He has worked in many publications across the world, has been part of the immensely popular Hardtalk series on Tim Sebastian began his career in Journalism in Reuters, and has also worked as one of the founders of the Doha Debates series.
Tim is currently anchoring The Outsider , a 13-part series that will feature debates on some of the major social, political and economic issues faced by India, including subjects like education, Kashmir, relationship between business and corruption, dynastic politics etc.
On The Outsider , to be telecast on UTV Bloomberg Tim says, “India has a massive population of politically aware youngsters. This series will give them a chance to listen and participate in discussions on issues facing the country such as dynastic rule in political parties and lack of inner party democracy and such issues,” says Tim. He adds, “I have a similar team that I had when I used to work on Hardtalk. All issues will be througly researched before it is presented.”
Tim says that this is probably the best time to do a show that focuses on India. “I hope the show will help put India on a global stage. Countries draw interests when a crisis is building up. India does not face any major crisis as such, though the India story has dimmed and the national mood is low, compared to the congratulatory mood some years ago. India is at the crossroads again. It is a country that matters a lot to the outside world.”
Each debate will have speakers arguing for and against the motion. Speakers will include politicians, business people and activists. The debate will be conducted in the presence of a live audience. The audience will vote for or against the motion at the beginning and at the end of the discussion and the votes will be compared at the end of the show. The motion will then be thrown open in the viral world for people from across the globe to post their vote to determine the majority sentiment for the motion.
Tim says that playing anchor in the Doha debates was a great experience. “For many people in the west, it gave an opportunity to view the Arab world outside the prism of the many stereotypes that the region is slotted under. I hope that the series has made people aware that the region is very diverse and cannot be typecast as one homogenous unit.”
The Outsider will be aired on UTV Bloomberg on Saturday at 8 p.m.