Ghost drives a car on Ajtak

Earlier we have written about Ghost riding a horse shown on Ajtak in this blog. Today the same channel went a step ahead as it was not on its ghost programme show (is it Khauf!) but on prime time.

For several hours Aajtak telecast a video showing a car running on the streets of Delhi with no body on the steering. The anchors left no stone unturned in trying to fox the nation and convince viewers that it was nearly a supernatural thing.

A nation of gossip-mongers we are, surely. And the 'bhoot jo car chala raha hai' must have soared the TRPs of Aj Tak. Car without Driver is another 'milestone' in Indian TV journalism as anything can now be shown whether cross-checking it.

Send any damn video, morphed or created by superimposing, and get a few hours on prime time. The other day Star News had pronounced that the babies born during the eclipse would be slightly less intelligent (a euphemism for mentally deranged) without bothering to check scientific facts or saying that it was just an astrologers' prediction. Many must have believed that and would look at their newborns as if they would have been more intelligent only if they were born a few days here or there.

Covering the blasts in Malegaon: Would somebody rein in these journos?

The day after the blasts, the reporters from Mumbai who had rushed to Malegaon for 'their story', began barging into houses and showing grief-stricken families.

"This is the house where three persons of the same family died, one youth and two children", said the reporter of a national channel. In a tragic atmosphere he moved into the inner room pointing towards the women. And a few expletives came out of my mouth. That was really sick and I switched off the television.

When will the journalists, anchors and senior editors realise that its absolutley unethical and wrong. It is a tragedy, not just a big story or the reporter's hour which he can mention later in his CV that he had covered Malegaon blasts as well.

They can talk to some persons outside the house, so much could have been done to show the grief in air but they dispalyed not an iota of concern towards the sensibilities of the victims or viewers. The mourning town may tolerate such behaviour but these actions only invite contempt towards the profession of journalism that is unhealth for entire Indian journalism.

As usual NDTV India was good in covering tragedies. For CNN-IBN Toral Varia did a very good job. She was calm, composed, sombre as the occasion demanded and not excited as many other reporters.

et tu Arnab: TV Anchors as Preachers

Arnab Goswami has also been bitten by the preaching bug. Talking to the lawyer of Abu Salem, Goswami suddenly turned into a preacher.

'Think for a while, as an Indian, keep your hand on your heart & say....just for a brief moment, take off your lawyer's hat...and as an Indian...is it in the interest of the nation if a person 'responsible' for terror campaigns against India should...etc etc...'

The emotional blackmail appeared straight from a soap opera. He and his co-anchor were on the verge of threatening Harjot Singh, the lawyer. Arnab, you seem to be watching lot of the loud anchors at Jan Mat.

The poor lawyer was doing his duty as per the constitution of this country. You can say these things subtly and expose everybody but you need not be so truculent and disrespectful to everybody.

Mediamen instigating anti-Shahrukh violence

Abhaypur village has no cinema halls or even cable network. Even residents of this remote village are not aware of Shahrukh Khan's supterstardom but after one of King Khan's guard was shot by another guard, protests against Shahrukh were reported from here.

Asian Age reports that TV news reporters had instigated violence in the village that later spread to Allahabad. The banners of Shahrukh were burnt, posters trampled over and protestors tried to disrupt screening of his film. 'The cameramen came to us, gave us Shahrukh's poster and asked us to burnt it', said the guard's younger brother.

Amita Verma writes that the guard was shot when the star was not in Mumbai. He earned Rs 15,000 per month. The paper further highlights how cameramen of electronic media have instigated people in several other incidents in recent months.