I would hire Arnab Goswami, but who will pay his salary?: Prasar Bharati CEO

The Twitter account of Jawhar Sircar describes him as a person who has paid a price for airing his views frankly. The outgoing CEO of public broadcaster Prasar Bharati quit his post a year before it was supposed to end due to “tiredness of unsuccessfully bringing a change”. Highlighting the steps, he took to Arindam Majumder, on his last day at office. Sircar blasts the sarkari culture at the organization and stops short of saying that the organization will die if it does not accept change.

Your tenure comes to end earlier than expected. What changes have you tried to bring in and how successful have they turned out?
 

 

Doordarshan has gone on a self-destruction mode long back. Why did Greece fall? Why did Turkey, with such a glorious past, now a problem for the region? Because, they refused to change with time. The decline started to get noticed from 2006 when private players like Star got in syndicated programmes at heavy cost. They got in 'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire' to India as 'Kaun Banega Crorepati' and improved upon it with Amitabh Bacchan, while DD was happy with its cardboard program. It happens because its decision-making powers are constricted. Despite that DD was able to grab eyeballs due to good programs like Ramayana, Mahabharata, Nukkad, Buniyad which were done by outsiders. Since 2003, there was a rethink by management and it decided to create its own programs. That was a disastrous decision.
 

Firstly, they drove away talent and secondly operators started coming in. From 2012 when I took charge, I tried to cut free this syndicate and there was resistance. But most of the officials were in No Change Mode. Everybody who started to talk realistically was branded a class enemy.

I believe I was branded one, but somebody had to tell the emperor that you are not wearing clothes. The syndicate started working against me. Still, I am glad that there is 100 percent unanimity now on the board regarding the slot sale.
 

Why do you think a public broadcaster should sell off slots to private parties? How does it benefit?
 

First of all, DD’s losses are real. The moment we go in for slot sale, the slot operator is not living off government’s money. It means, when a private player bids 4 lakhs for the slot, he earns that 4 lacs through a quality program. This also helps in breaking the syndicate of some “favorite producers” who kept on doing substandard programs under different names.
 

But Doordarshan officials say that it has been unsuccessful in finding bidders who even clears the basic eligibility?
 

When somebody is under economic threat, they will not kiss you. The battle has been fought thrice and finally there is consensus that it needs to be done. Who gave DD the authority to decide sou moto that nobody in India is eligible? If you have such a strong view then you come back to the board. Who has delegated that power to them? Am I to believe, that among the four top producers in India who have been doing top class work elsewhere, no one was eligible. Who the hell are you trying to con? It’s a ridiculous decision.

While the board at Prasar Bharti sent a message, the babus there sent a very different message. There was cross messaging going on. Basically, it is a step to open up the system to private players. It happened in telecom, airlines, banks everywhere. Why should Doordarshan follow a backdated policy?
 

Have you have been able to convince the board of the policy?
 

I will not say that. But the board was very clear. Anybody who doesn’t agree with the system has to go out.

DD also lost the competitive advantage because it stopped many educational programs?
 

I was coming to that. Serials are just the lead. Why is nobody looking at the regional channels? So the question of cross benefiting was thought of. If there are good documentaries in Tamil or Kannada, let’s show it in Hindi. It will be made mandatory to take from regional channels. DD can never be a national channel not showing regional programmes. By January DD will be showing more features and quality features.
 

The shift from analog to digital has been slow for Prasar Bharati?
 

Yes. Just because there are some engineers know to make narrow gauge, the country cannot run on narrow gauge. I had a huge fight regarding this too- just to mainstream the technology. You know how much short waves guzzles? Rs 120 per crore per year. AIR doesn’t even have 120 listeners. Why are they run? The board has ordered its closure. There is a requirement of shutting down terrestrial towers and let off half the workforce manning those.
 

Why does Doordarshan’s programs fail to attract viewers?
 

Because,  it’s completely sarkari. Now that is a problem when you are competing with private sector, it lacks creativity. A small example is All India radio doesn’t have s sanctioned post for Radio Jockey in the days of FM. Anyone who tries to change things, is shunted out. The English king never does any wrong because he never does anything. DD News in one hour during prime time alone has 60 percent viewership amongst all English news channels. How? We hired a guy from private channels and gave them complete freedom. People don’t want to watch a screaming channel if given a decent an option. When we show sports, people watch us. That means people want to watch DD.
 

There should be a system where you don’t need to wait for UPSC to find you a video editor. There should be hiring from industry in a short term contract and there should be a hire and fire policy. It’s all about a single guy who comes and decides to bell the cat.
 

You have been a bureaucrat. Do you think you should be the last and this organization should be led by specialists?
 

I will be happy to be the transition man. But who from the current market will be ready to work on Rs 80,000. Is the organization ready to pay Arnab Goswami’s salary? We will get Arnab then.