The double murder in Noida has suddenly filled the headlines. The news channels who were making do with controlled IPL reporting have been unshackled. In self righteous indignation they scream from the rooftops. Headlines after headlines are vying for attention!!
"Papa tune kyun mara" says AajTak. A multiple award winning news channels whcih doubles up as manohar kahaniyan for the starved masses.
Sample an excerpt. A frail looking driver sits behind a computer generated graphic PAPA TUNE KYUN MARA!! Blood splattered on the graphic. Two journalists bristling with moralittude (i know its not a word but then this is a journalism of invention so why can't I invent a word).
Journo: Sandigh mujrim Hemraaj se aap kab mile (When did you last meet the supposed criminal Hemraj!! )
Driver: Sahib hum to sirf 2 minute ghar mein chabi lene jaate the (I only used to go into the house for 2 minutes)
Journo: Yani aap ko Hemraj se milne nahin diya ja raha tha. Kyun? (SO you were not allowed to meet Hemraj. why??)
Driver: Nahin aisa nahin tha, hame toh abhi bhi vishvas nahin hota ke ek baap apni beti ko mar sakta hai!! (No it wasn't like this, I still cannot believe that a father would kill his daughter)
The journalist thinks on his feet. Thsi man is a plant, he will spoil the slant of the story, the fatehr is a depraved maniac and nobody can convince him other wise. Journo makes another attempt or two to put words into his mouth!! But the driver though frail sticks to his guns. Frustrated the journalist changes tac.
Journo: Aap ko studio mein kisne bheja, sandigh mujrim ke parivar ne??!! (who sent you to the studio, a member of the family??)
Drver: Renu ji ne (Renu did)
This is a crucial fact, he is now ready to hang the driver
Journalist: RENU KAUN HAIN (WHO IS RENU??)
In the 2 seconds before the driver answers the pause is pregnant with possibiliites.
(Renu is the missing link. Renu is perhaps the 3rd lover. Renu is the neighbour who is the doctor's admirer...Renu)
Driver: Renuji...aapki studio ki incharge (Renu is your studio person)
While the journalist fumbled, paused, found a new tantalizing thread and bumbled on, his compatriot in her shrill rabble rousing voice gave us some more gory details!! graphics replaced the dumbstruck man.
I switch channels. One shows images of the dead girl's mother. Under it they play the song from Taare Zameen Par ..Tujhe sab hai pata meri ma!! (Mom you know everything!!). Some editor and reporter must be gloating at the beauty of the communication. This is his/her masterpiece!!
A third has two people in a makeshift court where the alleged killer, the girls father is shown as a still in the katghera (the witness stand).
I sit and think of free speech and what Oscar Wilde said," “The public have an insatiable curiosity to know everything. Except what is worth knowing. Journalism, conscious of this, and having tradesman-like habits, supplies their demands.”
I want to launch an investigation: Journalism ko kisne kyun mara!!
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