[Reader-list] media coverage of Wednesday Mumbai attacks

[geeta seshu]

Well,

Thanks for adding other names to the list of television journalists...and
yes, some of them did do good work under duress. As a print journalist, I
could reach out to so many of these young television journalists who had to
grow up overnight.

But about Simi Garewal's comments - they aren't true or accurate. The flags
are green with the crescent moon but that's markedly different from the Pak
flag which has a thick white strip running vertically to the left - check it
out if you doubt me. Also, Ms Garewal has apologised for her remarks:

Bollywood's veteran actress Simi Garewal, who kicked up a storm with her
comment on a TV show that slums in Mumbai can be seen sporting Pakistani
flags, has apologised, saying she was wrong and stood corrected.

"I was wrong on that count and I apologise for that. In the slums near the
Race Course in Mahalaxmi in central Mumbai which I was talking about, they
sport Islamist flags; and you know it closely resembles the Pakistani flag.
This was pointed out to me by somebody. So, I say sorry and stand
corrected," Garewal told IANS, after Mumbai's 60-hour terror siege in which
at least 183 people were killed.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?sectionName=HomePage&id=7c1cc86a-d51d-4211-8b7a-e4fa7b0c4cce&&Headline=I+say+sorry+and+stand+corrected%3a+Simi+Garewal
+

You've raised a good question when you ask who represents Mumbai. I would
imagine that, at a simple level, everyone who lives in this city and who
cares for it. But additionally, who speaks for Mumbai? And whose voice is
being heard the most? That's a moot point, isn't it? Besides, I haven't
heard the voice of one sane person who would defend terrorists. Most mature
people can understand that they seek to divide and communalise situations
even more than they already are.


On Tue, Dec 2, 2008 at 6:48 PM, Aditya Raj Kaul <kauladityaraj at gmail.com>wrote:

