Face the Nation on CNN-IBN asked its viewers whether the corporate sector is thriving on black money. At the end of the show,92 per cent of respondents said yes,CNN-IBN reported. One viewer said huh,as per my report. That viewer was yours truly.
Huh because it is rare,even in news TV debates,for a shows chatter to so spectacularly not address the shows purported agenda. This conclusion has nothing to do with the following,all of which made this edition of FTN as pleasure-giving as many talk TV shows are:
a) Is the colour of money now firmly black,the anchor asked as the show opened. (Absolutely,obviously not,but this kind of questions is what makes TV what it is)
b) Money is being channelised to prop up a black market economy,the anchor said. (Theres a huge difference between black money and a black market economy,but,hey,are you going to watch TV or quibble?)
c) Government is red-faced over black money,CNN-IBN told us,but the on-screen caption said Government red over black money. (Clearly,a nuanced difference in the editorial lines of the reporters and the news desk; significantly,however,when CNN-IBN said black money blackens UPAs mood,there was no second and subtle observation saying government black over black money.)
d) Money stashed abroad,the anchor said,has resulted in monetary damage inflicted on the exchequer. (Did CNN-IBN mean that tax revenues have been lost because of black money,then why it didnt it say so? Perhaps because that sounds so un-TV-like. Monetary damage inflicted,now thats drama. Its entirely possible,of course,CNN-IBN meant something else.)
e) Speaking on voluntary income disclosure schemes,CNN-IBN lamented the fact that these policies,among other things,prop up the black market economy big time. (Refer to our earlier submission that black money and black market economy arent the exact same thing; also money kept hitherto hidden but declared and taxed is no longer black,right? But apparently even this kind of cash props up a black market economy big time. Black is black,as they say.)
f) A panelist who had once said India is a banana republic,reaffirmed in this show that,yes,India is a banana republic,but heres the news,in the banana republic theres monkey business afoot; the panelist said so. The anchor said,those are strong words. (They are indeed,and not just strong either.)
Okay,so all of the above was quite enjoyable in the way talk TV usually is but thats not why,as I explained at the beginning,I said,huh. I said huh because the show almost never addressed the question it asked: is the corporate sector thriving on black money?
CNN-IBN talked about red and black,bananas and monkeys (even King Lear),about what PM can or cant do,about the importance of making an example of crooked guys,about MPs,MLAs and babus but it simply wouldnt talk about whether the corporate sector is thriving on black money. And yet,amazingly,92 per cent of responders thought at the end of the show that corporates are indeed thriving on black money.
I am blue-faced as I try to figure this out. Or should I say,I am blue?
