The govt. has ordered that NDTV India be taken off air for a day on November 9th. Yep, you read that right.
Journalism not an easy profession to be in, especially in today’s cut throat competition by media where each media house has to be the most sensational, have the most current news and even those that have not even been found till yet.
But there was a time when journalism was more about uncovering the truth, it was considered to be a dangerous but noble job wherein the journalist would take risks in order to make sure that the truth was out there.
However that all seems to have taken a backseat, with media houses even the so called respectable and serious ones, now behaving more like 5th standard students who just want to win no matter the cost.
Perhaps the best example of this incessant need to have the best and current news would be the case of NDTV India who in order to make waves and gain TRPs, at least that is what I think the reason is, decided to cover the Pathankot terror attacks that happened earlier this year in January.
Now now… before you all jump at me trying to defend NDTV India and say that it didn’t do anything wrong I think you might be missing an important fact here.
Sure there is nothing wrong with covering an important event concerning the nation, but when the information revealed in it could affect the safety of the nation then well… that is nothing more than just stupid and irresponsible journalism.
The Matter At Hand
Alright so basically NDTV while covering the Pathankot terror attacks revealed a lot of sensitive information that included information on the ammunition stockpiled in the airbase, mortars, fuel-tanks, fighter-planes, MIGs, helicopters, rocket-launchers.
As if that was not enough, NDTV India also managed to “give out the exact location of the of the remaining terrorists with regard to the sensitive assets in their vicinity” in their telecast in real time, the Information and Broadcasting committee observed in their report.
The result of these findings was the government and the I&B Ministry ordered the channel to be taken off air for a day.
Height Of Bad Journalism
This whole matter is such a striking evidence of how bad the field of journalism has gotten, that just to get enough viewers and TRPs, the media house didn’t even think once over what information they are letting out in the open.
I don’t think you all get how much this coverage could have cost our nation, and not just the nation, but also the citizens of the country and the defence personnel.
And the truly shameful thing is that even now, the channel is not willing to admit their mistake and understand the gravity of the situation.
The channel is still defending their coverage saying that this matter was more a case of “subjective interpretation” and that whatever information they revealed was already present in the public.
Not really NDTV, not really.
When you are airing on national television and don’t really have control over who is watching or not, then I believe it is not just ethics but plain common sense to defer naming any places or location, more so if they are weapons storehouses.
Which, if they got on the wrong hands, could land the nation in such unrest that we would probably not be able to survive.
You don’t just get to brush of this responsibility so lightly that you are simply not at fault and that everyone has their own interpretation.
Also, by the way who exactly approved the airing of this information in the first place? Did they not think that at the very least the names and locations and numbers should be removed before it was aired?
Signing off I would just say that, this whole incident was a long time coming, media has not exactly been a clean or even a noble area for a long time, and this was bound to happen one day or another.
And I believe that other channels should also take notice of it, instead of gloating in the defeat of NDTV, they should start keeping a stricter check on what information is being broadcasted and whether it is fine to do so or not.
It is high time that we at least have some semblance of ethical journalism and before thinking about how much money the channel is making, the first objective should be to give out good and correct information, one that does not become the matter of national security.
Image Credits: Google Images
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