Scooped

Over-eager television channels must know their limits

The Mumbai attacks were made-for-TV. Not just because of the sheer drama and spectacle unfolding in real time, but because in a larger sense, modern terrorism is a theatrical event that exploits and depends on the media. The terrorist act is both bang and echo, it is meant to reverberate in our consciousness through constant media attention.

Even as the hostage crisis raged, news reporters and anchors were solving it out loud. Reporters ferreted their way into the scene, giving moment-by-moment updates of security plans, and getting in the way of security operations. The home minister spectacularly put his foot in it, confiding the NSG’s plans to the whole country via television channels which thoughtfully provided specific details on the planned movement of the security personnel, giving the terrorists in the hotel enough time and information to prepare for the ambush.

Vying for fresh material, they announced attacks where none had happened, backtracked shoddily, and some even claimed to have “interviewed” a terrorist. They harassed the hostages who had just escaped the gruelling experience, and plied their families with intrusive questions. Later, television channels were set limits, and broadcast was cut off to large parts of Mumbai.

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It is depressing that it took this drastic step for sanity to be restored.

Certainly, television reporters can’t be blamed for trying to glean as much information as possible, besiege officials with questions and bring their audiences as exhaustive a picture as possible — that’s what journalists are meant to do. But these freedoms put on them enormous responsibilities. Television channels can voluntarily hold themselves to certain standards, as the News Broadcasters Association later did, but these are not binding strictures. And the fault lies as much with our enforcement officials, who compulsively over-shared details and made no attempt whatsoever to seal off the area or to collaborate with the media on what was permissible information, and what could compromise the operation.