Both Rajdeep Sardesai and Barkha Dutt interviewed Sonia Gandhi and were telecast at almost the same time on their respective channels viz. CNN IBN and NDTV 24x7.
Personally I felt Barkha appeared too overwhelmed and flattered to have Sonia with her. She was being so soft and behaving alomst like a disciple listening to a revered Saint. And her lower jaw was jutting out and teeth exposed. I think I have done too much post-mortem of the interview.
But you don't expect a journalist of her standing to act like that. You always feel that being a woman she could bring out more from Sonia.
Rajdeep in contrast was sharp, confident. But he did not give Sonia enough time to respond and interrupted Sonia during her reply and jumped to the next question. This irks the viewer. Engery is always good but loudness and cutting short a guest is intolerable. That's why one finds Vir Sanghvi a delight to watch as he lets the person speak without fear of being interrupted in speech. Still, I found Rajdeep's interview as that of a journalist while of Barkha as 'So Madam what dish is being cooked in your kitchen kind'. Meanwhile, the media watchdog The Hoot.org did not find the interview of Rajdeep as sharp and termed it as soft.
ETEMAD LAUNCHED in Hyderabad
Not much attention was given to the launch of Urdu daily Etemad from Hyderabad recently. With the launch of the newspaper, Hyderabad now has three well-known Urdu papers that are read in the country and abroad. Siasat, Munsif are as strong as they were and Etemad is fresh. The launch has proved that Hyderabad remains the City where Urdu-speaking populace remains concentrated in India. In terms of popularity only Urdu Times and Inquilab of Mumbai apart from Urdu Rashtriya Sahara (Delhi and Lucknow) match the newspapers of Hyderabad.
