Film fest ridicule too hot for DD anchor SUMI SUKANYA Amitabh Bachchan at the inauguration of the film festival in Panaji
New Delhi, Nov. 28: A torrent of social media ridicule targeting a rookie Doordarshan anchor’s gaffes at the inauguration of the International Film Festival of India in Goa last week has plunged her into despair. The mess comes two months after DD sacked an anchor for referring to visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping as “Eleven Xinping”, and has forced the national broadcaster to take a hard look at its process of selecting anchors for key events. It has also turned the spotlight on social media-fuelled “mob behaviour” -- in the words of a psychologist this newspaper contacted -- that has left the 25-year-old presenter “traumatised”. “Thousands of people have called her things like ‘stupid’ or ‘dumb’, or ruthlessly ridiculed her on the social media. My daughter is deeply traumatised,” her mother said from the family’s home in Mumbai. “She has not eaten since yesterday and is very disturbed. Given her state of mind, we’re worried for her safety.” The girl is a “casual” or part-time anchor with DD, which means she is not a professional journalist and is paid less than the “regular” anchors. Her November 20 assignment in Goa --- to interact with guests arriving for the fest’s opening --- was her second ever with DD. Her serial bloopers led the 15-minute spot to go viral on YouTube, following which Twitter and Facebook users began sharing links of the video. The anchor and her family have been flooded with calls, email and text messages from friends and others, her mother said. “Everybody is making fun of her. She is not a celebrity and can’t handle all this negative attention.” In the video, the anchor appears not to recognise faces well known to movie buffs and Indian TV viewers such as Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi and ad filmmaker Prahlad Kakkar. She asks Hong Kong actor Tony Leung if he watches movies and introduces Goa governor Mridula Sinha as “Governor of India”. She appears to be attributing the success of the festival, now in its 45th year, to the Prime Minister and his party’s “achchhe din” poll slogan. “Achchhe din aa rahe hein… Modiji ki according…. I feel it… I really feel it….definitely achchhe din aa rahe hein…” she’s heard gushing breathlessly. She declares the IFFI is all about “the essence of films” which will lead India to the path of development. “Isiliye to padhega Bharat to badhega Bharat,” she tells viewers, linking the festival to a tweaked version of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan tagline. The anchor’s family approached Mumbai police’s cyber crime branch today to lodge a case and try to get the video blocked. “People have selectively uploaded bits. It should be taken off the Internet,” her mother said. The video had received 1.8 lakh views till early this evening. “She is distraught and keeps repeating that her life and career are over,” the mother said. Psychiatrists said the girl might be undergoing an “acute stress reaction”. “This is an ugly aspect of social media --– people make mistakes but through a group effect, they get exaggerated on the social media,” said Anjali Chhabria, a Mumbai-based clinical psychologist. “What has happened in this case is a perfect example of mob behaviour, where people get thrills in pulling others down.” She added: “The girl has to forgive herself in order to overcome this and has to realise that these things don’t last.” A red-faced Prasar Bharati, the parent body that runs DD and All India Radio, termed the lapse a “systems failure” and sent an additional director-general to Mumbai today to inquire. “We want to figure out why such an inexperienced person was asked to go live at such a prestigious event,” Prasar CEO Jawhar Sircar said. “This is the fourth gaffe in the last seven months and is sad and humiliating. We have faced resistance every time we have tried to introduce a skill test for casual employees but this time we will enforce it.” While covering Narendra Modi’s recent US tour, DD had for sometime shown footage from an America trip by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh instead. During the Jammu and Kashmir floods, a senior reporter had repeatedly referred to cities and landmarks not by their official names but by their separatist monikers --- such as “Islamabad” for Anantnag. DD’s Mumbai centre, responsible for the IFFI coverage, defended the anchor. “While there’s no denying that she did a very bad job, there were various technical issues as well that led to the mess,” said Mukesh Sharma, head of DD’s Mumbai office. “Her earphone, for example, was not working, due to which she could not get cues from the producer of the show. Also, there was so much rush, it looks like the girl went nervous and blank.” http://www.telegraphindia.com/1141129/jsp/nation/story_19102425.jsp#.VHmgcLOYOlt
