The Australian channel that outed CWG security has been busted
Written by The Indian Express
2 min read
Whatsapp
Twitter
Facebook
Reddit
It made for racy television: the Australian Channel Seven reporter Mike Duffy strolling into Delhis Jawaharlal Nehru stadium with a conspicuous suitcase stuffed with explosives. The Commonwealth Games central fortress was revealed as terribly vulnerable,putting so many spectators and athletes at risk. Duffys sting operation involved buying arms from a supposedly unauthorised dealer and then demonstrating how easy it was to pierce through Delhis best laid security arrangements.
Except,as rival news channel ABCs Paul Barry put it,It just didnt look right. How could Duffy have taken such an enormous risk,and what if he had been caught by security with a bomb on him? Barry blew the story to pieces in ABCs Media Watch programme,claiming that the filming was done when Games security was not in operation and the entire stunt was ridiculous and dishonest.
You’ve Read Your Free Stories For Now
Sign up and keep reading more stories that matter to you.
The story was meant to illustrate Delhis sloppy preparations for the Games and its awful laxity about potential security dangers. It was all right for Duffy to misrepresent himself in service of a larger truth,to expose Indias under-preparedness. But instead of a public-spirited intervention,the Channel Seven report turned out to be a deliberate sham the suitcase was empty,the dealer was a certified seller,and Duffy only got up to the traffic barricade. It was pure insecurity theatre creating the appearance of chaos and confusion,editing reality to suit its biased purposes. Its sad but true that theres a constituency of viewers that would take in these stories with a certain glee and schadenfreude,as if they confirm what they knew of India all along. Reporters like Duffy are simply giving them what they want. Which makes it even more creditable that it was Australian network ABC that finally exposed the deception,and said it like it is.
