MUMBAI BLASTS - Tracking Thoughts

So is this going to be one more day that most Indians will have to remember with regret, like so many other days? But of course !!

Sitting in Oxford, Ohio I feel helpless because I am unable to reach a journalist friend working in Mumbai. The phones lines are not working. I tried to call her from US and also got a relative to call her number from India. No response. A mail has been sent but her turn-around time has never been remarkable. I can just wait patiently.

The last time I was chatting with her was when she was in some cyber café in rural Maharashtra trying to send some JPEG file to the Indian Express office that was not going through. I am sure she is fine but i am just waiting to hear from her.

This blog however is neither on my friend nor on the blast so to speak. My concern is to report how the internet/news websites is just a much hyped media tool.

Some facts that I find shocking –
1.Telegraph and Statesman Websites DO NOT even report the blasts. (5 p.m. EST, 2:30 AM
India, 12 th June)
2.On NDTV's page they have a larger section on what PM or the Home Ministry
has to say about these blasts ( Mind it – the content is utterly unimportant, as I
will point out later ) than about the blasts temselves.
3.CNN-IBN got lucky because it had its journalist, Jency Jacob commuting in one of the trains
that faced the disastrous fate. However it does not mention anything about arrests that were
made immediately after the blasts in Delhi. CNN mentioned this arrest.
4.Patil mentions that the intelligence had 'some' information but not enough to prevent it. NONE
of the websites ask the question as to why was such information, however vague, not shared
with the public.
5. Times Of India is the only website that is still talking about the Lashkar e Taiba and SIMI as being responsible for these blasts. The fact that no other website writes about it strikes the reader as odd.

Some corrections that can possible make my criticism constructive ( This corresponds with the 5 facts mentioned above) ---

1. If CNN and BBC can cover the blasts why is it so difficult for Statesman and Telegraph to do the same?
2. NDTV could do without it. They have these glaring captions “BREAKING NEWS” and to read that news you have to scroll down so many times.
3. CNN-IBN is part of CNN and yet they did not have the news of the arrest. It might not mean anything but to the reader every piece of information should be provided.
4. Had the news about possible attack been shared with the public, a life or two could have been saved. I am just arguing that it is a possibility. An alert for Goa has been announced today. Why not one for Mumbai…a few days back?
5. The other websites could at best address the issue of the SIMI et al having master minded this attack. A mention of it would also be appreciated.

As disclaimer I would like to point out that I am not trying to prove, as is amply evident I hope, that one website is better than the other. I am just trying to present a general picture of how the internet as a media for news has a long way to go before it can call itself consider itself successful. The drawback had never bothered me so much as it does today. There are many like me who have no access to the television and are looking up internet sites to have some information on the blasts. There is a plethora of information available but there are some serious questions that can still be raised as to how the blasts have been covered.

What I find lacking most in all these reports about the blast, is a human face. Are we making any progress as far as media is concerned, in reporting these events? I do not see anything new. This is not the 1990's when there was no portable satellite or there was no instant connectivity.

So what is it exactly that irks me? I looked up many websites today, even the ones that I do not usually browse. I am just struck by the amount of importance that is given to what the dignitaries have to say about the blasts. They have nothing new to say. With the amount of mishaps that keep taking place in the country even the PM is running out of fresh condolence messages. "My heart reaches out to all those affected by these blasts". Well ! What else? Sonia Gandhi thinks that the event is 'dastardly'. Vilasrao has asked citizens to 'not venture out’ unless necessary but the Home Ministry feels that life should go on as usual and a national alarm is not required.

Is all this really important ??? I do not for once question the genuineness of these remarks by the politicians but does the need for the publicity of that emotion supercede the actual reporting of the event? NO.

I have raised more questions than I have bothered to answer but sometimes I think pertinent questions can prove to be very emphatic. I would like to end on the PM’s statement --

PM further points out with reference to Kashmir blasts that it was a 'cowardly attempt'.
--When have attempts by terrorists been BRAVE ?
-- There is fear in our hearts. The terrorists have succeeded in doing what they wished to do. It was no attempt.

It is time that the nation wakes up and makes the administration more responsible. It is time that the public breaks free from the shackles of media-controlled knowledge. The coverage of the Mumbai Blasts was a good indication that journalism ( internet ) after all is just another business.'Responsible journalism' is a mere dream.

Websites perused for this blog –
Indian Express, CNN, BBC, NDTV, CNN-IBN, Statesman, Telegraph and Times of India.