Perils of instant wisdom

By John Cheeran
Instant punditry has its own pitfalls. Ask Dean Jones.
The Australian cricket commentator lost his face, and the job with the Dubai-based sports channel Ten Sports, for describing the South African cricketer Hashim Amla a terrorist.
Television commentary of live sports events can be more dangerous than the game in the middle itself. You have to be on your guard all the time and if you haven't switched off your mike, you should not even think of soliloquies.
I'm sure that TV technology will pick it up without fail and present it to the hungry viewers.
Reports that have come in on Tuesday indicate that Jones intended his remark as a joke. He made the remark in jest to fellow commentators unaware that the feed was live.
It has been pointed out that in Jones' defence that the Aussie did not make the remark on live television, or at least did not think he was doing so.
It is interesting to understand that how crucial a role chance played in all these. Though Jones was commenting for Ten Sports, none of the Ten Sports viewers heard his 'terrorist attack' on Amla. When Jones made the comment, it was an ad-break on Ten Sports, the moment Kumar Sangakkara was dismissed.
Super Sport, who were beaming the match in South Africa, didn't take that break. And it was, Jones saying for anybody who was tuned in: "the terrorist has got another wicket".
May be it could have gone unheard in South Africa too. But the point is that the same medium that lets you become a star, (some of the cricket commentators are really popular in the Indian sub-continent) can bring you down without mercy.
What happened to Jones is not so unique.
In 2004, live football commentary had thrown up a very, very similar situation. Ron Atkinson, a former Aston Villa and England player and who later worked as amanager, had come to be looked upon as a football pundit in England. But Atkinson had a Jones moment that cost him his career as an analyst.
On 21 April 2004, Atkinson had to resign from ITV after he was caught making a racist remark live on air about the black Chelsea FC player Marcel Desailly: believing the microphone to be switched off, he said, "...he [Desailly] is what is known in some schools as a fucking lazy thick nigger".
Although transmission in the UK had finished, his comment was broadcast to various countries in the Middle East. He also left his job as a columnist for The Guardian " by mutual agreement" as a result of the comment.
Jones and Atkinson are former players and won renown as astute observers of their respective games. Both were caught out in similar fashion, for remarks made during what werebelieved to be off the air moments.
Who will be the next in line?