[hrishikesh_desai]

Dear All,

First, I would like to extend my Heartfelt Condolences to all who lost their loved ones in this tragic attack.

Second, I feel the Police alongwith ATS have done very well to contain the situation till the NSG forces, Army and Navy men came into action... I say this only because of the fact that these men have stepped up to the occasion and took on these terrorist with minimum or even lack of adequate training and equipment... I would also like to point out to all in this discussion that Mr. Karkare was indeed wearing the bullet proof jacket (All news channels showed him getting ready to go into action), but the jacket was ineffective against the bullets from AK-47... infact if a bullet was fired from a desi gun even then it would have pierced the jacket, thats how much the jacket was out of date... I saw his interviews and I found him to be very honest and straight forward man who felt alot of pride and honor in serving his country... I have immense respect for him because not many high ranking officers like him would have gone into action like he did... That's speculation but still... May his soul rest in peace...

Third, What were the politicians thinking??? Why were they are flying into Mumbai??? what were they going to do after coming here??? Grab a gun and get into action??? The only thing that they are doing is diverting energy and forces from battleground to their ground... By coming there they are just increasing the pressure on the security personnel... The most funniest thing which happened was of all the politicians Mr Raj Thakeray was no where to be seen or heard... I have been glued to my television set for the last 40 odd hours (off course I slept in between) didn't see him on any news channel... May be I missed him when I went to the toilet... May be he didn’t speak because of the gag order… I never thought that it could stop him from doing anything… Anyways… Later I heard our PM Mr. Manmohan Singh read out his speech from the prompter, I know he is a man of few words but now I have found out that he is also a man of fewer emotions... It was suppose to be a speech of a leader but it turned out to be a announcement of a trustee... I know he is the most honest man we can find right now in our political circuit but he is no leader... No offense meant but he should step up, take control and take action... I m sure if he puts his head into it and come up with a solution without considering any outside pressure he will do what is in the best interest of the country... And Mr. Modi, I m sure he meant good and was very concerned about the whole situation... but I think he does not understand the word jurisdiction which comes under letter J in the oxford dictionary... No offense meant to him too... but coming all the way here and demanding to be driven in a car near, around and across the battleground sites for "assessment of the situation" was just going too far to get political mileage from this situation... He has done great things in Gujarat no doubt about it but Maharastra is totally different ball game Mr. Modi...

Fourth, Our news channels which are run by Smart, Intelligent, High caliber, Highly Educated, Terrific Orators, and last but not the least, Dumb@$$ Full of $*** newsmen and women... Smart because they know what sells, Intelligent because they know how to sell, High Caliber because they have all the resources to create and sell, Highly Educated because they know how to pick up one point, turn it around and put words in the mouth of others, Terrific Orators because they can sensationalize anything with their way of speaking and Dumb@$$ Full Of S*** because I m sure they know their product Stinks and they also know they themselves stink but still will sell whatever that sells... They are not newscasters but are only marketers of their channels... So they will sell whatever they can sell in the open market... irrespective of its repercussions... As pointed out above my friends, I do not agree to them about media coverage... I feel the media should be allowed and encouraged to cover all events that happen in the society which may have good or bad effect on it... but what should be addressed here is how it is covered and presented... Wars have been covered... each and every war after the advent of LIVE television has been covered extensively and entirely LIVE, be it GULF War I or II or any other incident... but what is different between this terror attack coverage and them is the objective of the coverage... where the objective has been to cover the true story of the war, gathering knowledge and proof to authenticate the actions taken, etc but here the sole objective of the coverage was TRP and nothing else... How else could you define it because for the last 40 hours the only news that has been covered and telecast on these news channels is this terror attack... thank god that the markets opened today or else CNBC would have also continued covering this mayhem... I m sure there has been other news that have happened across the world if not India...

Following are my recommendation to the channels to consider when faced with such situations: -

A. Never Ever, and I mean Never Ever show LIVE footage... You never know what would happen or what could be said in front of the camera when its LIVE... For Example - On 26th near Metro Cinema when the Gun Shots were fired... There were a lot of obscenities and Graphic images which were on telecast LIVE... I m sure if the channels have some morals, integrity and sensibilities they would show, if not anything, things Differed LIVE so if there is something which can be avoided from been telecast LIVE can be remove or deleted or covered/blocked before they are shown on LIVE television. Also by being LIVE and showing everything on TV the terrorist are kept informed with all the moves of the security personnels... which gives them a big advantage... I guess thats one of the reasons why this mayhem has been continuing so long... I also guess none of these news broadcaster ever saw this movie called SPEED (Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock), they will realize how they have helped the terrorist in a big way when they do see this movie... The government does not need to tell you that don't show this or that, its plain common sense, which they simply don't have... may be thats the reason I did not mention it in their attributes...

B. Always maintain a distance from action... Not just where the bullets are flying but also when other things are happening like someone is getting transported to hospital, etc... Also Distance should also be maintained from the security personnel, people in action and others involved like Victims, etc. A proper forum should be created at all such events were after every 1 hour or 2 or which is suitable according to people handling the situation, would come and update about the progress of things... This will ensure there is a proper channel through which the information is flowing and no one who is handling the situation will be in wrong kind of pressure which is exerted due to constant media attention... Remember that these personnel are not answerable to you atleast while the operation is still on!!! Asking them things like why is the operation still taking so much time??? Are there any more terrorist inside??? How many??? How many security personnel have been lost??? etc... Guys let them do their job... Also keep out of the Battleground/Crime scene, I saw few Jurnos at CST showing the aftermath of the carnage that took place there... showing around the scene like its a museum and picking up the empty cartridges to show on the camera... What were they thinking??? Thats tempering with evidence... (I guess they don't see CSI... I thought atleast they would have seen CID but I guess not)... Now I think the Police should step up down as these Karamchands with do the job... What the Jurnos should realize is that they are there to cover the event and make their observation if they want to... If they have any questions and/or doubts, then they should direct it to the right people rather than taking matters or bullets into their hands...

C. Most Important Point - Never broadcast anything till there is a firm confirmation of the same... This should not be said as it should be understood by everyone... and I think people who would have taken some kind of degree or course in media would have this in their curriculum too(If they studied)... How can a major broadcaster like Aaj Tak/Headlines Today broadcast that (first) there are reports that there are fresh cases of firings at CST, Metro Cinema, Marine Lines and RBI Towers (second) the police have confirmed that 4 suspected terrorist in a white van/car and doing the rounds and firing indiscriminately at these locations (third) the police have cordoned off these areas to contain this situation... when finally after about 20-25 mins of the first breaking news, this confirmed report is falsified and termed as a rumor... This is, according to me, a major breach of all laws and understanding of moral, ethical and professional environment... This can be avoided if the news broadcaster shift from reporting fast to reporting right...

Finally, I m sure that there is a lot of work ahead of us when it comes to our security, infact if you look at it we have a lot of catching up in all aspects of governance, poverty, equality, corruption, to name the few... I believe anything and everything can be achieved if all came together and worked as a team to work towards a common goal which is India. Everyone has a role to play in it, big or small, of high significance or of no significance but is possible only if all of us did our job and did it well... This philosophy will work when it starts from the top... Without Leadership no battle can be fought let alone won... The media has a very big role to play in this... Its the responsibility of media to generate awareness among common people with a clear objective of good faith and good spirit and carryout operations in achieving a bigger national goal of progressing India to newer highest of prosperity in the 21st Century... Its our Destiny... We just need to have the courage to fulfill it!!!


Regards,

Hrishikesh Desai

Citizen
India