News Channels - Are they doing justice?
02-12-2008
Gurgaon
Today I read a nice post in Rediff by Vishal Dadlani regarding the live telecast of the Mumbai attack by news television channels. He says, the channels exposed the plans of the military and National Security Guard as they tried to overwhelm the terrorists and rescue hostages. He feels their telecast compromised the security of the commandos as well as that of the hostages.
Read more on the story here
After reading his post, I felt I also agreed with him and that I should support his cause due to another reason. I tried adding my comment there itself, but i had the restriction of 1500 characters. So I am expressing my views in my own blog...
“A mic and a f***ing camera & they think they are the best! Why don’t those ‘COWARD BASTARDS’ shoot a couple of these idiots?”
(I am sorry… but this was my caption in gtalk and Orkut on 26th night when I started watching the coverage on TV channels)
Today there are so many news channels, each competing with one another just to be the first to give their ‘exclusive story’ and increase their TRP rating. Every time I surf through some of them, I get a feeling that I am watching a 'B grade Masala movie'. Is this the way they “cater our hunger for news and information”???
I agree that every human being has the right to know the events happening around him. But don’t you think there should be some decency or ethics to be followed while telecasting news in our news channels?
"People lying on the streets bathed in blood. Some dead… some injured crying in pain. Some dragging the bodies to ambulance or other places. And when you think it is over, they will rush to attack grieving family members asking all sorts of irrelevant, irritating and insensitive questions!
I am not talking about the Mumbai attack alone. Go through any 'live and exclusive coverage' in the past, you will see the same thing. Some channels dont even blur the image while showing the bodies and the gore. (they didnt even spare the females)
Vishal, you are concerned about the security compromise. I am concerned about the sadism and insensitivity of the TRP-hungry news channels.
1. If they are really “catering to our hunger for news and information?” then why did they run when the firing started?
2. There was one gentleman interviewing a NRI who had escaped through the fire escape… He kept on asking, “Are you feeling afraid?”, when in reality; he was the one who was afraid and shaking! Do you call that news reporting?
3. When the NSG commando chief came to give information outside Trident Hotel we saw how these people catered our hunger without even allowing him to speak.
I am not against all the news channels. There are a few of them that have the class and quality. I really appreciate the things they are doing these days for uniting the country and telecasting common man’s views and channelising the thoughts towards something that will bring a change. (I wish they are not doing this just because the issue is ‘hot’ these days)
I my previous post I saluted the channels for their work. But that is not applicable for all the channels and all the reporters. Only a few of them did their job with the right sense. Also I saluted them for the work they are doing now in showing India's anger that made the ones in power take some actions atleast to save face. I hope and beg them to continue 'THIS' good work till the end.
Some of us would feel that they are doing the right thing. After all they are only showing the reality. I would like to point out that there are so many disgusting realities happening around us every day and if the channels start showing everything, the NEWS and B grade Porn movies won’t have any difference at all.
In these times when common man has lost all hopes in politics, only the media can give him hopes for a better tomorrow. Now it is upto the News Channels to decide whether they want to do justice to their roles in the society or carry on with their hunger for more TRPs!
Gurgaon
Today I read a nice post in Rediff by Vishal Dadlani regarding the live telecast of the Mumbai attack by news television channels. He says, the channels exposed the plans of the military and National Security Guard as they tried to overwhelm the terrorists and rescue hostages. He feels their telecast compromised the security of the commandos as well as that of the hostages.
Read more on the story here
After reading his post, I felt I also agreed with him and that I should support his cause due to another reason. I tried adding my comment there itself, but i had the restriction of 1500 characters. So I am expressing my views in my own blog...
“A mic and a f***ing camera & they think they are the best! Why don’t those ‘COWARD BASTARDS’ shoot a couple of these idiots?”
(I am sorry… but this was my caption in gtalk and Orkut on 26th night when I started watching the coverage on TV channels)
Today there are so many news channels, each competing with one another just to be the first to give their ‘exclusive story’ and increase their TRP rating. Every time I surf through some of them, I get a feeling that I am watching a 'B grade Masala movie'. Is this the way they “cater our hunger for news and information”???
