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• “Tonight’s the night for a drop. Go on let yerself go!”

  Broadcast On January 3, 2000

  ... signs proclaiming ‘exit only’. Trafalgar Square was a heaving sea of humanity. If it stopped at all it was to marvel at the two enormous screens erected by the BBC. For in the middle of the city, in ...

• You’re wrong, Mr. Nayar!

  Broadcast On October 14, 2002

  ...  The same is true of TV. Just looking at the BBC as we see it, I’ve spotted 8 faces who regularly appear on screen. I didn’t count the black ones. And then there are those who work for ITV, Channels ...

• Why won’t he speak English?

  Broadcast On September 16, 2002

  ... not as good as he could be but he certainly holds your attention. Now pause to reflect on what Mr. Vajpayee’s Hindi cost India. On the previous day, the BBC broadcast Hamid Karzai and Pervez Musharraf ...

• WHY WE SAY CLIP-CLOP, AND NEVER CLOP-CLIP

  Broadcast On July 21, 2024

  ... English that native speakers know without knowing”. A BBC article explains further. “If there are three words then the order has to go I, A, O. If there are two words then the first is I and the second ...

• Why Prasar Bharati is wrong to rebuke PTI

  Broadcast On July 5, 2020

  ... Bharati (PB), supposedly an independent broadcaster we once gullibly believed could be the equal of the BBC, has threatened “to review its subscription to the Press Trust of India (PTI)”. The reason, according ...

• WHY DOES THE QUEEN STILL COMMAND OUR ATTENTION?

  Broadcast On September 18, 2022

  ... BBC. It’s not as well-resourced as CNN and the Brits themselves are critics of it. Indeed, their governments are often committed to emasculating it. But for the outside world it has a unique reputation ...

• Who are the sons and daughters of India?

  Broadcast On January 19, 2020

  ... hindus are undeniably ill-treated there are reasons to believe the treatment of other religious minorities is worse. The BBC’s Reality Check team says “the majority of blasphemy cases up to 2018” were ...

• When the elderly are, in fact, the young ones

  Broadcast On April 3, 2000

  ... the amazing people he has met and the things he has done – and boy he’s done them all – then watch him on BBC on Wednesday night at 10.00 p.m. If you miss it, don’t panic, there is a repeat on saturday! ...

• What’s in a name?

  Broadcast On November 18, 2010

  “Did you notice how quickly they’ve stopped calling her Kate?” Pertie sounded as if he had made an eureka discovery. “It’s now Catherine and the BBC’s gone one step ...

• WHAT WAS THE RATIONALE FOR THE WHEAT EXPORT BAN?

  Broadcast On May 29, 2022

  ... about India’s wheat export ban? On Sunday night Kristalina Georgieva, the IMF Managing Director, told the BBC she “very much hopes” India will rethink its decision.   Let me end by saying we can’t ...

• WHAT QUESTIONS TO ASK IN AN INTERVIEW WITH A PM

  Broadcast On May 26, 2024

  Samir Shah, now Chairman of the BBC but once upon a time my first boss at London Weekend Television, taught me most of what I know about asking questions on television. Perhaps the most important lesson ...

• What Indian TV news anchors get wrong

  Broadcast On August 23, 2020

  ... thought it through to the same extent.   “Yes”, I mumbled feebly. The BBC and CNN may want large audiences but they don’t pander to them by driving down the quality of their discussions. This is why ...

• WHAT INDIA CAN LEARN FROM BRITISH POLITICS

  Broadcast On October 30, 2022

  ...  Let me cite the media in Britain to illustrate the contrast. Look at the BBC and you’ll be stunned by the profusion of asian faces. Here are some you are bound to have seen: Matthew Amroliwala, Geeta ...

• WE HAVE TURNED OUR BACK ON RUSHDIE

  Broadcast On August 21, 2022

  ... may have changed, he continues to identify with this country. In 2000, in an interview for the BBC’s HardTalk India, I asked him: “Is this country still home?” This was his reply: “There’s a sense in which ...

• USING WORDS TO REMAKE AND RECLAIM THE WORLD

  Broadcast On April 28, 2024

  ... me (was) whispering, Live. Live.”   He was stabbed fifteen times. In the neck, right eye, left hand, liver, abdomen, forehead, cheeks, mouth and across his torso. To Alan Yentob of the BBC, he said ...

• Understanding Mamata

  Broadcast On April 22, 2012

  ... the BBC programme HARDtalk India an interview. It was fixed for 11.30 a.m. on a mutually agreed date in August. It was reconfirmed repeatedly, including the night before. But these assurances proved to ...

• Two questions about the citizenship act

  Broadcast On December 22, 2019

  ... the BBC’s Reality Check team “the majority of blasphemy cases up to 2018” have been filed against Ahmadiyas or other Muslims, not Christians and Hindus. Yet they’re not covered by CAA.   Regarding ...

• Two faces of Mr Modi’s government: the good and the ugly

  Broadcast On June 15, 2014

  ... it becomes similar to the BBC. Not surprisingly, Mr Javdekar’s views won a lot of praise.  Journalists, in particular, were loud in saying so. But there was something  more which, even if people were ...

• Twenty four hours in Washington

  Broadcast On November 12, 2001

  ... lie. Still it’s a strange tale although well worth telling. Early in October I wrote to Dr. Rice to request an interview for our BBC programme HARDtalk India. After a few preliminary phone calls to ...

• Trying to hide a reality we don’t know how to face up to

  Broadcast On March 15, 2015

  Most people I know have rubbished the arguments for banning the BBC documentary on the Nirbhaya rape and, instinctively, they are right to do so. However, in this instance, it’s worth examining the handful ...