Like most people, I find myself disgusted at the happenings of the past few days. Disgusted at the perpetrators and the system that can do little to prevent them.
Strangely, I feel an equal amount of disgust for the stupidity and opportunism of the mediapeople themselves. From Barkha Dutt of NDTV, who was trying to make her best to get tortured people to cry on television by asking those waiting for news of their loved ones "Can you tell us what is going through your mind .... How are you feeling ...." and rhetorical questions like these. I am just disgusted. Can opportunism get more naked than that? How can she wake up everyday and show her face on television to a world who sees her for what she is!!!
I feel disgust for the media, which spent its effort trying to count the number of gunshots and explosions, all reported with barely concealed glee. I feel disgust at their oh so stupid and brazen coverage of reporting which doors commandos were using to enter the hotel, not for a moment stopping to think that this might be inimical to the operation itself.
Lastly, I cringed when these self proclaimed media gurus got the Director of NSG Ops on the TV, and after a few questions, actually asked him how many commandos he was deploying and on which floor they were going to be posted.
I have difficulty remembering when this event full of grief was converted into a voyeristic episode of BigBrother or BiggBoss by these mediapeople.
If this is not opportunism clothed with stupidity, I dont know what is. Today, images of death and destruction, including images of those killed in the line of duty are being set to music by these media channels in a desparate attempt to keep viewers hooked. If this is not opportunism, I don't know what is.
Its all disgusting... the terrorists, the politicians, Barkha Dutt and other mediapeople .... all vultures in a feeding frenzy.
I have to say Amitabh Bachan seemed to keep his head ... on his blog, he says he refused to appear on TV despite repeated attempts to get him to speak on channels. He too was disgusted by the opportunism and berates these vultures.
6 comments:
Hi,
Good post detailing the problems on other side of the incident. But, I have a different view on this.
It’s true that media was being opportunitist of this situation. But, this is how the media would react in most part of the world. Whether it’s 9/11 in US, Theatre siege by Chechenya terrorists in Russia, killing of Israeli sportsmen In Munich are still being debated, movies/documentaries are being made.
But, in the aftermath of this incident, whatever little bit of positive mobility we are seeing in the government /politicians/ ATS, we would not have seen if such jolt not been delivered by media.
Agree, media had all sorts of questions: Sensible, unnecessary: Like ‘what is your strategy to attack the terrorists in the building, which door, floor..? Media’s hunger for exclusive information is common in all the countries.
But, NSG, ATS, army always had a choice of not answering the questions at that moment which were detrimental to their operation. Home ministry/ATS spokesmen/staff could always have been available to the media, while NSG chief was working out his strategy.
It also raises question about the maturity of our government and national security team to handle the media, people during such crisis. Why was the media not kept at bay during these operations? Why were they allowed to the sensitive spots?
The Theater, school sieges in Russia were equally bad. But, ppl knew little abt what was happening there, until the end of operation, though the media was trying hard to elicit details.
Why only Sadhwi Pragna was the prime focus of ATS while hundreds of other terrorists were executing their plans. Well… list of lapses from government, politicians is endless and to some extent ATS, NSG, local police is at fault.
All these ppl are definitely answerable. Probably, media did not always ask the right people with right questions.
But, in spite of all this, I think, all this non-stop coverage of media packaged with emotions, tears, music, was helpful in sending some shock waves to the government.
yes sensitivity and awareness is sorely lacking in the media.
In a sickening way i can see what was going on in their minds and the confusion etc. Nothing surprises me anymore, nor does it disgust. It is just one more thing...
I pray for all those souls that were wounded in this terrible tragedy. I hope they all find peace.
I agree with you both ...
Anon 1: I cannot agree more with you that the timeline and non-responsive nature of the security and intelligence forces, and the innate opportunism of the polity in this country cannot rule out interference. But with all due respect I did not see glee in the reporters eyes and voice when the towers were brought down. In this case, you could have mistaken some reporters for gold miners in early California.
Anon2: It is not just one more thing this time. If active sieges become the order of the day, iti s very different from a tiffin box bomb going off 10 km away which kills one and amuses thousands of other sceptics.
I don't think AB writes his blog - the bigadda one, at least. I checked it out and the voice/style of the blog sounds so this generation & very unlike the way he speaks.
Hey dude .... trust your sharp brain to pick up on that. I just assumed he does because I read somewhere that he is contracted by Anil Ambani to blog regularly on bigadda.
I did not mean that the attack was "just another thing"!
I meant that the attitude of the media is just another thing and that it did not surprise me.
I hope this attack pushes all of us to reconsider our political structure, ask the right questions, make the elections more about the kind of governence we want rather than about who "looks" good. I hope this will change our political system such that the ones who are radical reformist start taking active participation in the politics of India!
Politics is becoming a joke. There are only liars - people who lie through their teeth for their benefit!
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