YSR tragedy: TV again loses its nerve

Television news is now increasingly becoming a part of the problem and not the solution. It is understandable that in the heat of the moment a TV news journalist gets carried away but the continuous self-indulgence is uncalled for.

In the YSR tragedy, TV again reveals its inability to keep a clam head and report only what it knows.

After 26/11, they promised they had learnt from their mistakes and we thought they had. Until last week, when once again, a live and tragic event unfolded over 24 hours. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy’s disappearance required restraint and a scrupulous respect for facts. It needed a closely coordinated effort between the media and the governments (central and state) to ensure that this time, we got to know only what could be confirmed, not what people hoped, feared or heard.

For a while on Wednesday afternoon, it was November 26, 2008 once more. Times Now said YSR had been traced and was safe according to the Civil Aviation Ministry, CNN-IBN and NDTV denied it quoting the Home Ministry, then NDTV agreed with Times Now but by then Times Now was disagreeing with itself claiming Home Ministry confirmation was awaited but Zee News proclaimed Reddy was safe and CNN-IBN denied it but said that according to someone in Reddy’s security chain Reddy was alive but didn’t know his whereabouts, whereupon Headline Today said Civil Aviation Ministry confirmed the CM was safe and on the way to Chittoor by road and NDTV said the AP police had said he was safe but since changed their minds and India TV quoting AP Congress sources agreed but Aaj Tak claimed that while the helicopter had landed, there had been no contact with it or anyone.

Between them, the authorities and the media had too many sources telling too many different stories, in the face of the Home ministry’s insistence that the helicopter and AP chief minister were still missing, information all news channels broadcast. By about 4 pm, the speculation subsided and news channels stuck to Home Ministry updates. Finally, the government and the media had found each other on the same page, or in this case, channel.

If there’s one opinion most people hold, it is that Indian TV entertainment is injurious to our health and sensibilities. Those of us who watch it are advised either psychiatric treatment or awarded gold medals.

Similarly, on remembrance of Kargil martyrs:

Sunday on 26thJuly’09, according to DD News, was ‘martyrs day’. Wasn’t sure if we were celebrating Martians or martyrs. Either way, violence was done to the English language and somebody should take up the matter in Parliament, forthwith!

It was remembrance of things past as TV news recalled the Kargil war. Watched three types of coverage: sharp-shooter discussions on the Indian armed forces and their preparedness for combat or the lack thereof, a CNN-IBN report lamented the lack of new gunpower since the Bofors gun used during Kargil; soft-focus with those who lost family and friends ten years earlier, still missing them today, NDTV’s Kargil 10 year later with Barkha Dutt, travelled back with a brother who lost a brother (Vishal Batra) and soldiers who lost soldiers (Col. Joshi). It was touching; and infact touched everyone---none more so than Dutt (too much the focus) or the IBN-7 anchor on Sunday morning who looked in closer to tears than the father whose son had died in the conflict.

However, English media channels usually acts little responsibly but the Hindi media do not show any restraint in their coverage. Blatant sensationalism and rumour mongering are the hallmark of the Hindi channels and they usually make everything sound like the Armageddon itself.

I think at times television news channels need to go beyond the hourly news wheel and step back a bit. They are titillating viewers with morsels of information instead of really informing them. It’s time the electronic media agreed to engage in responsible reportage of events. Events like these have huge repercussions and can't be treated irresponsibly. They need to draw a line between broadcasting functional and factually correct information on the one hand and mindless 'breaking news' type reportage on the other.

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