Dear Mr. Sardesai,
I have been a regular follower of your reporting since your NDTV days. I have come to believing that you are one of the finest of your kin in terms of general intelligence in addition to reporting skills, which is why I draft this letter to you.
Following the latest terror attacks in Mumbai, I am appalled at how the press reporters are increasingly sounding like those awful voices one hears in the malls, that goads you to run to where the sale is on. Please check across TV channels last night, you will understand it when I say, that media persons were behaving like desperate salesmen selling off their wares except that this was during a time of crisis and therefore all the more disgusting!
I sincerely fail to understand some of the questions posed by journalists during the "event" to people associated with it, be it the cops or victims or mere spectators. A bunch of journalists at one point in time were hounding a cop for information on casualties in the Vile Parle blast. He repeatedly kept saying "I don't know the number of deaths" and there are clippings of innumerous questions on the lines of: "What will be your estimate on the number of those killed?", "How many passengers could have been killed?" or "Could it have been more than three because of the share a cab system?". I mean, getting facts right is a good thing but ganging up on on-field policemen, keeping him away from the action and giving him the taste of shutter-bugs thereby tempting him to linger towards safer quarters of the press by giving statements like "I cannot confirm the number of sites that this has taken place." Isn't that pretty obvious? The guy was on duty in one location, it was the media that was swarming the suburbs.
Another piece of ridiculous reporting, a phone call made to one of the three MPs/MLAs in the Taj hotel, where he was holed up. The reporter in the studio ended up asking him at one point, I quote "Sir, I know this is irrelevant, but are you afraid for your lives?" I would like to ask the reporter that, when he is in the line of fire! Responsible media people should have understood the fact that those men in there don't have food and water supplies not to mention electricity, and are subject to extreme situations where they have no idea of the bigger picture. But instead of sending reports into the hotel, the reporter if anything managed to create more panic by saying "We fear for your lives as well"?!
Newspapers that have been screaming headlines today, have atleast a reporter each who have recounted their tales of horror and eye-witness accounts of the police inefficiency (DNA). Two lines that run commonly across: "No one was allowed near…yet I managed to…" and "Our reporter nearly lost his/her life."
If this is thought of to be heroic, I wish to clarify that educated commoners understand media gimmicks and do not empathise which such "real-time" reporting. In fact if anything, the sight of a media guy, filming an injured man being dumped into a van and getting in the way all the time, in an attempt to catch the face of the guy, only angers the viewer's sensibilities.
As an Indian and as a student doing my MBA in Finance, I know and understand the concept of TRPs and the media business and how "people need to be sold stories", I fail to decipher how many of the most intelligent and educated minds in the country could be so short-sighted as to create a drama out of a real-life happening?
I speak pretty much on the lines of discussions that youth today have – and our common conclusion is that: the media is no longer useful. As one of the leading faces on Indian television I request you to consider what I have to say a little seriously.
Please picture a news channel that calmly tells viewers that the situation is being tackled in a sensitive manner and all images and clippings will be televised post the crisis. In the meanwhile, the situation is being researched by a bunch of journalists who are not out reporting truth but raising intelligent questions on where the flaws lie.
Has it occurred to you that the ATS chief was not covered in a bullet-proof jacket? Why weren't they being handed out the way bullets and guns were being doled out? I wish to add in a fact here: the traffic police of the US have bullet-proof jackets!
Our defence budget is one of the largest expenditures our country has every year and yet, in-house policemen use rifles that fire once and have to be reloaded before they take a second shot [while terrorists (unemployed - is my guess) have sophisticated weaponry - Ak47s]?
Our on-duty officers look anything but fit and healthy - each one leaning on their rusted rifles with a hanging paunch. What is the kind of training that officers have on a day-to-day basis? Or does it all end once they are enrolled into the force?
Why is it that 800 army men and NSG and many other forces who have been called are not able to evacuate the building with more speed and alacrity? They have been trying to get occupants out from the building since three last morning!
If the terrorists are educated enough to send mails to the press and the government and bold enough to take responsibility, don't you think giving them media attention just helps them fulfill their plans? Can the media not take a stance and openly condemn them.
It is better solace to hear or see on flash: "We think the Deccan Mujahdeen is a bunch of cowards who claim responsibility for killing people they don't know are at fault. If they were seeking justice for muslims, let's show them some muslim brothers who have been victimized. And if they were aiming to prove a point against foreigners, we think they are a bunch of eunuchs who don't have civil sense and cannot make their point with their education!"
What needs to be researched is: How and where security measures are lacking, what sort of equipments do they need? Are they on par with their international contemporaries?
What is the damage caused by any such event? What does it cost the country if its financial capital is shut for a day? What does it translate to in terms of loss per head in this country? Will a Bandh in Mumbai affect a Bihari? What does it cost if the stock exchanges don't function for a day? What is the cost of repairing damages to the Central station? How will hotels make up for their losses? Can employment be increased to keep youth from wasting the prime of their lives in pointless terrorist activities? This is a thought in line with the current financial scenario with unemployment on the rise.
Are political parties playing vote-bank politics and instigating these terror strikes? Are they responsible for issuing ridiculous statements like the "Marathi Manoos" and other offensive comments?
Can you bring in a rendezvous with such politicians on national television and ask them questions that make them squirm in realization? I bet new-comers like us will be willing to do a scoop on such cases.
Please don't misconstrue this mail as a personal attack or take it to be an insinuation of any sort. If anything this is a plea to please not fall among this category of defunct journalists who cannot differentiate between reality and real-time drama. In fact, you are one of the few who comes across as a level-headed person with the ability to change the face of real-time reporting.
I would love to hear from you.
Warm regards,
Divya Vasantharajan
[email protected]
Student
