blame it on gurgaon
What if i were to say that the situation in mumbai due to the floods would not have been so bad had it not been for the police beating of honda workers in gurgaon. Most of you would have a hearty laugh at my expense but i am not joking. it all has to do with that fascinating pillar of modern indian life-the 24 hour news channel. these channels, due to the nature of the medium, are over-the-top ,sensationalistic ,populist; their reporters are loud,stupid,amateurish and ask amazingly inane questions. Forgive me, i digress. lets get back to the central point of the post.
on monday evening(25/7) the police quelled an industrial protest in a brutal and cruel manner avenging the beating of cops by a mob of workers who started the violence. the whole incident was captured on tape and played over and over and over again by the afore-mentioned channels. and why not. the pictures were a great example of the power of images and shocked a nation. a figure of 700 injured was thrown about without any credibility and the channels went on an almost-evangelical crusade to expose the police and state administration as agents of the japanese mnc while sympathising with the poor workers(the guys who started it). their blatant partisanship stoked an already-raging fire leaving the situation in gurgaon and in parliament very volatile the next day. the entire morning of the 26th was spent covering gurgaon while a 1000 km away another tragedy was unfolding and the media was totally oblivious to it despite it being in the country's largest city. after battering the konkan coast for a few days the rains moved to mumbai. by 11 a.m. the kalyan-kasara and kalyan-karjat train lines were blocked basically stopping 75% of the passenger traffic in and out of the city and the key thane-belapur road was blocked. on a slow news day, this would have been major news but the editors in the newsroom were so focussed on gurgaon that they hardly paid attention. that was the big mistake-they simply failed to comprehend the story breaking in front of them and because the news channels were not reporting anything people assumed nothing was wrong. nobody went to pick up their kids from school, no one left office early, people were still flying into the city oblivious. by 1 p.m. most roads were choked; by 3p.m. the city was basically in lockdown. still, it was not till 4 that the channels really picked up the story. by then, it was too late. would everything have been fine if the coverage had started earlier. of course not but it would have been better. remember, 94 cm of rain doesn't fall in a couple of hours.
on monday evening(25/7) the police quelled an industrial protest in a brutal and cruel manner avenging the beating of cops by a mob of workers who started the violence. the whole incident was captured on tape and played over and over and over again by the afore-mentioned channels. and why not. the pictures were a great example of the power of images and shocked a nation. a figure of 700 injured was thrown about without any credibility and the channels went on an almost-evangelical crusade to expose the police and state administration as agents of the japanese mnc while sympathising with the poor workers(the guys who started it). their blatant partisanship stoked an already-raging fire leaving the situation in gurgaon and in parliament very volatile the next day. the entire morning of the 26th was spent covering gurgaon while a 1000 km away another tragedy was unfolding and the media was totally oblivious to it despite it being in the country's largest city. after battering the konkan coast for a few days the rains moved to mumbai. by 11 a.m. the kalyan-kasara and kalyan-karjat train lines were blocked basically stopping 75% of the passenger traffic in and out of the city and the key thane-belapur road was blocked. on a slow news day, this would have been major news but the editors in the newsroom were so focussed on gurgaon that they hardly paid attention. that was the big mistake-they simply failed to comprehend the story breaking in front of them and because the news channels were not reporting anything people assumed nothing was wrong. nobody went to pick up their kids from school, no one left office early, people were still flying into the city oblivious. by 1 p.m. most roads were choked; by 3p.m. the city was basically in lockdown. still, it was not till 4 that the channels really picked up the story. by then, it was too late. would everything have been fine if the coverage had started earlier. of course not but it would have been better. remember, 94 cm of rain doesn't fall in a couple of hours.
posted by citizensavage | 12:50 PM
2 Comments:
I agree with u that had there been any disemmination of info the tragedy could have been avoided. But, the real issue here is that instead of making a scapegoat of the 4th estate for not living upto its expectations, we should realise that it is their business to beam sensational news which will capture eyeballs, unlike the govt. who CERTAINLY had an obligation to inform ppl of the impending crisis. atleast the media woke up later -- Better late than never. I agree that all concerned, be it the media or the administration failed in their job "admirably". Have trust in the govt. to do nothing....
Wow that's so cool...appreciate having a new scapegoat to blame! No, really, I mean we've blamed everyone including our (engineering) college princi and professors who wanted to continue lecturing at 3 p.m....and then waded home from Bandra to South Bombay. Though we do feel lucky after New Orleans.
But a flood can really screw up a semester!
BTW, visiting your blog for the first time...good job...was given the link by your friend AT.
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