> Its interesting to see how Simi Gerewal's words among other things, have
> tasted bitter to a few.  Truth has been always hard to accept. Anyways.
>
> 'Times Now' by far did the best reporting of the entire terror attack. Not
> alone Mahrook. I'll begin with Arnab Goswami, who didn't mindlessly leave
> for the venue as was done by 'Senior Editors" of at least four English and
> Hindi front line channels. Times Now even had a brilliant panel for evening
> discussions. Mature Investigative and Live Journalism was as well displayed
> by Bhavtosh Singh and Arunodaya Mukherji crime reporters of Times Now and
> CNN-IBN respectively. Also, to add in this list Jitender Dikshit of Star
> News.
>
> A leading female journalist of much hyped 'pseudo-secular' channel tried
> her
> best to attract attention and lead way as the only so called mature and
> intelligent figure around, but she failed miserable, she was lost in the
> crowd of media.
>
> I salute the patience of these few mature journalists who undertook this
> mission with great zeal and enthusiasm. Journalism is all about that
> courage, honesty and right timing.
>
> Its surely easy to question. Though I still do be live that these are many
> other negative patterns to it. Leading Hindi Channel (TRP wise) like last
> time (Jammu Hostage crises) yet again interviewed terrorists live. By this
> they not only gave these crackpots space on media but as well committed
> blunder against security personnel's.
>
> Who really represents Mumbai ? Why are Simi Gerewal not an equal parts of
> this great city ? It is unfortunate to mark this dividing line. At this
> time
> we should be united. On the contrary, we see people "unfortunate people'
> who
> mistakenly became Indians, defending Pakistan and even these terrorists
> time
> and again on TV Channels and even sometimes streets. This forum is quite
> aware of such breed of people.
>
> 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai' is said in praise of this country and not against any
> religion. It has no communal overtones. Please don't start crafting things.
> We surely saw how people in thousands used this slogan to greet our brave
> jawans who destroyed aims of these bloody terrorists.
>
> Lets act mature atleast at this time when we have lost just so many people.
>
> If not your conscience, atleast the innocent face, and cries of 2-year-old
> Moshe orphaned in the attack on Nariman House where his Jewish parents
> Rabbi
> Gavriel Holtzberg and Rivka were killed from the bullets of terrorists,
> should keep a filter in your mind.
>
> Thanks
> Aditya Raj Kaul
>
>
>
> On 12/2/08, geeta seshu <geetaseshu at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > Hi,
> > I'm a print journalist based in Mumbai. I had a whole lot of problems too
> > with television media coverage. Specifically:
> >
> > 1. India TV had background music in the midst of live coverage and began
> > having commercial breaks too. India TV had an interview with a
> 'terrorist'
> > and its anchors were trying to argue with him as to why he was killing
> all
> > these people - even as the entire killing was on. While this is hugely
> > debatable, what made it worse was that they announced a commercial break
> in
> > the middle of the 'conversation' with the terrorist. I waited to see if
> it
> > would resume but it never did and I learnt later that the government
> leaned
> > on the channel.
> >
> > 2. CNN-IBN was high octave and frenzied, save its young reporter (I think
> > her name was Toral). I was told its head, Rajdeep Sardesai, even dragged
> a
> > Taj chef away from another channel for an interview while he was being
> > interviewed! It was also very jingoistic - but that was the general trend
> > of
> > all the channels...
> >
> > 3. TV media,whether English or Hindi, concentrated on celebrities - we
> had
> > Shobha De or Simi Garewal in the english channels and Sanjay Dutt or some
> > such film star in the hindi channels...these are hardly the
> opinion-makers
> > of Mumbai. yet, they were given undue importance and their views aired
> for
> > a
> > long time.
> >
> > 4.Times Now (which otherwise did a great job thanks to that reporter at
> Taj
> > _Mahrook), went on and on that a war was on! Was that wise? An attack
> which
> > is confined to one part of the city - and i can vouch for the fact that
> in
> > Bandra, after the first day when people realised that no other
> terroristst
> > were at large and they were confined to the south mumbai area, it was
> > business almost as usual!
> >
> > 5. What happened to the blasts at Vile Parle and Dockyard Road? How did
> > they
> > happen? Who were behind them....we are still clueless.
> >
> > 6. What is the involvement of D company...how much of his local network
> was
> > utilised for this operation? Why is the media silent on this or even on
> his
> > links with Sharad Pawar?
> >
> > 7. When Modi came to the Taj site, we saw this ridiculous image of him
> > shooing aside some BJP chap who came to greet him, as he was blocking the
> > television cameras...even priyanka kakodkar of NDTV had to crouch so as
> to
> > stay out of the camera's view of Modi....there was no attempt to on the
> tv
> > channels part to ay this was not an image worth focusing on - especially
> > when the shooting was still on! He was utilising the media, and the media
> > played along...
> >
> > Apart from the media coverage, I also have to add that the general
> jingoism
> > everywhere is hugely disturbing - RR Patil raises a slogan Bharat Mata Ki
> > Jai and today, that's become the general slogan of all the citizens
> groups
> > that are going around lighting candles everyday.
> >
> > Of course, the college students who organised the march at Carter Road
> were
> > obviously too young to know the divisive way that slogan was used in the
> > freedom movement and even during the 1991-92 riots in Mumbai and were
> > saying
> > Jai Hind too !
> >
> > Generally, all the people one speaks to feel under attack and feel
> > something
> > must be done...few are clear what needs to be done. So, when people voice
> > things like youth must get compulsory military training for a year or
> wage
> > war on Pakistan, no one gets a chance to counter it strongly enough.
> >
> > The NDTV Barkha Dutt show had Simi Garewal talking about Paki flags in
> > slums
> > near Four Seasons Hotel and now, DNA has a campaign called the 'Eyes and
> > Ears' campaign (probably a take off from the Delhi police informers
> > campaign)...
> >
> > So easy to see the right-wing rubbing their hands in glee and waiting for
> > the harvest of blood and votes!
> >
> > Geeta
> > _________________________________________
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