As a reporter who has hung around long enough in the corridors of the I&B Ministry in Delhi, Ninan is in a position to tell us what happens when a powerful electronic toy in the hands of our politicians becomes a time-bomb. For example, Rajiv Gandhi as prime minister (1984-89) set out to restore credibility to a dreary state-controlled medium of sweat and tears (where, says Ninan, "announcers sweated in primitive studios and the viewers were bored to tears"). Rajiv handpicked his men for Operation Credibility, but it boomeranged. Ninan shows that by 1989, as V.P. Singh and the Bofors row gained ground, the PM crumpled under pressure to abandon liberal ideas. He had to appoint K.K. Tewary as I&B minister, who promptly declared that "credibility was for the cocktail circuit".