In the age of jet-paced electronic media reporting, being the first on screen seems to be the only motto and not even truth and accuracy matters. Almost every news channel in Telugu showcases this on a daily basis and at an alarming frequency.

It was the turn of iNews, on Monday morning around 10.30. The channel was perhaps among the first to flash the BREAKING NEWS that the AP High Court has quashed the four-percent reservations to Muslims.

But what transpired in the following news bulletin within five minutes made the viewers feel awkward in their belly. The anchor first started saying “the High Court will very shortly give its ruling on the contentious Muslim reservations issue.”

To know more about it, the anchor tosses it over to their correspondent reporting from the precincts of High Court. Like the anchor and the entire newsroom team, even the reporter was blissfully ignorant of the BREAKING NEWS that they had flashed on the screens. He kept saying that the High Court is likely to give its final ruling on the state government’s decision.

All this happened for a good two to three minutes even while the scrolling kept contradicting its report. This is a classic case of reporting going in two ways in the same breath! God bless, Telugu viewers!!!