Hope, hype and the media’s ‘track two’ summitrys

Nivedita Mookerji & Parul Malhotra

The Agra summit will go down in the sub-continent’s diplomatic history as the first major bilateral interaction between India and Pakistan where the “track two” process defined by the media, both print and television, was as important as the track one, official, process.

The endless editorials appearing in the sub-continents print media, with several Pakistani columnists figuring in Indian newspapers, even though there were not as many Indian writers being published in the Pakistani press, and live TV discussions over the entire weekend, would undoubtedly have influenced policy makers on both sides.

While newspapers and TV channels vied with each other to attract reader and viewer attention, inviting the barb from dour diplomats that there was too much hype, the fact is that official media on both sides failed to match the range and depth of debate in privately owned media. The contrast between the lively debates on Star TV, Aaj Tak and Zee TV, and the dull and drab format of Pakistan TV was all too visible to viewers in the sub-continent.

This fact provoked Pakistan human rights activist Ms Asma Jehangir to suggest to the publisher and CEO of the Pakistan daily, The Dawn, on Star TV that publishing groups in Pakistan should also set up private television channels and emulate the Indian experience.
Interestingly, in an unprecedented development, Pakistan Television (PTV) picked up live signals of Star News channel for some select programmes during the three-day summit. Star News anchor Prannoy Roy, called it “a historic moment in television.” Doordarshan signals were also being used on PTV.

The contrast between Indian television, including Doordarshan, and Pakistan TV was also to be seen in the age and professional profile of the participants on the networks. It almost appeared as if the most articulate and independent minded Pakistani commentators were all on private Indian satellite channels, especially Star and Zee TV, while the dourest commentators, with the singular exception of the fiery strategic analyst, Ms Shireen Mazari, were all reserved for PTV.

This difference in the profile of participants made all the difference to the range and character of the debate. PTV fully toed the official line, with commentators never getting into any disagreement. By contrast, Indian channels witnessed lively and acrimonious debates.
PTV’s hidebound discussants took time to register the sudden change in the atmospherics at Agra and it was only after a couple of their correspondents from Agra used the words “positive” and “optimistic” that the rhetoric on Kashmir began to get toned down and the word “hope” figured in the discussion.

If Star managed to score a point by offering its signals to PTV, its rival Zee squared up by roping in information and broadcasting minister Sushma Swaraj and introduced her as the channel’s “exclusive reporter” just before the one-on-one meet between Prime Minister A B Vajpayee and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf.

She did live up to her new avatar by giving exclusive information about some of the proceedings of the talks. In fact, Zee anchor Sanjay Pugalia said that Ms Swaraj’s presence on the channel as a “special reporter” was a turning point for Zee. It’s a different matter though that the minister was on Star News sometime later interpreting the summit.

The summit was also historic for the liberal sprinkling of humour in news on Indian television. Aaj Tak, for example, continued to compare the summit with a cricket match. While Mr Vajpayee was called the opening batsman, President Musharraf was referred to as a bowler.

Cricket terminology dominated the summit discussions on the channel for a long time. On a similar note, just after the Taj Hotel Lunch, a TV reporter asked Bollywood director Mahesh Bhatt whether the summit was a box-office hit or a flop. Mr Bhatt refused to give his ratings, but called President Musharraf “a big big superstar”, going by the general response to his visit.

In a way, the Indian media was going all out to make news popular and saleable. While most channels had deployed large teams to cover the event moment by moment, the lighter remarks by anchors added spice to the bulletins. While a camera crew was perched on top of a building for the best angle, the anchor asked his team to
take care. “Don’t fall off,” he said. Another asked his reporter to catch a bite, even as she was busy chasing sound-bytes all day long. And yet another advised his rain-drenched correspondent to dry up fast as he had a long day ahead.

From breaking news to exclusives to expressions to goof-ups, every news channel had something entertaining to offer, making the summit memorable for the viewers. Even as the channels competed with each other on breaking news ahead of others, what stayed on with the viewers were some of the favourite expressions of the channels.

Body language, chemistry, storm in a tea cup, blind date, symbolism, cautious optimism were among the expressions common to channels. Then there were the historic discrepancies between channels. While one channel reported that President Musharraf left a gift of $400 for his governess at Haveli, another put the amount at $200. Also, one channel said that President Musharraf was transported to his early days when he visited his old house (he even spotted an old switch), another reported that he didn’t find anything familiar at his old house. Then there were goof-ups such as an anchor citing 1963 as the year of Chinese aggression instead of 1962.

Surprisingly, two foreign channels, BBC and CNN, which are known for their focus on Indo-Pak matters, had low-key coverage of the event, when compared to the Indian channels. This is despite their much-publicised schedule for the coverage. Ms Sushma Swaraj attached a great significance to the role of the media in the summit. She said, “Mr Vajpayee and President Musharraf know that they cannot come out empty-handed from the summit because of the high expectations arising out of media attention.” Mr Haroon, of The Dawn had a more romantic notion to the result of the summit. “I am sure if he visits the Taj at night, Musharraf will be a changed man.”
Clearly, the Agra summit has shown that the media has become an important element in policy making. Rather than stick to the traditional role of reporting news, this time round it was involved in shaping that news in the manner in which it facilitated a parallel dialogue between Indian and Pakistani interlocutors. The “track two” at Agra may well turn out to be as important as the “track one” process in shaping the future course of events in the Indian sub-continent.