Barkha Dutt, the “massively influential but ethically embattled” NDTV anchor subjected herself to an inquisition last night in a bid to extricate her credibility after the Niira Radia tapes were outed by Outlook* and Open magazines.
Unlike her well-lit Buck Stops Here set, NDTV situated the interrogation in a dark and spooky set, and the usually boisterous Dutt (“pretty” in the words of one editor) appeared sans her usual makeup, lending a mournful air to a rather morose affair.
In the words of the Wall Street Journal, she squandered her chance by being “too-argumentative”:
“Barkha Dutt sometimes gets flak for her interviewing style, with people saying she interrupts her interlocutors and doesn’t give them enough of a chance to speak.
“And unfortunately—especially for her, given this was a chance for her to win back alienated viewers—she was no different last night.”
BBC online correspondent Soutik Biswas writes:
“Indian journalists are fixers!” shouted a young lady in the audience during a play I attended in Mumbai last week. She even took the name of one of the country’s leading news presenters to demonstrate her point. The play was about to begin, and one of the actors was engaging in casual banter with the audience. “Do you think news is unbiased in our country?” he asked.
“Many in the audience guffawed, and the lady spoke up in outrage. At that moment it struck me how much the controversy over leaked phone conversations between some senior Indian journalists and a prominent lobbyist had enraged people. It is, clearly, the Indian media’s biggest crisis of credibility.”
* Disclosures apply
Scrrenshots: courtesy NDTV
Read the full story: A too-argumentative Barkha squanders chance
Also read: Indian media’s credibility crisis
IJR 
Now she is enhancing her image as a negative character and negative reality show.
Having now earned nick names such as
Bakwaas Barkha
Bark Barkha Bark
Barkhagate
Welcome to Screw the people
Buckwaas stops here
interesting blogs on the buck stops here special
http://mediaruminations.blogspot.com/2010/12/sab-mere-ko-hi-bol-rahein-hain.html
http://mediacrooks.blogspot.com/2010/12/ndtv-please-fire-barkha-dutt.html
Saw the programme where she tried to defend herself but methinks doth woman does protest too much!
This evening Vir Sangavi said gracefully sorry over the TV media. It was nice of him, but Barkha?????????????? She refused to take questions to day, and she has been a ———–. She has the support of the Congress party who are ready to take her as their spokes women.
Barkha should have gone off-air when she was held responsible for a handful of Indian soldiers beings killed in Kargil. Didn’t happen. She should have been booted off the channel after her appalling reportage and boorish behaviour (especially with families of victims stuck inside buildings with terrorists) during the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks. Didn’t happen. Now where’s the debate really? Shame on you NDTV. She may be a pioneer for you but its time to let go of her. Do it Prannoy and go back to being Indian TV’s conscience. Such would never be tolerated once outed in any half-decent US, UK or West European media house. Are you different?
To please her masters on whose pay-roll she is she attacked and insulted Manu Joseph for no reason.Both she and Sonia tried to pressurize right from the beginning of the show.It confirms that she is very close to congress party.Compared to her Vir Sanghvi was atleast gracious if not convincing yesterday on “Headlines Today”.Incidentally who is N.Ram to issue “clean” certificate to Prabhu Chawla.
Here’s another view on the NDTV discussion. http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?section=todaysfeatures&xfile=data/todaysfeatures/2010/december/todaysfeatures_december2.xml