No country in this world would like to get in a mess like what India found itself in on the 26th of November 2008. Around 200 people should lose their lives to the meticulous and ruthless massacre superbly planned and minutely executed by a numerically negligible band of terrorists or "jehadists". Condemnations from all over the civilized world keep us reassured of the world's vision of safe future world.
But there is another side of the event that should not elude our eyes and minds. Has the Indian media acted responsibly in the wake of these attacks? Does it suffer from "reality TV" syndrome? Does the Indian media thrive on such gory events to further its interests? Is the Indian media interested only in catering to front benchers? Will it ever stop offering 'views' in the name of 'news'? There are some of the pertinent questions emerging from the unfortunate event 26/11.
I could even smell a hardcore trade rivalry among the Indian English Visual Media. Times Now, CNN IBN and NDTV 24X7 were maniacally pitted against each other in grabbing the better side of the cake. They were desperate to add more masala into the drama unfolding before them and before the eyes of media-glued middle class Indians. All the TV brands worth their names made the bivouacs before the Taj and Trident where the tension was mounting up by every minute. And, if there were any dull moments, they were salaciously compensated by the "war rhetorics" of the correspondents of these channels. Rajdeep Sardesai, probably fancying himself as the sole voice of India Beaten, kept on shooting all types acid questions on the governments - State as well as Central and their agencies. NDTV was not lagging behind, of course. High profile Barqa Dutt was there countering, in every sense, Mr.Sardesai.
But there is another side of the event that should not elude our eyes and minds. Has the Indian media acted responsibly in the wake of these attacks? Does it suffer from "reality TV" syndrome? Does the Indian media thrive on such gory events to further its interests? Is the Indian media interested only in catering to front benchers? Will it ever stop offering 'views' in the name of 'news'? There are some of the pertinent questions emerging from the unfortunate event 26/11.
I could even smell a hardcore trade rivalry among the Indian English Visual Media. Times Now, CNN IBN and NDTV 24X7 were maniacally pitted against each other in grabbing the better side of the cake. They were desperate to add more masala into the drama unfolding before them and before the eyes of media-glued middle class Indians. All the TV brands worth their names made the bivouacs before the Taj and Trident where the tension was mounting up by every minute. And, if there were any dull moments, they were salaciously compensated by the "war rhetorics" of the correspondents of these channels. Rajdeep Sardesai, probably fancying himself as the sole voice of India Beaten, kept on shooting all types acid questions on the governments - State as well as Central and their agencies. NDTV was not lagging behind, of course. High profile Barqa Dutt was there countering, in every sense, Mr.Sardesai.
The drama of 'rhetorics' scripted by these media men soon reached the verge of repulsion and disgust. The silliest aspects of the day around Taj and Trident were put to question and the media tried in desperation to portray that everything is wrong with governments, agencies and the people of India. Any Tom, Dick and Harry was interviewed and this chap goes on firing the PM and the CM. The worst thing is that anybody coming out of these 'spots' (Taj and Trident) was a 15 minutes celebrity and he/she would inform India about the 'hi-tech' terrorists and would go on warning India about any such future attacks. The mothers, fathers, uncles, aunties, maids and remote acquaintances of the aggrieved parties were not spared by this ruthless cameras and mikes. These aggrieved parties also, completely pushing their personal grief to the backseat, succumbed to 15 minutes fame - lashing at the governments and its agencies.
Rajdeep Sardesai was at his rhetorical best or worst? His bosom fried, an upright officer, Ashok Kamte lost his life while braving the terrorists and the whole nation mourns for the loss of such a gem. But the language and tenor manipulated by Sardesai is not definitely 'first-rate' - the mark of a senior correspondent from a responsible media house. He tagged the event "WAR ON INDIA" - thus propelling hyper duper emotional response from the 'all-believing Indian middle class'. NTDV 24x7 followed suit soon. Barqa Dutt championed herself the hero of the cause of the dead and kept on battering Political India with the help of a 'carefully selected panel'. (She still keeps on lashing at everybody who comes her way for 26/11). The Devil's Advocate Karan Thapar joined the band and gruelled Pranab Mukherjee. But the wily and street smart Bengali was very articulate and diplomatic in his responses leaving Thapar no chance to extract anything that could later be branded as 'sensational'.
If there were any responsible responses to the event of 26/11 in media, that is from some sections of print media. I would like to draw everybody's attention to the article by V R Krishna Iyer in The Hindu, some days after the event. He whipped up the Sardesais and Barqa Dutts for the hyper rhetorics while covering the event. And he is one of the first brave hearts to call a spade a spade. He questioned why the so-called media champions were prejudiced against the attack in railway station? How come the victims at the CST terminus were less important than the ones at the Taj and Trident? Maybe because the media elites found themselves more identified with the mortal elites at Taj and Trident. Ashok Kamte was Sardesai's friend that is the good enough reason why there was disproportionate time allotment for the martyrdom of Kamte. This is defnitely not to deride or devalue the cause of Mr.Kamte but to focus how the conceptual engineering of Indian Electronic Media Inc. works. The innocent people slain at the CST station is far less important than the ones wasted at Taj and Trident. This is the clear sign from these media barons and the gossip-mongering Indian Middle Class (or Indian bourgeois?) unequivocally endorsed it by ensuing the media-line endlessly in their office chats and discussions during their morning strolls.
Completely repelled by the media coverage of the event, I was looking for an effective remedy to get rid of the 'media hangover'. Moving out of my compound, walking into the street, I had to respond to the shouting of a mobile cobbler yelling for his service provision - "Seruppu repair! Seruppu repair!!" completely unaware of 26/11, Sardesais and Dutts.
Looking at this cobbler, I cannot but think that India might survive any number of attacks either by these idiotic terrorists or by Media India Inc. as its core and root keeps walking and repairing on its way any problem in marching ahead.
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