After 26/11, they promised they had learnt from their mistakes and we thought they had. Until last week, when once again, a live and tragic event unfolded over 24 hours. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy’s disappearance required restraint and a scrupulous respect for facts. It needed a closely coordinated effort between the media and the governments — central and state — to ensure that this time, we got to know only what could be confirmed, not what people hoped, feared or heard.  

For a while on Wednesday afternoon, it was November 26, 2008 once more. Times Now said YSR had been traced and was safe according to the Civil Aviation Ministry, CNN-IBN and NDTV denied it quoting the Home Ministry, then NDTV agreed with Times Now but by then Times Now was disagreeing with itself claiming Home Ministry confirmation was awaited but Zee News proclaimed Reddy was safe and CNN-IBN denied it but said that according to someone in Reddy’s security chain Reddy was alive but didn’t know his whereabouts, whereupon Headline Today said Civil Aviation Ministry confirmed the CM was safe and on the way to Chittoor by road and NDTV said the AP police had said he was safe but since changed their minds and India TV quoting AP Congress sources agreed but Aaj Tak claimed that while the helicopter had landed, there had been no contact with it or anyone.

Between them, the authorities and the media, had too many sources telling too many different stories — in the face of the Home Ministry’s insistence that the helicopter and AP chief minister were still missing, information all news channels broadcast. By about 4 pm, the speculation subsided and news channels stuck to Home Ministry updates. Finally, the government and the media had found each other on the same page, or in this case, channel.  

... contd.