Hi guys,
I hope we all are as aware as we should be about the Jessica murder case trial and developments thereafter. It has been unprecedented (atleast in my lifetime) when Indian media took on the responsibility of being a crusader for a cause. It was mainly due to media backlash that middle class decided to up its ante and demand justice. Being always buoyed down by daily needs of survival, common men and women rose to the occasion and are ready to fight a battle for someone belonging to them. Most heartening facts are that newspapers, including Times of India and Hindustan Times (which are often market driven), taking up the cudgels along with ever-dependable The Indian Express. Another factor I would like to highlight is that we keep on lamenting loss of traditional news sense and qualities media used to uphold. But if we consider this case, if media would have followed the rules, they would not have been able to take the initiative as going against a court verdict and publishing stories like lapses in police investigation and overlooking of facts by the judge would have amounted to breach ( at least in moral sense if not political). And as I had said in one of my earlier posts, we were witnessing the darkest hour in media industry and it had to be morning ahead. Jessica case just proved to be that twilight. And now we are witnessing a whole new media which does not just focuses on page 3. The change is evident from the maturity shown by NDTV and CNN IBN channels. The channels, even after getting the CDs of Amar Singh's audio tapes, did not go ahead to garner TRPs. NDTV even interviewed Amar Singh and IBN said it can't let vested interests manipulate them. The verdict in Best Bakery case has also vindicated media's role, which kept on pursuing truth despite the victim backtracking. It feels much better now to be a part of this mileu.
