If the air pollution in Delhi doesn’t choke you, television news anchors will. In the middle of what The Times of India’s page one lead headline called, “worst Diwali air in 4 yrs…”, a CNN News 18 anchor complimented Delhi’s Minister for the Environment, Manjinder Singh Sirsa, for, wait for it—pollution control.
“(We) congratulate the Delhi government on only an 11 per cent increase in (air pollution in Delhi) …How have you achieved this milestone?” asked the afternoon anchor on the channel.
Are you gasping for breath in astonishment?
If not, you will: On Tuesday, when Delhi was wrapped in a “pollution blanket”, India TV’s 1 pm debate show ‘Kahani Kursi Ki’ actually discussed how Pakistan had accused India of increasing the levels of pollution in the country by burning crackers.
News 18 India, on Tuesday afternoon, did a lengthy report on the hazardous increase of PM 2.5, but the anchor tried to console us by adding that the rise in pollution, post Diwali, was only “marginal” (“mamuli badhath”).
We don’t know about that, but one thing’s for certain: The AQI, and IQ level of these news television discussions is in the ‘very poor’ category.
By late Tuesday afternoon, news channels like NDTV 24×7—which has done the best and most extensive reporting on Delhi’s “poisonous air”—were reassuring us that AQI had dipped a little. It had gone from 350+ to 320, or some such!
Does the increase or decrease matter when we couldn’t show us Rashtrapati Bhavan from India Gate?
What should really take our breath away is this: When Delhi’s air quality is reportedly at the most hazardous levels in the world, television news channels are setting off “political patakhas” (Times Now) by reducing the air pollution crisis to a political firecracker.
They allow themselves to be used as platforms by politicians to promote their party’s point of view. Objective, factual data is thrown to the winds as everyone goes on air with their own set of ‘true’ facts.
None more so than the Delhi Environment Minister, Manjinder Singh Sirsa. He not only held a press conference on Tuesday, but he also freely distributed interviews to all news channels, where he blamed the AAP government in Punjab for forcing farmers to burn stubble to thereby increase their numbers, which in turn raised Delhi’s pollution.
He came up with his own data to prove his government had decreased pollution—and that this year wasn’t so bad, after all. The Hindustan Times indicated that the “average PM 2.5 across eight stations with consistent historical data peaked at 785.6 micrograms per cubic metre this Diwali, the highest since 2021..”
The Opposition parties, led by AAP, also joined in the blame game, and the politics over pollution went on all Tuesday.
Across news channels, it was the same story. There’s no point in anchor Navika Kumar asking whether we will control pollution or if “every government is going to pass the buck?” when her own debate was a political bout between members of the BJP, AAP, and a Congress supporter (Times Now).
Anchors like her ought to be asking tough questions to politicians, both at the Centre and state levels, on their indifference to the crisis throughout the year. They ought to be holding the public accountable for flouting every norm introduced to tackle pollution levels. They should be talking to scientists, researchers, and civil servants like Amitabh Kant, who tweeted a plan to tackle the situation on systemic and development issues.
But no, most news channels weren’t interested. Instead, “politics peaks over pollution” (India Today) as it’s a “BJP v/s AAP face off” (Republic TV) in TV studios.
Passing the buck
Once Delhi woke up to a white, hazy Tuesday sky, the alarm bells were ringing.
Early morning TV news did report on the ‘toxic clouds over Delhi’ (NDTV 24×7), but then they drifted away to less worrying topics. Such as Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to INS Vikrant on Diwali and a letter he wrote to the public.
“PM pens letter” or a uniformed PM staring at a (clear) sky from INS Vikrant as aircraft fly past, were popular lead headlines. These alternated with Bihar politics and the failure of the Mahagathbandhan to arrive at a seat-sharing agreement.
There were reports on Gaza (CNN News 18), Pakistan’s latest agenda (Republic TV), increase consumer consumption after GST revisions—and we even checked out astrologer Jai Madaan’s predictions for everything from Trump to India-Pakistan tensions (Times Now).
Pollution was largely ignored as if the news channels hoped it would just go away, float off with the mild breeze that started up in the afternoon.
NDTV 24×7 was an exception. It kept the focus on ‘Delhi Chokes’ throughout the day. It asked if Beijing could get its act together, how come Delhi can’t? It featured doctors, such as Dr Sanjeev Bagai, who argued that there was “no way on earth to check what’s in them (green crackers)”.
Others like Times Now, Aaj Tak, TNNB, CNN News 18 reported the high AQI readings headlines, but had little discussion. And when they did, it was “sensational charge” by Sirsa against AAP’s Punjab government (NDTV 24×7), interviews with BJP and Opposition spokespersons.
Most news channels agreed that Delhi’s air was in the danger zone. And that the city had disappeared behind a ‘thick smog’.
Prime time debates did take up the issue—“Capital chokes while politicians pass the buck,’ said Republic TV and then featured politicians passing the buck. The anchor, however, did try to get the politicians beyond their political plugs by asking questions such as, “Can we at all think of a time when we can actually breathe fresh air?”
Sirsa promptly gave his political message: We have had only seven months, a drastic change in the coming years…Rekha Gupta is working day and night… that’s the reason why we have been able to control the AQI, and today it is less than in other years…
To which the AAP representative said…. Do you really want to know?
The author tweets @shailajabajpai. Views are personal.
(Edited by Theres Sudeep)