By Ranjona Banerji
The shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida which has left 49 people dead and 53 injured – at last count – quite rightly dominated news cycles in India and abroad. Although in India it did compete with the fight over censorship, freedom of expression and the film Udta Punjab.
Reports started with the death of a singer at the nightclub Pulse, but it soon became clear that the attack was more horrific than that. Once the identity of the shooter became clear – Omar Mateen, an American born US citizen of Afghan origin – the focus shifted to Islamic terrorism, especially since Mateen had pledged allegiance to IS.
However, there was a seemingly conscious attempt by American investigators and government spokespersons not too walk too far down that road without evidence. This attitude was reflected in the media as well. Barring Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump – who has a good future as an Indian politician – most were not willing to stick their necks out so far.
But even then the media and social media reflected the various aspects of this crime. For one, it was the largest mass shooting in a country which has more mass shootings than most others. For another, it was a vicious attack on the gay community and on people having fun. For a third, there definitely appeared to be some religious angle. For another, was the focus on the perpetrator taking away the pain of the victims’ and their families?
This is how a story unfolds and that is why initial caution is more advisable than jumping into the deep end at first instance. Western TV news has shown some signs of initial caution in such instances – especially since Anders Brevik’s mass shooting in Norway but Indian news television perhaps still has some lessons to learn.
Current news stories suggest that Mateen was himself gay and a regular at Pulse and his ex-wife says he was violent and bi-polar. CNN meanwhile has decided to focus on the victims and not the shooter.
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The Bombay High Court may have ended the whole fight over the film Udta Punjab, but it provided much grist to news television’s mill. We had “debates†on the matter for almost a week. Like most TV debates, they reached no conclusion, they had various party spokespersons shouting at each other, they confused political one-upmanship with the problems of drug-dealing and addiction with the concept of freedom of expression with the need for a certification board to behave like a censor board.
More and more I admire people who can watch these TV debates night after night. They deserve the highest civilian awards for bravery.
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A diary item in Coomi Kapoor’s Sunday column in The Indian Express tells us that the Prime Minister, his Cabinet and his party were very upset that the media did not focus enough on an award that he received on his recent trip to Afghanistan. Instead, the headlined story was the follow-up of a hit and run accident involving a teenager at the wheel of a Mercedes and the death of pedestrian. Apparently, several tweets were sent from ministers questioning the news priorities of the media.
Two points to note here. The first is would such a miss of the PM’s foreign travels and honours been possible two years ago?
And the second is India has one of the highest mortality rates when it comes to road accidents. According to government figures, some 400 people die every day on Indian roads.