Rahul Shivshankar, one of India’s finest television editors and anchors, will soon be seen on a new show called ‘The Hard Facts’ every weeknight at 7pm on India’s No.1 English news channel, CNN-News18. Before the show goes live on October 2, Monday, Rahul Shivshankar sat down for a podcast explaining the inspiration and idea behind the show and how it promises to be different from the clutter television debates have come to be identified with.
“The Hard Facts is a compelling 60-minute show where I present the viewer with an opinion rooted in indisputable hard facts. The idea is that you cut through the clutter that others force upon viewers… And then, of course, there are videos by YouTubers with zero journalistic experience in some cases, zero regulatory oversight, and very little understanding. Despite that, they position themselves as experts on a particular news. And because they’re answerable to nobody, they can misinform you, they can lead you to arrive at wrong conclusions about a news event. So, my show is an attempt to correct this huge cascade of misinformation out there," Shivshankar said.
Explaining how the format would be different from other shows, he said it, for one, would do away with the six-window style of news debates.
“It will begin with an in-depth breakdown of the main news development. The hard facts will be presented through graphics for the viewers. The introduction will be followed by short discussion with just three guests. Not six windows… I’ve been guilty of being a proponent of the six-window format in the past. I’m trying to move away from," he said.
‘The Hard Facts’, Shivshankar said, will benchmark itself against a very high editorial standard.
“It’s a show with a point of view. So, I make out a credible argument in the first few minutes based upon these hard indisputable facts. And the hard facts, as we all know, are the basis of a very good argument. And what’s more, after acquiring the hard facts, the viewer can draw an accurate assessment of the news. And that’s why the name of the show is ‘The Hard Facts’," he said.
So what kind of audience does the show hope to attract?
“I wouldn’t want to be patronizing and say educate anybody. I’m doing it only to present the facts, so that people are empowered to make up their minds in an educated way. So they themselves sound more informed about something amongst their peers… So I’m looking for those audience sets that want the hard facts, and they want it from a credible source. And I hope to be that medium."
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