Lack of training to those covering a crisis, anchors crossing the line between professionalism and personal biases and commercial compulsions are some of the issues that came to the fore as experts introspected media's role in covering the Mumbai terror attacks here.
Accepting that there were "some shortcomings" in the coverage of the Mumbai attack that held the city hostage for three days starting November 26, the panelists said "we should learn from mistakes and not allow anyone to exploit our 'weaknesses'.
"Media coverage, especially by television channels, was amateurish. We need to evolve as journalists," Uday Shankar, CEO of Star India, said.
"However, more important is to ensure that no one (read politicians) manipulates the situation for their benefit and gag our freedom," he said.
More than analysing media coverage of 26/11, it is important to know who is demanding a review of it, Shankar said, adding it was only because of this coverage that political heads rolled and the serious loopholes and laxity in the system were exposed.
"Also, there is a crisis of competence in media. On one hand upcoming journalists lack professionalism and urge to learn and on the other hand editors have failed to be mentors to these young guys," Shankar said, participating in a debate organised by The Press Club, Mumbai on 'Did the Media Do its Job Covering 26/11 Terror Story?.'
More From This Section
Echoing Shankar's views on shrinking talent pool in the Fourth Estate, R Jaganathan, Managing Editor of DNA newspaper, came down heavily on the role of anchors in post-attack coverage.
"The TV anchors need to shut up and let the guests speak. They should understand that building a mood, heckling guests is not proper. They have almost lost the art of asking open-ended questions," Jaganathan added.
Defending them, Shankar said questions by TV anchors are okay as far as they are fact-based. While some anchors are pure news readers, some are authorised to ask questions and only a few among them can comment, he said.
Admitting the messy media coverage of 26/11, Jaganathan said today we have TV-driven print agenda. "Because of the competition and changes in the industry in the last 15 years, today we are moving towards "a free-newspaper model", he said at the discussion last evening.
"The reader gets a newspaper almost for free. Today, more cost (of the newspaper) needs to be borne by the reader and not the advertiser. Disproportionate dependency on advertisement revenue should be got rid of," he said. Nitin Wagle, Editor of news channel IBN-Lokmat, said the debate should not be treated as that of electronic media vs print media.
"It is question of journalism as whole. There is a need for good editors and trainers. Managements should spend on training journalists. Also, as a result of the political fallout (of 26/11), we must not allow government to impose any restrictions on freedom of expression in media," Wagle said.