Most news channels have their head offices in Noida but failed to see the trend of missing children and could not report the disappearance of children until the police arrested the culprits and the horrifying story unfolded. Why?
It's the failure of Indian Media. Some correspondents had reported it earlier but the top bosses in plush offices of Delhi/Noida perhaps did not find merit in it. (probably the reporters had little access to editorial bosses so that they could convince editorial meetings that it was indeed worth prime time news).
And, how could it have been newsworthy for them! Most channels have turned news into soap operas and are obsessed with Aishwarya Rais and Abhishek Bachchans. They need to do a soul-searching.
The channels that had gone crazy when ONE CHILD, the son of Adobe CEO, was abducted from Noida, remained oblivious to the fact that umpteen children were missing from an area just in their backyard. Is that because the son of an MNC matters more to the media that is bedazzled with power and moneyed-people.
And ironically, at last when the police managed to catch the culprits the shameless anchors had the audacity to tell viewers that it was the failure of cops to catch the culprits so late. At least the cops caught the accused, though belatedly. What the media did? What about its role of investigation and reporting.
How big is Nithari village! If 40-odd children went missing from here, it was not an ordinary story. And it was not that people were not aware. Actually, the channels apparently did not find enough 'masala' (sic) for them in poor children who were disappearing. But once skeletons were unearthed and the nation was shocked at the serial killings where children were subjected to sexual abuse, the electronic news channels were woken up from their deep slumber.
The media does need to question itself for its askewed vision, faulty news coverage and obsession with fashion, lifestyle, rich people and all the glitz except the life of ordinary Indians. We wonder how many such stories have never been told.
Alas, Aishwarya visiting Ajmer Sharif and Pushkar makes the biggest headline in this nation. The families of children always suspected that the incidents were occurring in the particular area. But no sting operation was planned.
