Or how PR by paratroopers proved costly for foreign news channel!
As Republic news channel is just launched, By S Narendra, Former PIO and
ex-Govt spokesperson takes a look back at the launch of satellite news channels in India, beginning with CNN in 1991
Satellite TV news, very aptly, arrived
in India via CNN. Initially it was an intruder on the zealously guarded Indian
airwaves in 1991.The gulf was or the one between Kuwait and Saddam Hussian’s
Iraq, in which Peter Arnet of CNN telecast from a brief -case was a great
technological Disruptor. The pyrotechnics unleashed against the Iraqi regime by
US fleet spectacle no one wanted to miss
While publicly venting angst and fears
about this assault on Indian sovereignty, every VIP in Delhi wanted to gain
access to the CNN broadcast. Those who could not get permission to acquire a
satellite dish on top of their roof, visited luxury hotel coffee and other bars
fitted with satellite dish enabled TVs offering CNN news. While there was
‘collateral damage’, meaning civilian casualties in Iraq, for India luxury
hotels there was ;collateral gains’.
Intrepid Indian entrepreneurs, masters
of JUGAD, soon came up with a
business model to beat the ancient Indian Telecommunication Act that prohibited
private cables from crossing the public roads. They strung cables on roof tops
and trees and offered satellite TV services broadcast from Singapore and Hong Kong.
An upset government sent in vain one of its senior bureaucrat to Hong Kong in
search of equipment for blocking satellite TV intrusions into Indian sovereignty.
While CNN news broadcasts had arrived,
the broadcaster had not set up a news bureau in Delhi. Those were early days of
India's foray into economic liberalization under Prime Minister P.V.Narasimha
Rao. His government was very anxious to showcase India as a profitable
destination for FDI. And, we in the government were keen to have more and more
international media coverage of Indian economic news. As head of government of
India's media relations outfit-PIB, and government spokesperson, it was my job to facilitate the
entry of foreign correspondents and their news outlets. From about a corps of
40 foreign correspondents, it had grown to over 70.
I extended an invitation to CNN to open
a news bureau. A highly competent and soft spoken Ashis Ray was representing
CNN in India and his earlier attempts to open a news bureau in Delhi had for
some reason not met with the approval of the Ministry of External Affairs. In
the government, there were bureaucrats who were not comfortable with the
coverage of Indian news by BBC, CNN and other foreign news outlets. My own view
was that positive and negative coverage evens out over a period of time. In any
case, Indian news outlets generally provided a lot more negative perception of
India than their foreign counterparts (there
is another story to tell about the problems India media had created for foreign
media representatives during the Surat Plague) After discussing the matter
with PM Narasimha Rao, I had sent the invitation letter to CNN.
One of the hurdles for satellite TV
outlets was the government broadcaster
Doordarshan wanting to maintain its monopoly over receiving and distributing
satellite signals. Since the PM was already in the loop, DD could not block
CNN setting up its own satellite linking facility. Atlanta, head office of CNN,
promptly responded to my invitation and
within a couple of weeks opened their bureau. In the normal course, a news
channel setting up a news gathering outfit or reaching audiences is no big
deal. But CNN decided to make a big splash with a big bash. Top level CNN
executives accompanied by a PR team from Atlanta had arrived. When Americans are involved, everything becomes
loud and King size. For the CNN bash, invitations had gone out to cabinet
ministers to almost everyone who claimed
to be a VVIP in the capitals cocktail circuit. The evening party was hosted in
one of the capital’s famous five star hotels on Patel Marg. The hotel
convention canter was fitted with multiple TV screens displaying CNN logo.
As the VVIPs and smaller fries like me arrived,
CNN wanted to show its contribution for taking India story international. On
multiple screens CNN logo splashed followed by a story on India's capital. The
story was pitched to showcase a vibrant market economy spilling over to its
streets. The camera had panned on one of the bustling roads, accompanied by a
reporter’s commentary on the new India and facts about the blooming middle
class. The camera lingered a little longer than necessary on the road crammed
with a diversity of vehicles blocked by stray cattle. The VVIPs got up. There
was a sudden buzz in the semi-dark party hall. Soon the TV screens went blank
and the embarrassed CNN executives, with a crest-fallen Ashis Ray in tow, were whispering tepid apologies to the upset VVIPs. The
flowing alcohol did nothing to mitigate the discomfiture among the hosts and
guests.
As expected, there was no hole in the ground
for me to crawl in, I slipped out of the semi darkness. But before departing I
told Ashis Ray that a candid admission of the mistake by the top brass, an
unconditional apology and announcement of a
mechanism for rigorously checking
what goes into the future India story on
CNN could control the damage.
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| S Narendra Firmer adviser to PMs |
But, then neither me nor Ashis Ray were
aware of the ego of CNN bosses from
Atlanta and their sure-footed US PR advisers. First came a tepid apology, that
blamed the camera-person who was an Indian. Then came
the explanation that the commentary was positive. And, of course, it was put
out as a technical mistake.
My telephone (fortunately, it was a pre-mobile era) buzzed with the
message ‘we told you so’.
Is there a lesson in this? While entering a new media market, a soft
launch could have been tried rather than a big bang one. Brand ego could result
in costly mistakes. Local facilitators’ voice, (in this case Ashis Ray’s),
should get its due respect.
Watch out against PR by paratroopers.
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