Make as much mockery of what TV news has become today, but there’s no discounting the fact that the life of a TV reporter is hard. 

There is the chase for that elusive, exclusive byte, the maddening hours, pressure from bosses at the studios and, of course, crazy competition. You know, the Times-Now-got-it-first or first-on-Republic TV syndrome. 

What happened on Thursday was a glimpse of how tempers can flare and things can get, umm, a little intense in the chase for that exclusive byte for those TRPs, which in turn get advertisements, which in turn keep the media business going. (All that can change, of course, if you pay to keep news free. See what we did there?) 

Coming back to what happened yesterday – yup, we are referring to the apparent face-off between Congress’ resident foot-in-mouth chief Mani Shankar Aiyar and a Republic TV reporter, with a guest appearance by an Aaj Tak reporter – the visuals of which were broadcast by Times Now as “exclusive”. (Smart of you Times Now. Very smart.)

As it is with such things, none of the reporters we spoke to who were present at the spot wanted their names revealed. Newslaundry also reached out Republic TV reporter Piyush Mishra and Aaj Tak reporter Mausmi Singh but both are bound by their respective company’s policy to not speak to other media outlets. However, we pieced together the information we managed to get off the record and here’s what we got to know of what occurred on Thursday.

A group of TV news reporters and cameramen, including those from India TV, ANI, Aaj Tak as well as NewsX, had been waiting for three hours for Aiyar to finish a seminar and speak to them (as per his promise). 

Since Aiyar had landed in the eye of a political storm with his remarks on Prime Minister Narendra Modi being a “neech aadmi”, it is only natural for journos to ensure that they secure an “exclusive” byte from Aiyar and have his response play on their respective channels in endless loops.

A reporter who was on the scene told Newslaundry, that while everyone waited for Aiyar to get off the stage and speak to the group, Republic TV’s Mishra cornered him rather aggressively. “When he (Aiyar) had already agreed to speak to everyone, there was no need for poking the mic and pushing him,” the reporter said on condition of anonymity. “If he were running away or had refused to talk to us, then it would have been understandable,” the reporter added. “But he was ready to talk. However, he felt heckled and he did what he did,” said the reporter. 

Republic TV, though, has another tale to tell. Playing bits of what happened, it said yesterday that its crew was attacked by Aiyar. 

What Aiyar did do was snatch Republic TV’s microphone from Mishra’s hand and put it down on the floor along with the connecting wire. This was right after the reporter asked Aiyar to answer his question, which was whether or not Aiyar would apologise to Modi in Hindi. (This is also the time when the Aaj Tak reporter is seen trying to get a byte.)

Aiyar had earlier issued a conditional apology stating that since Hindi wasn’t his first language, he hadn’t realised that “neech” also had a caste connotation. 

Subsequently, Aiyar told the rest of the group that he would answer everyone’s questions. But not until the Republic TV reporter left. In the aftermath, colleagues begin asking Mishra to leave even as Mishra continued to question Aiyar’s singling out of his channel. 

“You misbehave, you go out,” one reporter can be heard saying.

“Piyush you are discrediting all of us,” another voice is heard. 

“Why did you throw my mic?” Mishra asks Aiyar as he tries approaching him again.

“Piyush humara to ho jaane do yaar,” another voice speaks. 

“Kya tamasha hai. Nai karne denge humlog. (What nonsense. We won’t allow this.) We have been waiting for three hours, you can’t push the mic on his face… stop putting your agenda forward,” Aaj Tak reporter Singh tells Mishra.

Singh insists that Aiyar, or as she calls him – “sir” – be allowed to talk. She turns to Mishra and chides him: “We will not allow you, Piyush, we will not allow you… this is not the kind of journalism we promote… rubbish kind of journalism promoted by Republic TV.”

“Even we will lose our chance,” another one says. 

What stands out apart from Singh going at Mishra for his “misbehaviour”, is the desperation of scribes present there to secure a byte from Aiyar on the big news of the day. Speaking of which, an India Today reporter told us, “While I don’t defend Mani Shankar, you should not be hindering other’s work either. The news is important for all of us. You can’t be running your own agenda. In doing so, you are disrespecting your own colleagues.”  

A Republic TV reporter told Newslaundry: “Every journalist has a right to question a politician. We are not here to put softball questions which the concerned politician may want. Piyush is a very humble yet focused reporter who was doing his job bravely. Is asking questions to a politician heckling?”

All we can say is that all reporters present on the spot yesterday are answerable to their respective networks and follow the brief their bosses give. That brief is often dictated by the compulsion to score maximum eyeballs and has little to do with news value. So long as TRPs remain king, expect more such tamasha on your TV screens.