Approach of Indian and Western Media during national crisis

Terror at Friday Prayer, Black Friday in Old City
70 Killed, 100 injured
Angry mob attack VIPs, crowds erupt, vehicles stoned, VIPs beaten up
Statewide bandh called by all Opposition parties today
These were the Newspaper Headlines appeared just day after the Hyderabad Bomb Blast in 2007.
Along with the pictures of stone throwing incidents.
Picture of a lone policeman shooting at the angry rampaging mob.
Gruesome colorful pictures of dead bodies, bodies of a father and a son separated by a distance...blood splashed on the road, on the religious place of worship.

July 26, 2008
Headline:
17 Bomb Blasts Rock Ahmedabad
Five of them even in CM's Constituency
Techies at IT, BPO firms too scared to work.
Main Headline:
Bangalore, Ahmedabad. Who's Next?

After few days, news about Delhi serial Bomb Blast appears:
And the front page showed the exact timing of each blasts, places, people killed and
injured.
Headline:
Hyderabad, Mumbai, Surat, now New Delhi...
HELPLESS

The newspapers also publish the past records of terror attacks:
Hyderabad's Date with Terror: List of terror attacks, places, no. of people killed, injured all data provided in graphic details.

Similarly, the TV channels just moments after any terror attack give 24x7 live telecast of the details of the attack, show communally sensitive picutures, arousing the strong sentiments of the general public. These pictures create a scare among the public and also provoke them to take some drastic steps to avenge the attack.

Flashback September 12, 2001.
Just day after Twin Tower blast in New York (NY)
Here were some of the headlines US newspapers:

The City Carries On... (News Day)

I LOVE NY MORE THAN EVER
Entire full page of the "Daily News" was devoted to just one line. N gruesome pictures of dead bodies

God Bless America (News Week)

Let Us Pray (Daily Express)

America Unites (People)

America in Agony

Searching for Survivors

Unthinkable

Disbelief

One Nation ... Indivisible (TIME)
Just one word sums up the feeling of the entire nation who suffered from the worst terror attack...

The Best one is:
Honoring the Rescuers (NYT)
Front page of the newspaper has displayed pictures of 69 rescuers who went to save the people in the building and could not return...with caption: America salutes YOU...

These fire fighters just threw their lives into the door of death even after knowing the severity of the terror attack on their soil.
There was not a single angry reaction from the general public in general. No doubt there was fear and angst among the masses.
But there was no bandh called by the Opposition Party in America next day.
No stone pelting incident on George W Bush who visited the blast site 7 days after blast. They didn’t beat any VIPs.
The unique point was there was not a single picture of a dead body, or any injured victim’s photos published in any of the national newspapers like it gets published in Indian media.

Only one picture that appeared in all the national media, both print and visual media:
A devastated Twin Tower of World Trade Center standing tall amidst the fumes...No TV channels showed a single dead body or an injured victim to increase their TRP ratings. The media didn’t create any fear psychosis among the people.
This shows the maturity of a nation when faced with a gravest crisis in its history.
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Yes, it shows how one nation is maturing towards insensitivity and callousness and another maturing towards solidarity during national crisis.
One nation which takes pride in the teachings of love and peace, in being the land of Mahatma Gandhi, flashes violence, fear, hatred among the masses. The Indian media carries on its propaganda of glorifying bloodshed in the minds and hearts of people by hyping the gory details.

Media thrives on propagating negativity, because “negativity” sells in the market. Should negativity rule our mind?

During last year's terror attack on Mumbai, Indian media kept the nation on the hook by creating fear psychosis and war hysteria by continuously showing the graphic images. The entire rescue operation was shown live in TV channels, which proved disastrous for the safety of the SPG commandos who went to save the people trapped inside the hotels. The terrorists got all the information shown in live TV coverage through their WiFi connection. We had shamelessly put the lives of our commandoes in severe risk in the name of freedom of speech and expression.
In such situations, we should learn from the western countries, how boldly they face such crisis.
Few pointers which I can suggest:

• Newspapers should stop create unnatural fear psychosis. At the time of distress, they should work as a Force to bring solace for the suffering public. They should not aggravate the situation.
• There should be complete control over the operation by the Central Government during such emergency operation; we must not put the rescue team’s life into risk by constantly telecasting the images from the site.
• There is need to educate the media about the negative impact of such telecast.
• It’s always good to present the truth as it is, without any distortion, but there are better ways to present the fact.

