July 25, Mumbai: BloombergUTV India’s premier business news channel and Sobo Films announced the launch of ‘The Outsider’ – a mega debate series. ‘The Outsider’ will be hosted by Tim Sebastian, the founder and host of the world famous The Doha Debates & the first host of BBC’s flagship international interview programme Hardtalk.
The award-winning journalist’s 13-episode show titled ‘The Outsider’ is scheduled to go on air in October this year. Presently, it is being said, he is conducting research for his show. On being asked why he chose India as his point of focus, Sebastian states, “Why not India? It is among the youngest countries in the world. It has an amazing amount of demographic figures, so many languages, so many cultures and so many people.”
We asked him if he has seen actor Aamir Khan’s TV show that also deals with a similar concept, Sebastian admits he has never seen it. He says, “I have gone through a few similar shows in India but not Aamir’s. I have been told that our shows are very different. His is a chat show, while mine involves a debate that I will be moderating.”
“We will be talking among other things about corruption, Kashmir, dynastic politics, life of women in India and whether the country could be heading for a revolution,” Sebastian told IANS in an interview.
“Our subjects are controversial and will address concerns raised by Indians. Of course, other programmes too tackle these topics, but we hope to raise them in a different and compelling way – primarily with young people,” Sebastian said.
The British television host said his “favourite word in debating was ‘accountability’”. “By raising such issues with politicians and other influential figures, we will encourage young people to hold them to account,” Sebastian said.
Sebastian is chairman of the popular eight-year-old “Doha Debates”, which he conceived to explore free speech and issues affecting the changing Gulf-Arab world from Qatar in 2004.
In 2011, he founded and launched the New Arab Debates based in Cairo and Tunis with the aim of bringing debating and free speech to people in two of the countries at the centre of the Arab Spring. He was twice named Interviewer of the Year by the Royal Television Society for his role as the first host of the BBC’s Hardtalk programme.
The Doha Debates, sponsored by the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development, has addressed issues like “Censorship Makes a Mockery of the Arts”, “Arab Government Need to Take Urgent Measures to Protect Religious Minorities” and “Marriage Between Close Family Members Should be Discouraged.”
He has also won the Society’s Television Journalist of the Year award as well as a British Academy award for contributions to factual television. Before hosting Hardtalk, Tim Sebastian was a BBC foreign correspondent based in Warsaw, Moscow and Washington. He worked for the BBC for more than 30 years.
News Gathered by India News
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