A television journalist always on the move, Nik Gowing, BBC World and World News Today presenter, is a famous face. Since February 1996, he has been the main presenter on BBC World, the 24-hour international television news and information channel.

Nik was on-air for six hours shortly after the Twin Towers were hit in New York City on September 11, 2001. BBC World’s coverage of the terrorist attacks on the US won the 2002 “Hotbird” Award for the Best News Channel. He fronted coverage of the unfolding drama of the Princess Diana’s accident in Paris in August 1997 and announced her death to his global audience.

The BBC presenter flew into New Delhi last week to anchor a discussion on “Pakistan elections and regional stability” which had B Raman, former Additional Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat & former National Security Advisory Board member; Satish Chandra, former High Commissioner to Pakistan & former Deputy National Security Advisor and Parthasarathy, former High Commissioner of India to Pakistan as participants.

Deepak Upreti of Deccan Herald caught up with Nik Gowing on the sidelines of the hot discussion on elections in Pakistan. Excerpts:

Deccan Herald: I will begin with Indian television. Do you think it is still in its adolescent stage and yet to mature?

Nik Gowing: In India you sell six million newspapers and have 28 news channels. Yes, it is in an adolescent stage but maturing very fast. Helped by technology and relaxation of the legal and regulatory framework, it has been very exciting. I have been coming here for 15 years now. It is a challenge.

DH: Is this excitement mainly because of sensationalism?

NG: That is your word (sensationalism). I don’t speak Hindi, so cannot talk of Hindi channels. Sensationalism does not mean bad journalism. Every newspaper has its own style. A tabloid can have great journalism. It’s wrong to call it sensationalism. It is different than what we do at BBC. I cannot comment on accuracy and exaggeration. It is good to see the biggest democracy in the world having a flourishing media business and people wanting to invest in it.

DH: How is the Western media shaping up ?

NG: The western media is driven by technology and competition. We at BBC World are facing competition, nationally and regionally, both from both terrestrial and satellite channels. It keeps us sharp. It means we don’t become complacent. It means we sharpen our value and judgment. Our number of views keeps rising. People turn to BBC now more than they ever did. More channels mean greater richness.

DH: Tell us about some of the most exciting moments in your long journalistic career?

NG: Virtually every moment on television is very exciting. Whether a light-hearted story or the most tragic story like 9/11. You can’t say whether Lady Diana’s death was more important or 9/11, both are different kind of stories. Mumbai bomb blasts was a big story. Personally, it goes long back when I broke the news of martial law in Poland in 1981 and Soviet forces leaving Afghanistan in 1991. Why do I say that? It is much more difficult now to do exclusives. Because there is so much proliferation of journalists, more and more people have cameras in their phones, they are taking pictures. Right from Trinidad to Kashmir. It is now much more difficult to do something unique and exclusive. In my years in business, I was doing something no one else was doing.

DH: How have journalistic incidents shaped you as a human being ?

Nik: (Laughs) I have been in this business for 40 years. You see dreadful things. Not every day, but I am routinely shocked by what people will do to each other like flying into World Trade Centre. Like bombs on the London underground. The IRA used to bomb London but they did not kill people, they destroyed infrastructure.

The challenge is even greater now than it ever was, even more than World War II, or Korean War, or China War because a terrorist can use the same technology like we can. Al Qaeda has a website.

DH: How did you handle the Diana death story ?

NG: Everybody keeps asking me about that. Why not talk about another story?

DH: Because people are interested to know more about the incident.

NG: That was 11 years ago. If you look at the movie Queen 13 minutes, Tony Blair is in bed with Cherie. He gets a call from Paris: Something has happened with Dodi and Diana. Immediately, it switches to me on BBC World for an update. Cut on Queen Mother on phone with Prince Philip: “What was she anyway doing in Paris?

At the moment an inquest is on in London. It is still a live issue whether she was murdered or whether British security services were involved. Wait and see what happens. The inquest would tell. It was one of the nights I was in Japan on Friday night, having Greek brandy with a friend. I was jet lagged and went to bed at 12:30. The phone rang, it was my Editor. I said don’t wake me up, and used pretty crude language. I will not tell you what I said (laughs). I was on air by 2:30 am. If I were not home that night, I would not have been called in.
The world has moved on. I remember the days when if I was late for a flight I could knock on the door of the plane and they would let me in. You cannot do that now, in India or London.

DH: A story that tested your patience ?

NG: There are plenty of stories. When we tried to interview the Pak foreign minister from London, he was summoned by Musharaff. The second time too was a miss as he was called for another meeting. I had a tooth problem and so I decided to go to a dentist. And as the dentist was sort of mining my mouth, the phone went on and the foreign minister was ready to be interviewed.

In another instance, I almost missed a plane to South American and I had to tell the airline representative that you got to get me in. He said Mr Gowing “Are you feeling ill?” I got the message! I slept on a wheelchair covering my face and went straight to the plane past security within 10 minutes (laughs). I kept my journalistic instinct alive.

DH: Will there be elections in Pakistan? Is Musharaff on a safer wicket after Benazir’s assassination?

NG: I met Musharraff in Davos and he was convinced about fair elections in Pakistan, saying he has ‘debugged the system’. There may be Pakistan elections. Musharraff’s position is getting weak and fragile. He seemed to regret most of what happened.