Indian Media and the sorry state of “affairs”

First it was Hemraj (the servant) because he was missing from the crime spot, then it was the father Rajesh (doctor and father of the murdered) himself because the servant himself was found murdered..no..no..it is the mother..oops..we are sorry..it was the doctor’s colleague (with whom the doctor reportedly had a secret affair) who did it..Now, this is the state of affairs of the “investigation” done by the U.P. police team. There are many people culpable for this sorry state of affairs (no pun intended).

 

First, of course is the media. There are some news channels (which I wouldn’t want to name here) which always look for sensationalizing incidents and news. Although, I sincerely feel sorry for the murdered, I think there are other more imperative things in the world, to be covered. Understood that you are trying to illustrate the state of cities and do a reality-check on our safety. But, for this news item to cover Page 1,2,5,12,13 and engage 14 hours of air time for a week looks ridiculous, to say the least.

 

You can’t run a news channel just for TRP ratings. There are innumerable farmer deaths, inflation, price rise, deaths due to starvation, etc. Don’t they merit the same attention as this “double murder”? Only ONE answer. Commercialization of news. I feel terribly sorry for one of the leading newspapers (your guess) of India, which unfortunately only has gossipmongers rather than journalists. While other leading dailies such as The Hindu and The Indian Express, carry news of importance as their first news, these dailies’ headlines consists of rain in the city, instances of sex, double murder, new stadium being built, the BRT corridor and other news items which don’t even figure in Page 4 or 5 of The Hindu and The Indian Express.

 

Following the media, is our police force. They went ahead and told the media new names of the actual murderer every other day. Incomplete investigation, pressure from the media (yeah..media again) have been the rationale for such statements from people holding responsible positions. Now, what this does is, cause more insecurity to people. On the one hand you know the society is getting increasingly “blood-thirsty” and on the other you have a reckless police force. The comments on the doctor-father (reported to have had an affair with his colleague) and the daughter (reported to have had an affair with the murdered servant) – sounds complex eh?? –  vindicates my stand. No proof – Plain loose talk. Again, purely due to the pressure of solving the case, due to the huge media attention that this news item got.

 

So, please guys, stop commercializing everything you lay your hands on. Of course money and profits are what is needed for a company to succeed, but have some common sense and put yourself on an educated reader/listener’s shoe! Make people educated and aware by giving the right ingredients. Otherwise we would see a lot more half-solved cases, more insecurity and ‘lesser’ educated people in the future.