In the name of Freedom of speech and expression, we just can't put everything live on TV or in print media. We must apply caution and responsible, and show immense maturity and sensitivity to fellow community. Rousing the passion of the public, creating war hysteria, and starting the blame game immediately after any unfortunate event will not augur well for the unity and strength of the nation.
We must behave responsibly and stop this terrorism of our hearts and minds first.
I’d like to take the example of Dr. Abdul Kalaam’s speech, when he was the President of India and went to visit Israel. There was huge bomb blast by Hamas, the dreaded terrorist organization. Almost 60 people lost their lives in the Car Bomb blast in the busy cross section of their Capital Tel Aviv.
In the next day’s newspaper headline, Dr. Kalaam could not find the news about the terror attack on the front page. Instead, the front page had a picture of a Jewish gentleman who in five years had transformed his desert land into an orchid and a granary. It was this inspiring picture that everyone woke up to in Israel. The gory details of killings, bombardments, deaths were inside the newspaper, buried among other news.
In India we are fed with all types of negative news about death, terrorism, murder, and crime.

It is high time we should shun negativity and bring out our best spirit in critical situations. It is time our media should learn a lesson or two from their western counterparts and behave more maturely and responsibly.

My journey

I was born during the early hours of the full moon night of Kartik, coinciding with Guru Nanak’s birthday, thus becoming an instant celebrity.
Ours is a middle-class family with strong values. I being the only son of my parents, with five sisters, was pampered and loved by my family to the maximum.
Thinking of my childhood, I fail to remember the number of times that I have been punished for the naughty and mischievous pranks on my class-mates. I was our Headmaster’s pet, that’s the reason why his day wasn’t complete without scolding me. A dictator in class, my class-mates were terrorized by my “dadagiri”.
I had equal talent in studies as well (reading and writing were what interested me most) since childhood. I used to complete all sorts of books (mythological, children-stories, GK books, etc.) that my father brought me, in record time. I topped from std 1 to 10 in my school, located in Jeypore, a small town in the southern part of Orissa. The best thing about me was I won all the Essay and Quiz competitions held at school. When in the 8th grade, I used to topple the 10th std guys in Quiz competitions. Then, I had a dream of becoming a great Quiz master, due to my thirst for knowledge. I could easily remember all the 179 countries along with their respective capitals, Presidents, PMs, etc as a 5th grader! It was a passion for me to remember all the 79 ministers of PV Narsimha Rao cabinet.
Suddenly this passion died down when I came out of school. I was carried away by the then prevalent career options of either getting into Medicine or Engineering.
But everytime I appeared some entrance exam to this effect, this dream looked more and more distant. Ultimately it set below the horizon with my getting a good rank in the only Agricultural University of our state.
I got a degree in Ag. Engineering. Just fresh out of college and the "Dot com" bubble burst in 2000. I was scared of entering IT sector,
My dreams and goals kept on fluctuating every moment, as I could not set any clear goals. One fine day I would dream of joining the civil services and the next moment I would think of becoming a Govt Ag. Engineer- a permanent job, which had been my mother’s compelling desire.
…but eventually I stepped into the domain I feared, though not directly -- IT. Currently, I am working as a Technical writer for an IT company.
Pursuit of Knowledge had brought laurels to my educational certificates, pursuit of livelihood landed me in a world of flickering worries. Ultimately it was my interest that is my bread-earner now.
Writing became my passion. This passion is taking gigantic strides now. I am dreaming of authoring novels now. Well I do not know who and how many lucky ones will be there in this world to read my novels, but I ‘ve got two confirmed readers for my novel even before it comes into the market. One is myself and other is my wife!
On a serious note I am trying hard to channelise my zealous energy, to cut a coal into a diamond.
I go by the following philosophy:
Quoting Longfellow –
Trust no Future, howe'er pleasant !
Let the dead Past bury its head !
Act,— act in the living Present !
Heart within, and God o'erhead !