BY DEEPA BHOOKHUN

Here?s a little survey exercise. (It obviously won?t work as I only have the questions and not the answers but hey, humour me.) Assuming you stayed in last Saturday and watched the main news bulletin at 1930 with avid interest (you would, wouldn?t you, it?s usually so enlightening), did you want to know what the prime minister, who held a press conference in the morning, had to say?

If the answer is no, no matter, keep humoring me. Did you want to know the mood of the prime minister? Did you want to know his reaction to the Air Mauritius crisis? Did you want to know what he feels about the proposal to make people pay Rs 100 to get into Port- Louis? Did you want to know what happened during those foreign visits? Did you want to hear what else the man had to say?

I am assuming you answered yes to the above questions. (Yes I know what they say about people who assume too many things?) The point is, you now know. And it is no thanks to the MBC.

Did you wonder why the MBC, who according to a virtual MBC Act, has for main function to promote the image of members of government, did not provide you with information that any citizen of this country is entitled to have? Despite the fact that you dutifully pay your dues (Rs100 in this particular case) to the Corporation? I personally do not have the answers to that question but I have a few bits and pieces of information that you may find useful. And being magnanimous, I shall proceed to share what little information I know.

Three seasoned journalists and two MBC cameras were sent by whoever makes decisions at the MBC to cover the function at the Treasury building. The chairman was also present (but he wasn?t seen anywhere near the cameras). The press conference ended just before one o?clock, Saturday afternoon. The team said they had to rush back to the studios to edit the images for the news bulletin. I had heard that extracts of the press conference would be included in the 1930 news bulletin and the Question and Answer exercise ? to which the PM subjected himself, was to be aired after the news bulletin, so I guess, at about 2015.

The Q&A exercised was not aired in the end, on Saturday because it was not ready. Not ready? I am no expert on television matters but would someone please explain how seven hours is not enough time to edit and prepare a visually unimaginative Q&A section of a press conference?

The MBC seems lately at a loss to get things right. It is always either too much or nothing at all. The tolerant people that we are, made peace with that fact and accepted that we shouldn?t expect anything that required the use of too much brainpower from the MBC.

But we do expect to be filled in on a press conference held by the PM. We do not want three channels airing the same press conference at the same time- especially when the exercise was more like a PR exercise- but we do expect the people at the MBC to use some degree of discernment and give us INFORMATION.

I have another question and I am not assuming an answer to this one; who calls the shot at the MBC? How come this corporation cannot seem to function like any other normal institution?

Oh and one remark. If people can?t do the job they?re paid to do, then they should walk. Or be made to.