Opinion The tragedy and the farce
Last week,there was a devastating tragedy. This week has begun with an irreplaceable loss. Barely an hour before this was being written...
Last week,there was a devastating tragedy. This week has begun with an irreplaceable loss. Barely an hour before this was being written,the winter of a patriarch ended on a cold and cloudy Sunday morning. Jyoti Basus life and death was a chronicle waiting to be told ever since he was admitted to hospital on January 1. So,no sooner was his death announced,midday,that puffy-eyed TV reporters stationed outside the hospital bid him a last farewell,as if by rote.
The rolling coverage began with obituaries and political tributes but soon gave way to discussions on the importance of being Jyoti Basu. Meanwhile,Hindi news TV (News 24 and India TV) had returned to their Bollywood reporters within the hour.
Now,if only the number of commercial breaks on the news could have been reduced as a mark of respect. If only TV anchors would stop saying,Whats the atmosphere like out there? as though they were watching a dismal India reel at 160/6 against Bangladesh. If only they would not announce,A Red Sun Sets when theres no sun to speak of besides being a rather poor pun (Headlines Today). If only there could have been less confusion over Basus final rites: at about 3 pm,CNN-IBN said no funeral for Basu,body to be donated,NDTV 24×7 said cremation on Tuesday and Headlines said final rites on Tuesday,body to be donated. And while CNN-IBN and NDTV maintained some distance from the vehicle carrying Basus body away from the hospital,Times Now was literally in his face. Yes,its idealistic and unrealistic to expect such things but they would have dignified Mr Basu and the news channels.
Our news channels did not bother to dignify the earthquake in Haiti with the attention it deserved. While CNN and BBC had extensive live coverage of this horrifying seismic upheaval throughout the week,our news TV was too busy celebrating,amongst other things,Lohri and Makar Sankranti and the Maha Kumbh for the death of a few hundred thousand people and the suffering of thousands more to recall their primary function: the news. Haiti may have no geopolitical or economic relevance for Indians but sheer humanity demanded a sensitive response.
Nobody expects TV news to send out reporters (although,why not?) but at least more coverage.
At moments such as these,the western media triumphs,albeit in tragedy,TV news in particular. They become citizens of the world,reaching out across the globe to bring us the news (its another matter that Haiti is only a short flight away from Miami). Thus CNN and BBC had senior reporters like Jonathan Mann out there amidst the rubble in a flash,alerting the world to the enormity of the calamity. You did wish,though,he would not smile so while describing a city in ruins or that his colleagues (Anderson Cooper for one) did not look so healthy,alive and sporty in their T-shirts as they reported for the umpteenth time on the unbearable stench around them.s
This is a danger common to reporting on tragedies and deaths: theres a fine line between the meaningful and meaningless. If you listened to what was being said about Jyoti Basu or Haiti,the descriptions began to sound like platitudes after a while,signifying nothing.
CNN and BBC Worlds fulsome coverage of the relief efforts had a significant diplomatic fallout: with America leading the way,the bad cop in Afghanistan was suddenly the all-compassionate-one in Haiti with constant visuals of American troops offering aid assistance there,for all too see.
Before we go,heres an ironic,bittersweet coincidence. BBC Entertainment is broadcasting The State Within,a drama about a suicide bombing of a commercial flight when one passenger sets off an undetected bomb onboard. Sounds familiar?
shailaja.bajpai@expressindia.com
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