Thirteenth September, Aajtak's BlunderJust when the story of the bomb blasts in Delhi was unfolding, self-styled 'best news channel of India' committed a colossal blunder.
It ran a flash that 'a kid with bomb tied around him' was caught. Just when the people were trying to cope with the gravity of New Delhi being attacked on the evening of September 13 2008, the news further surcharged the atmosphere.
It kept on showing that the 'boy was arrested and taken away by police'. In fact, it was totally baseless and represented the height of irresponsible reporting. The child, Rahul, had seen a suspicious person, who probably planted the bomb or left it in a polythene.
The police took the boy away for quizzing him about the man. But Aajtak, that shamelessly claims itself to be 'Desh ka Sarvashreshtha channel', aired this unconfirmed news which was manufactured on the basis of probably some rumour and came from the realms of fantasy.
This is not just irresponsible but dangerous reporting. Such 'flashes' do create panic. Any news organisation, whether a paper or a channel, that claims to be doing journalism, should first confirm and then telecast a news let alone causing scare.
Within an hour, there was more panic as people thought that if a 'fidayeen' kid was used what could be the magnitude of terror attacks in future. The channel sheepishly showed a flash later that it was wrong information but didn't bother to apologise. It didn't feel responsible enough to say that and pretended as if the earlier report of 'boy used as suicide bomber' was not telecast on Ajtak. So much in the name of journalism!
