When the story changed

In its recent verdict on the Kasab case, the Supreme Court said: "The coverage of the Mumbai terror attack by the mainstream electronic media has done much harm to the argument that any regulatory mechanism for the media must only come from within". With all due respect, I would like to say that if Kasab could get a fair trial in our land, the media deserves better. Mumbai was not the failure of self-regulation. It was the beginning of self-regulation.

Sometime around 2008, a consensus had developed in the electronic media that a process of reform and self-regulation was essential. On October 2, 2008 — just weeks before the Mumbai attack on November 26 — an autonomous, self-regulatory body called the News Broadcasting Standards Authority came into being under the chairmanship of the former chief justice of India, J.S. Verma. This body has the mandate to set standards and guidelines for news channels. It also has the right to punish violations to the extent that it could recommend the cancellation of a channel's licence. Could anything be stricter than this ?

However, it would be unfair to judge the efficacy of a body on the basis of an incident that happened barely eight weeks into its existence. We would need to judge it on the basis of what has happened since then. The first thing that happened post attack was the drafting of elaborate guidelines to cover such emergencies. Taking note of the criticism that the electronic media attracted for its live coverage, the guidelines, issued by Justice Verma on December 18, 2008, clearly said, "In live reporting of hostage situations or rescue operations, no details of identity, number and status of hostages should be telecast or information given of pending rescue operations or regarding the number of security personnel involved or the methods employed by them." The guidelines further said, "media should avoid live contact with victims or security personnel...or the perpetrators during the course of the incident... Special care should be taken in broadcast of any distressing visuals."

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