With five 24-hour news channels on air guess who is worried about good-old Doordarshan news run by an autonomous Prasar Bharati Corporation? Information and Broadacasting Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad who has taken to watching a lot of news on DD, is not happy with the fare on air.At a meeting last week before he left for Cannes, Prasad told officials to shape up for competition ahead. Watching the proceedings was media advisor and PMO OSD, Sudheendra Kulkarni.Unlike his predecessor, who ticked off women anchors for the choice of clothes, Prasad, does not like the manner in which news is being read by Doordarshan anchors. He is not too happy with the news set or presentation of news. More important, there is not enough ‘‘Breaking News’’ on DD, the Minister pointed out.With five captive news channels, competition is getting tough, Prasad is said to have reminded the officials after a brief presentation on DD News.Ministry sources said, Prasad had gone to the extent of picking flaws in the readers’ diction. ‘‘He pointed out mispronuncations in Hindi bulletins,’’ they said. It is also learnt that Kulkarni is already working on ways to professionalise DD news.Doordarshan DG S.Y. Quraishi said the new-look set is expected to be ready by June 1. Graduate Ajoy Davis of the National Institute of Design is working on improving the looks for a sum of Rs 9.75 lakh.
