Prasad Bharti CEO slams edits of DD's Modi interview, blames Manish Tewari

New Delhi: In the wake of a massive controversy over Narendra Modi's interview to Doordarshan, Prasar Bharati today distanced itself from the row saying it was completely left to the editorial team of DD News to go ahead and telecast it.Acknowledging that certain comments on personalities were apparently edited, the public broadcaster, which supervises the functioning of Doordarshan, said the free hand was given even though there were concerns that a "balancing interview" from the other side could not be procured despite best attempts of DD News.[caption id="attachment_1495849" align="alignleft" width="380"] Narendra Modi. PTI[/caption]Interestingly, Jawhar Sircar, CEO of Prasar Bharati, wrote to members of the Prasar Bharati board informing them about the circumstances surrounding the interview "as I see them".The letter comes in the midst of a raging controversy over the delay in the telecast of the Modi's interview and editing out of portions relating to his observations on Priyanka Gandhi and his purported friendship with Ahmed Patel, a close aide of Congress President Sonia Gandhi.Sircar, a former bureaucrat, refers to the "non-stop" calls, social media messages, e-mails and other queries that he has been inundated with to find out why DD "withheld the interview" on 27 April and why it "edited out" portions as was evident from the video clips that were now being shown by other channels.Sircar said if an initiative of the PB board to bring in "external professionals" and change the rules regarding appointment of DG's of Doordarshan and All India Radio had succeeded, "we may not have faced the type of public criticism that a single interview has invited."About the interview being withheld, Sircar said he was told by DG News of Doordarshan on 27 April afternoon, the day after the interview was done, that his team was on the job and that it would be telecast soon."But many of us felt that the subject was 'too current' to hold on and further delays could only cause unnecessary controversies."I gave them the 'strength' and it appears that while portions critical of Doordarshan were telecast, certain comments on other personalities were apparently edited," he said enclosing a statement issued by DG News of Doordarshan on the issue last night.Sircar said questions have been raised in the public domain about the impartiality and the motives of the public broadcaster and told the members of the resolutions of the PB board seeking more operational autonomy from the Information and Broadcasting ministry, which it did not get.In a way, therefore, he said the ministry lost an opportunity to convince a young minister, an obvious reference to Manish Tewari, to break this long traditional linkage between the ministry and the News Division which has continued unabated even after PB was born and assigned its distinct role in 1997.In spite of this, the CEO said he must admit that he had found enough cooperation from the News Division team, over which PB has no real powers. "But despite a dramatic turnaround in the news presentation, a 'shadow' may still be looming over government servants posted there," he said.He offered to lay some of these issues before the board meeting in June hoping that it would convince the authorities to allow PB to function with greater autonomy and professional competence.He also suggested that the best option now for the News Division is to make all out efforts to seek a balancing interview so that the neutrality of the public broadcaster is not questioned, telecast interviews at the earliest juncture with due publicity and do so without editing.It would help clear the air and also attract TRPs for DD besides reinforcing neutrality and respect for plurality of opinions, he said.PTI