Kalpesh Mistri had believed that he would just set himself ablaze and the journalists would save him. But he he was not saved. A tea stall owner who made the complaint to police, said that the journalists even stopped him from going towards Mistri when he was getting burnt.
Mistri died of burns. Now the Gujarat police have registered case of abetment of suicide against Kamlesh and Mayur, the reporters. This is not the first such incident in India. But shouldn't channel owners also introspect? The fixation with TRP is threatening journalistic ethos and is hurting the image of news media.
Reporters and stringers in small towns get no salary but a small amount per story that gets telecast. As a result, journalists try to create stories. This is an utterly disgusting situation. Channel heads must pay fixed salary so that journalists shun this tendency to go for sensation by creating news rather than reporting facts.
Update: Journalists not guilty
The Broadcast Editor's Association has found that the police falsely implicated the two journalists and blamed them for instigating the man to hide their failure in acting timely.
The fact finding committee found the role of police suspicious. Even the FIR against journalists appeared motivated and filed at the behest of senior police officers.