I agree that every human being has the right to know the events happening around him. But don’t you think there should be some decency or ethics to be followed while telecasting news in our news channels?
"People lying on the streets bathed in blood. Some dead… some injured crying in pain. Some dragging the bodies to ambulance or other places. And when you think it is over, they will rush to attack grieving family members asking all sorts of irrelevant, irritating and insensitive questions!
I am not talking about the Mumbai attack alone. Go through any 'live and exclusive coverage' in the past, you will see the same thing. Some channels dont even blur the image while showing the bodies and the gore. (they didnt even spare the females)
Vishal, you are concerned about the security compromise. I am concerned about the sadism and insensitivity of the TRP-hungry news channels.
1. If they are really “catering to our hunger for news and information?” then why did they run when the firing started?
2. There was one gentleman interviewing a NRI who had escaped through the fire escape… He kept on asking, “Are you feeling afraid?”, when in reality; he was the one who was afraid and shaking! Do you call that news reporting?
3. When the NSG commando chief came to give information outside Trident Hotel we saw how these people catered our hunger without even allowing him to speak.
I am not against all the news channels. There are a few of them that have the class and quality. I really appreciate the things they are doing these days for uniting the country and telecasting common man’s views and channelising the thoughts towards something that will bring a change. (I wish they are not doing this just because the issue is ‘hot’ these days)
I my previous post I saluted the channels for their work. But that is not applicable for all the channels and all the reporters. Only a few of them did their job with the right sense. Also I saluted them for the work they are doing now in showing India's anger that made the ones in power take some actions atleast to save face. I hope and beg them to continue 'THIS' good work till the end.
Some of us would feel that they are doing the right thing. After all they are only showing the reality. I would like to point out that there are so many disgusting realities happening around us every day and if the channels start showing everything, the NEWS and B grade Porn movies won’t have any difference at all.
In these times when common man has lost all hopes in politics, only the media can give him hopes for a better tomorrow. Now it is upto the News Channels to decide whether they want to do justice to their roles in the society or carry on with their hunger for more TRPs!
Hey there... i posted my comment on http://www.smallchange.in/ & since your views seem similar to mine, I am re-positng it here...
ReplyDelete"Although I agree at large with the sentiments of this petition I urge everyone to think about both sides of the coin...
If the media HAD NOT covered the event 'live':
How many of us would have even reacted to this the way we are reacting now?
How would we understand the gravity of the situation?
Sad but true that bomb blasts have become routine in our country...Even if there is a bomb blast in some city, a small area surrounding the blast closes down for a few hours, HALF A DAY at the max...If we had not seen that THIS time the attack was on a MUCH LARGER & MORE COMPLEX scale (with the terrorists having the guts to show their faces for the first time), would we still be reacting the same way?? Would we still be showing as much anger if we did not realise the magnitude of this attack??
We as Indians have in a way become so insensitive to things that unless we see them with our own eyes, we do not react ( & thank God that we at least have this much sensitivity left)
Yes I agree that some channels were stupid & acted irresponsibly by showing details of the operations & airing so called "Terrorist's" demands...But we should learn to make a differentiation & attack those channels only...Generalization of any kind is bad...If its wrong to generalise a whole religious group based on the actions of a few disillusioned ones, then it is equally wrong to generalise the Media as a whole based on the acts of a few irresponsible ones...
There were some media channels which were reporting responsibly ( NDTV & IBN-CN) (at least as far as I saw) & we should encourage such channels....
Action should be sought against those channels like INDIA TV specifically...& I don't know how much petitions help ( I hope they do) but I hope some LEGAL action is taken...
http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=101490
Yes media is accountable for its behaviour, but I Think at the moment our priority is to LASH OUT AGAINST THE HIGHLY INEFFICIENT POLITICIANS who have made the country the mess it is in today... & to do so we need the help of the media... Annoying as some channels can get with their insensitive questioning, I think the Media is doing a good job at cornering the politicians & I appreciate them in this....
Hi Kre8ive
ReplyDeleteWhat you said is true and I am happy to see so many people supporting Vishal Dadlani's cause. I wish him all the best and I am sure the current situation will change!