Not just Sridevi but Indian Media needs an obituary: Barkha Dutt - Page 2

Originally posted by: ponymo

Barkha, Rajdeep, Faye D'Souza, Ravish Kumar - these are much better than the real crooked journalists like Arnab, and the rest of the Republic TV, Times Now, Aaj Tak and Zee News journos.

Originally posted by: ponymo

Barkha, Rajdeep, Faye D'Souza, Ravish Kumar - these are much better than the real crooked journalists like Arnab, and the rest of the Republic TV, Times Now, Aaj Tak and Zee News journos.

Originally posted by: desiking3

The sudden and mysterious death of Sridevi Kapoor, a Bollywood superstar beloved to millions of Indians and a rare actor who bridged the culture gap between the North and the South, is absolutely a valid news story.

For my entire generation, Sridevi was a cult figure. She began acting at the age of 4, and her films spanned multiple languages and roles.But the way her death has been reported in our media, especially on television, is the very opposite of journalism.

As a broadcast journalist (currently on a sabbatical from the TV screen), I felt deeply embarrassed. I am sure I have done shows I am not super proud of, but never this. I saw one channel reconstruct the sequence of events leading up to her final hours by showing a floating Sridevi in a bathtub. Another tweeted a promotional promising all the details of "Sridevi's last 15 minutes in bathroom. After Dubai media reported that the forensic report said there were "traces of alcohol in her blood, shows interviewed friends of the family on whether Sridevi usually drank red wine or vodka. "She only drank wine; never hard liquor, our news presenters reassured us, as if to say that women who drink deserve to die, or at the very least, live dangerously. The whispers about her "drinking were the perfect cue for the media to unleash morality judgments and wild speculations driven by the kind of double standards that are reserved for women .

our fulminating anchors could be using their investigative journalist prowess to chase many other critical stories in India. We have a $1.8 billion bank scam, for one. Or the recent murder of nine children mowed down by a speeding SUV allegedly driven by a (now-suspended) Bharatiya Janata Party functionary

A number of television shows have virtually alluded to murder as the cause of Sridevi's death without any off-record sourcing or on-record claim. Above all, it is so unfair to the two young daughters of Sridevi, whose loss has been compounded by the furious scrutiny of their (fiercely private) mother's life.

For me, the final embarrassment was watching a news host on India's most watched Hindi channel stand next to a white bathtub across which was emblazoned the words "Maut Ka Bathtub, or "The Bathtub of Death.

Not just Sridevi but television news needs an obituary, I said.We often accuse television of being merely TRP (Television Rating Point) hunters. But the viewers are the ones who keep tuning in.