Some channels and reporters are facing wrath on Internet hate groups.
No one knows how much time it’ll take for us to recover from the trauma of the recent terror attacks. However, with so many heads rolling in the political arena, one is sure that some damage control exercise (for want of a better word) has begun. But look closely, and what’s also started is the lambasting of the media, especially electronic media, and the manner in which some channels reported the chain of events. So you have the Navy Chief calling the media guys complete “fools”, you have the I&B giving strict instructions for electronic media channels to not continue to “replay tragedy”.
While I agree to some reasons, I’m baffled with some hate groups that have started on the likes of Facebook.
There’s, for instance, Barkha Dutt The Worst Senior Journalist On the Planet, a group which some of my own school and college friends have happily joined because they believe, “she sensationalises tragedy”. People have hated Dutt for giving news in an animated voice, but seriously, is it so difficult to imagine that she had been on TV continuously and so, it was natural, at times to fumble? While many are blaming her for asking “wrong questions”, I do remember one point where late journalist Sabina Sehgal Saikia’s husband had a lump in his throat and Dutt requested him not to talk any further (this was at a time when Saikia’s body was still missing).
Despite there being glitches in news channels (I’m sure Dutt may be committing goof-ups most of the times), aren’t we still overreacting? Also, are we forgetting that terror strikes may have shook news reporters as much as they shook you and me? And who knows, maybe sometimes the shrill voices of reporters were just a response to the sounds of grenades and blasts and all the commotion.
There’s plenty of idiocy that goes on in the media — what business would they have, after all, giving details about NSG commandos positions? Why, on a daily basis there are meetings to “dress up and sell news”, as one friend who has worked in an electronic media channel told me. In fact, editorial meetings at this channel devote two-three hours to “selling” news to audiences. “Jingoism and cricket are bestsellers,” my friend had winked, “Social sector stories are usually given a miss.”
What I found disturbing personally was to observe a channel taking a pledge to combat, what they called, “War on Terror”. There’s no problem imploring audience members to join a forum by SMSing “war” on xyz number but it is a serious issue when the same channel shows a youngster “challenging all Pakistanis to a war”. “Finish it once and for all,” he says, while the anchor looks thrilled at the jingoistic byte.
A statement like that makes me cringe, because despite conveying the anger in Indians (a natural reaction in the wake of the attacks), the channel isn’t sending out the right signals to anyone, or in any particular direction. The mood of the nation is that of shock, hurt and anger. But while one needs a check-list of where the channels are going wrong, calling Dutt a “buffoon” hardly provides any answers.
