Who wants to be a disaster tourist?

Another useful technique to achieve the same result, is to visit the site of the crimes and dig alongside the police or CBI and show us the dirt beneath the fingernails or whatever other instrument is used in the operation. Close your eyes and you will still see that open drain like a gaping wound. Worse, the more you are shown the drain, the more you strain to see whatever you can of the bodies that have been unearthed. Suddenly, you are an accomplice in this act of voyeurism.

This drainpipe voyeuristic experience is brought to you by every company that can make last-minute bookings on the news channels at premium prices. Bet more and more are lining up as more is dug up each day. Meanwhile, the news channels exact maximum mileage from the terrible truth as it unfolds: every other item of news takes a beating — except when Abhishek and Aishwarya, at last, did what was expected of them. It’s become so you are scared to switch on to see what you might see.

Or hear. One of the worst crimes the media commits is in the graphic recitation of the latest developments in the case. There is dramatic, foreboding music, close-up stills and voices of doom. Above all, listen to the descriptions. Below are some examples from India TV, not the only one to follow this practice but probably the most ‘eloquent’.

India TV chooses to broadcast in Hinglish, the preferred mother tongue of TV news channels who are trying to communicate in a form of language they hope all of us can understand. So here goes (warning: some of this might be offensive, but without quotes you will not appreciate the full impact of what is said). India TV claimed that it had Breaking News of Surinder Koli’s narco test in which he apparently gave Moninder a “clean chit’’. Koli, the reporter and the anchor told us, admitted that “woh Moninder ko girls ke saath sex karte dekhte thhe’’. After that, Koli killed kids and “mare bacche ke saath s.. karte thhe’’ because a “tantric” had told him that this would cure him of his impotency. As for Payal, “uska s.. chalta thha’’ with Moninder. Koli made “s.. ki demand’’ of Payal, she refused, he killed her and “… laash ke saath s.. kiya …’’ Based on his admissions, “saaf ho gaya hai ki woh s.. maniac thha…’’ Next instalment, said anchor Rajat Sharma, after this break.

What Koli allegedly did was inhuman. The media, sometimes, makes it unbearable. Ask yourself: is the media doing us a great (dis?)service by exposing our venality?