NEW DELHI: The government owned and controlled TY monopoly Doordarshan is gearing up for the election. Station directors and senior news editors from all across the country were hastily summoned to Delhi over the past weekend for meeting addressed recently by H.K.L Bhagat, Minister for Information and Broadcasting and Mr. K. Tewary, Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Cong.
Positive Projection
Both Ministers made it very clear to those present that there should be a positive projection of government achievements. They pointed out that the present Government had been mandated for five years and that it was Doordarshan’s duty to inform people about what had been achieved.
Rajiv Projecting “Not Wrong” Tewary asked them not be fazed by criticism and assured them that the ruling party had its ear to the ground and knew what people wanted. He also assured all present that Doordarshan was doing a good job and emphasized the importance of the medium. Both Ministers told station directors and news editors that there was nothing wrong with projecting a Prime Minister who had been mandated by the people.
Tewary said credibility was something that people talked about over the bottle of Scotch and they were not to be perturbed by criticism over Doodarshan’s lack of credibility.
He said that it would be a good idea to hold such meetings every two months. Neither minister offered any specific guidelines but both made it amply clear to everybody present that TV would play a very important role in the forthcoming election.
Article extracted from this publication >> May 19, 1989
