finalised much
on election coverage yet. According to DD officials, coverage would
be done mostly by the regional kendras in the states where the elections
are to be held. Some of it would be aired on DD News, but the final
picture would emerge only after the candidates of various parties
are finalised.
Creative
juices flowing
Agreed
that every channel is busy asserting the uniqueness of its own pre-election
programme initiatives. Unfortunately for them, most shows (on most
channels) do not seem too different from one another. Amid this
sea of look-alikes, however, one can't ignore a few creative concepts.
Print
ad of Dharti Pakad on Sahara Samay |
* Dharti
Pakad on Sahara Samay (Rashtriya): He is the television
parallel of RK Laxman's Common Man. But there's a major aspect that
separates Dharti Pakad from the Common Man. While the Common
Man is the silent, victimized spectator, Dharti Pakad is a mocking,
sarcastic individual who talks the language of the people and grills
the politicians. A novel concept portrayed aptly by TV and film
actor Sanjay Misra. Obviously, somebody at Sahara Samay has been
thinking out of the box.
Also,
the channel has gone all the way to advertise their character. Sahara
Samay yesterday released a print ad promoting Dharati Pakad in
one of India's leading newspapers.
* Aaj
Ka MLA on Aaj Tak: This show, which will be launched soon
on Aaj Tak, is based on an on-ground survey across 120 constituencies.
Aaj Ka MLA will put the performances of various MLAs from
various constituencies under a scanner, and thereby bring the relevant
electoral issues to the fore.
According
to Aaj Tak CEO G Krishnan, "In a large democracy like India,
management of society is a collective responsibility. Aaj Ka
MLA provides a snapshot of the collective feeling in a particular
constituency thereby gauging the MLAs in terms of promises versus
performances. The show will provide a complete picture."
The
Aaj Ka MLA survey will be based on extremely scientific methods,
and has been conducted by research group ORG-MARG, a channel representative
states. The findings of the survey will be supplemented by sound
bites from the concerned MLA.
*
Kaun Kitne Paani Mein on Zee News: Zee News has cashed
its hope on what it calls the ultimate test for a party/leader.
The channel has started conducting weekly polls across Delhi, Madhya
Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh to measure the shift in voting
patterns. The channel has very teasingly christened the show Kaun
Kitne Paani Mein.
Fine-tuning
the system
When news coverage doubles, infrastructure has to improve too to
keep pace. A
number of news channels have taken that extra step of making additions
in the staff, updating technology and fine-tuning the entire system
for flawless coverage.
Zee
TV has employed about two dozen reporters and fleet of stringers
exclusively to cover the elections. According to a Zee News representative,
the channel will devote approximately 20 per cent of its telecast
time to election programming; and the coverage will only increase
as the time goes by.
The
channel plans to do at least two pre-poll survey. While Zee News
has not roped in any particular celebrity to get more eyeballs,
it doesn't rule out the idea of inviting celebrities - who have
a say on election related social issues - on their shows.
While
Sahara Samay, MP and Chhatisgarh, has seen no need to make additions
in the infrastructure, head of the channel, Prabhat Dabral says,
"We have hired a few researchers and some extra OB vans to
bolster our
newsgathering in MP and Chattisgarh." Dabral is confident that
his channel is well-equipped with ultra-modern technology for input
and output.
Dabral
says, "We will have about 60 to 70 per cent of the programming
devoted to elections in MP and Chattisgarh channel as the channel
is dedicated to these states. There are a couple of such tie ups
in the pipeline especially for content sharing with websites."
Dabral says his channel is driven by the power of their content.
"However, we have hired Yashwant Deshmukh as our psephologist
(one who studies political elections) in a show. He is already on
air daily in one of our special programmes."
(With
inputs from ANJAN MITRA)
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