Mumbai: At 5: 15 pm on Friday, the Secretary, Internal Security, commended (with one exception) the media for obeying instructions in not showing television pictures of operational details which could help terrorists inside the Taj Mahal Hotel. NDTV 24 x 7 announced it was shifting its cameras so that they will not focus on the exact location from where rocket launchers were being operated.

Media will debate whether this was the right step. The BBC while covering live the demolition of the Babri Masjid gave us a blow-by- blow account.

The American TV coverage of the September 11 attack on the World Trade Centre left nothing to the imagination. Show and be damnd was the motto in both the cases.

Our channels played it safe because human lives were involved. 43 hours after the entry of terrorists neither the channels nor the people knew how many terrorists entered the country, their nationality and the total death toll.

During these agonizing hours, much confusion was spread with the channels flashing messages that the battle was at its last stage either at the Oberoi, the Trident or the Taj even as gun fire could be heard and the reporters announcing the battle had intensified! Why mislead the viewers?

We watched big fires in both the hotels on which very little information was given. While Barkha Dutt, of NDTV 24 x 7, as usual talked breathlessly on nothing, Rajdeep Sardesai screamed on the rumours about shooing near CST. Quickly he corrected himself they were only rumours, but went on repeating the same dozens of times. He should have known that rumours repeated persistently, tend to be taken as truth.

In Hindi channels, as usual, everyone screamed in over excitement. The worst offender was Aaj Tak whose anchor was taking potshots at the Union government and minister of state for home affairs, Sriprakash Jaiswal for his indirect criticism of Narendra Modi and his most unwelcome appearance in the battle zone to talk politics.

The anchor could have been the spokesperson for the Gujarat chief minister. This is not done at a time when the security forces were fighting to save the lives of hundreds.
Source : DNA