Responsible Media

About a month ago while passing on the Tank Bund, I noticed a sudden commotion. One bare chested youth was rushing towards the tank railing trailed by a battery of still and video photographers. He sat on the railing and was hectoring to the battery of mikes. By that time I moved out of the vision. Next day in the papers I saw a news item, accompanied by a good sized photo of his rescue from the lake by expert swimmers, that he was heading an organisation called Rahul Priyanka Brigade and that he tried to commit suicide in protest against the behaviour of the opposition parties towards the benign congress government.

His arrival with a battery of cameramen and next day's coverage in print and visual media tells its own story of this sham episode and the absymal depths to which the media has sunk. They have succumbed either to power or pelf.

I would request the media to indulge in some introspection. Covering such fraud is not only immoral but also diminishes their own credibility. They encourage innocent people into committing such acts without proper back up resulting in tragedy.

I would suggest a few don'ts to the media for overall good of the society:

1) Do not cover any rallies/marches/demonstrations that disrupt traffic.

2) Do not cover any gruesome crime in graphic detail; especially in enacted dramatisation. This is teaching impressionable to commit crimes.

3) Do not show graphic details of accident/crime victims.

4) Do not repeat the same footage in one single telecast; this is abnoxious and tiresome.

5) Do not cover pre-planned frauds as described earlier. News has to be necessary spontaneous and not contrived.

6) Do not cover demonstrations involving violence/destruction of property.

7) Coverage of any news story should not be one-sided. Space must be given for all shades of opinion.

8) Reporting should be even handed. No kid glove treatment for a certain party and hostile treatment for another.

9) Do not crawl when you are asked to bend.

These are but a few. Media is the fourth pillar of our democracy. Where as there are rules and regulations for the other three, media should not misuse its liberty.


...ponder