Too Many Cooks …
I’ve been meaning to write about this for a while, but couldn’t get down to doing it. What we saw on the weekend of 22-23rd July was, as Murali Krishnan puts it aptly, the nadir as far as the news channels are concerned.
What started off as coverage of an unfortunate accident, ended up being portrayed as a National tragedy. With around 20 “national” news channels, all of them having a generic, countrywide focus, there was a mad rush to cover the episode. By sunday, most TV channels had resorted to 24×7 live coverage of the rescue effort. The couple of saner ones tried their best to stick to their regular programming, but still had to give a significant airtime to Prince and his rescue, since everyone else was doing it.
Just when you thought it couldn’t get crazier, the Prime Minister of a country of a billion people comes out with a “statement” on this issue. Forgive me Mr. Prime Minister, while I appreciate your concerns and prayers, do you come out with a statement every time someone is involved in an accident? Or were you just doing it because every other politician was trying to hog the limelight?
Things reached a dramatic climax – reporters commentating with their breaths held in anticipation fell prey to several false positives. People gathered in thousands around the well, held banners, obviously not just to grab the TV camera’s attention. There was a flood of SMSes, elevating Prince to a symbol of bravery, a National hero. Prayers were held across the country. The director of a movie where there was a similar rescue was interviewed. Nothing was spared. The Chief Minister of the state arrived just in time to “receive” the rescued boy. This was the most remarkable punctuality ever seen with a politician. Pay no heed to skeptics who say the rescue was timed to his arrival.
In 48 hours of TV coverage, it was was only the drama that was perceived as being of any importance. Every channel said that a new well was being dug, while in actual fact, only a tunnel was being dug from an existing well. Nobody raised pertinent questions such as who’s negligence was responsible for leaving a bore-well uncovered. Nobody brought out the danger of letting a thousand people throng the rescue area, and the fact that it should have been cordoned off.
If it were up to me, I’d just bring in a legislation to make weekend hobbies mandatory.
General 
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