TRAGEDY - THE EVENT OR ITS COVERAGE

Mangalore hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons. A plane outshot the runway and crashed into the valley nearby leaving over 150 families bereaved. The reports of a couple of persons missing the flight on account of their bosses handing them generously a heavy workload and that of two brothers who were probably looking forward for a huge welcome party on account of their forthcoming wedding left mixed feelings. It brought to the fore the hard reality of our presumption that we are eternal. The truth of Yudhishthira's answer in the Yaksha Prashne sequence hit me hard.

Mentally, I extended my condolences to the bereaved families and mulled over the luck of the eight survivors. The debate on the television screens on the faults of the pilot vs the fault of the airstrip was again ill timed. It was not the moment to debate the issue but extend assistance to the overstretched manpower which was salvaging the debris and looking out for some survivors in fond hope. The technology was to be put to use to gather evidence, focus on areas which appeared out of bounds and lend a helping hand to the bereaved families. The very same debate could have been held a couple of days later after the decoding of the black box and all facts were on the table. The media appears has not learnt its lessons from its mishandling of the 26/11 attacks.

Highly opinionated, focussed on gaining TRP ratings and lack of empathy in tragic circumstances has become the order of the day. We have had the domination of the print media, followed by the Executive and then the judiciary. So the electronic media obviously does not want to be left behind in the race. Raising the frenzy of living room discussions with total lack of objectivity needs to be condemned unambiguosly.

Arnab, could you learn from the Big B, Sachin and others who tweeted on the issue? If you agree with me mail this blog to Times Now channel. If you disagree leave a comment to that effect.