When Delhi’s AQI hit emergency levels, most primetime news discussed it. With some exceptions

Air quality levels in Delhi hit emergency levels on November 14 and 15, with Air Quality Indices standing at 472 and 466, respectively. The System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research recorded an AQI of 552 for Delhi at noon. Schools were closed, and the air quality in the National Capital Region isn’t expected to improve any time soon.

On November 15, it was revealed that a high-level meeting to discuss the severe air pollution in Delhi was cancelled when most of the officials invited didn’t attend. Top officials who missed the meeting included MP Gautam Gambhir, the environment secretary, a representative of the Delhi Development Authority and the commissioners of the three Municipal Corporations of Delhi.

Given this development, and the fact that Delhi’s air hit the “severe-plus” category, it was expected that prominent TV news anchors would devote space in their primetime, or other, shows to the public health emergency that’s gripped the capital since November 1. 

Many news anchors did. For some others…don’t hold your breath.  

Republic

On Thursday, while Delhi couldn’t breathe, Republic‘s Arnab Goswami decided to hold a debate on the defacement of Swami Vivekananda’s bust in the JNU campus. He sarcastically said to a panellist, “You praise Afzal Guru, Burhan Wani, celebrate the Maoist attack, you say azaadi for kashmir, you say Bharat tere tukde honge, you want Maoist seminars on your campus and then you want us to fund it, we the taxpayers will fund this as well.”

Goswami made no mention of air pollution. 

On Friday, Goswami was missing from his show. In his place, anchor Shivani Gupta moderated a one-hour debate at 9 pm on the Income Tax Tribunal’s rejection of a plea by the Gandhi family in the National Herald tax evasion case. 

News18 India

On Thursday, on News18 India’s primetime debate show Aar Paar, anchor Amish Devgan held debates on the Supreme Court’s rejection of Rafale review petitions.

On Friday, Devgan discussed the Sena-NCP-Congress tussle in Maharashtra to form the government. His focus was on whether the parties “bargained public votes for power”.

No mention was made of air pollution.

NDTV 24×7

On NDTV’s Left, Right and Centre on Thursday, Vishnu Som discussed the effects of toxic air on street children and questioned the panellists on how to safeguard them from harmful consequences. Speaking on the role of political leadership for tackling pollution in Delhi, he said, “It is not an issue which we can pretend will go away.”

On Friday, Nidhi Razdan moderated The Big Fight where the topic was the economic slowdown. On his show Executive Decision the same day, Jain featured an economic expert to discuss the economic slowdown too.

India TV

On Thursday, Rajat Sharma appeared on his show Aaj Ki Baat Rajat Sharma Ke Saath and discussed how pollution levels in Delhi have reached severe levels.

“Every year in November, tall claims are made about curbing Delhi’s air pollution, odd-even scheme is introduced, there is a ban on stubble burning and construction activities. However, despite this, everything comes back to square one,” he said. 

On Friday, Saurav Sharma appeared on Rajat Sharma’s show and did a segment on worsening air quality in Delhi and the absenteeism of MPs from the parliamentary standing committee’s meeting. 

India Today

On Thursday on his show India First, anchor Gaurav Sawant followed in Goswami’s footsteps and condemned the defacement of the bust of Swami Vivekananda’s statue by JNU students. Meanwhile, on Newstrack, Rahul Kanwal debated the divisive positions on the allotment of five-acre land to Muslim side by the Supreme Court on November 9.

On Friday, as the news broke about officials and MPs skipping the meeting on air pollution, India Today anchor Shiv Aroor called their excuses for not attending the meeting “ridiculous”. On the same day, Rajdeep Sardesai said, “Enough of this buck-passing. You don’t have a concern for the environment because there are no votes in it unlike in religion.”

Sawant, however, stuck to discussing Sunanda Vashisht, an Indian columnist who spoke at the US congressional hearing on human rights. He claimed it was a “spine-chilling response to counter Pakistan’s propaganda on Kashmir”. 

Aaj Tak

On Thursday, Aaj Tak’s primetime anchor Rohit Sardana decided to discuss the rift between saints in Ayodhya over the membership of temple trust on Thursday on his show Dangal. Anjana Om Kashyap’s show Halla Bol was devoted to the power tussle in Maharashtra.

On November 15, Sardana’s show was shot in Ayodhya and featured saints who were supposedly part of the Ramjanambhoomi movement. This allowed Sardana to ask them pertinent questions like: “Ram mandir kab banega?”, “Ab Ram mandir ka raasta aage kya hoga?”, “Ab Ram Mandir ke saath-saath Ayodhya ke vikas ka roadmap ab kya hoga?”. 

This when about three hours away from him, the air quality in Lucknow hit the “very poor” category. 

Anjana Om Kashyap followed suit by moderating debates on the ongoing divide over the Supreme Court’s allotment of five acres of land to the Muslim community.

However, on the same day, the show Khabardar had anchor Sweta Singh presenting an analysis of air quality efforts in Beijing, in the context of the Supreme Court pulling up the Centre for not controlling air pollution in the capital. On the absenteeism of MPs from the parliamentary panel, Singh remarked, “Our representatives have become careless towards pollution.”

CNN-News18

On Thursday, Anand Narsimhan moderated a debate on The Right Stand about the SC’s decision to refer the Sabrimala case to a seven-judge bench and its rejection of Rafale review petitions. Meanwhile, Bhupendra Chaubey on Viewpoint did a live report from Jantar Mantar and discussed the Rafale review petitions with a panel and common people. Interestingly, he also debated on the toxicity of Delhi’s air with the same panel. While admitting that the levels were hazardous all over Delhi on Children’s Day, neither Chaubey nor the panellists wore masks. 

On Friday, Anand Narsimhan’s show The Right Stand discussed the “lack of political will” on the issue of air pollution. He said, “Despite everybody claiming that we have taken efforts how is it that the air is only getting more toxic?”

Chaubey did a ground report from Select Citywalk Mall, Saket, speaking to Delhi residents about the worsening air quality. He also explored an “oxygen bar” called Oxy Pure.

Times Now

On Thursday, Rahul Shivshankar and Navika Kumar held debates on the SC’s rejection of Rafale review petitions and the defacement of Swami Vivekananda’s statue in JNU. Speaking on the clips of vandalised statue in JNU campus, Shivshankar remarked, “This is the real face of JNU.”  

On Friday, Times Now buzzed with debates questioning the netas who skipped the parliamentary meeting. Navika Kumar, on her show Newshour, said, “The BJP will blame the Aam Aadmi Party for not using the green cess, the Aam Aadmi Party will say that Gautam Gambhir and other BJP members were not there. What about us citizens?” 

Shivshankar was seen on India Upfront questioning politicians who skipped the meeting citing “prior engagements”. “What is more important — people’s lives or politics? Who are they serving: their own self-interest, their party’s interest or the public?” 

Zee News

On his show DNA, Sudhir Chaudhary discussed how pollution levels are destroying children’s futures as schools remained shut in Delhi-NCR till Friday. On the occasion of Children’s Day, he remarked, “Children are feeling suffocated because of the pollution. Smog has held them captive in their homes.”

On Friday, Chaudhary focused on other stories including how Zee News reporters were prevented from entering the JNU campus, Sunanda Vashisht’s response in the US congressional hearing on human rights, and the floods in Venice, among other things.