[Reader-list] Today's "media circus" at Jamia

[Shuddhabrata Sengupta]

Dear Yousuf,

Many thanks for this post and for sharing your thoughts on the 'media  
circus'.

Watching the 'media circus' unfold on television, I was appalled at  
the manner in which the 'spectacle' was priming itself up through the  
day. A channel called 'News 24' for instance, was repeatedly  
informing us that it 'was the first to transmit pictures of the  
encounter' etc, as if it had just won India yet another sharp- 
shooting gold medal in the Olympics.

A thought that did strike me was, "'how much more disrespectful can  
the blood-lust of this spectacle of a hunt, get to all those who died  
in today's 'Encounter' , be they policemen on duty, or 'alleged'  
terrorists ?"

I think we need to give some serious thought to the fact that these  
days police encounters are actually an extended part of 'Reality  
TV' (which in any case, the entire genre should be more appropriately  
called 'Surreality TV'). That seem scripted well in advance. How else  
(as you so cogently point out) can one explain the sudden appearance  
of large OB vans, with heavy duty equipment, battling heavy rush hour  
traffic, in a congested area like Jamia Nagar, just at the 'nick of  
time'?

The TV commentators, throughout the day, referred to what their  
'sources' in the Special Cell, or in the Delhi Police, told them. I  
wondered to what degree the entire 'Operation' was co-scripted,  
between these 'sources' and the newsrooms of Television channels.  
There seems something almost monotonously repetitive in these  
situations. A strange feeling of Deja-Vu. Something tells me we have  
seen this before. Or is it just that I have watched way too much  
'reality' ?

regards

Shuddha







On 19-Sep-08, at 8:25 PM, Yousuf wrote:

> Friends
> I have titled this message the “media circus”, although I am  
> actually referring to this morning’s so-called encounter killing of  
> two young people referred to as “terrorists” in L-18 Batla House,  
> Jamia Nagar, by the Delhi police. I call it media circus because  
> that’s what I think it really is, like many more such incidents.
>
> The incident happened in my neigbourhood, about 150 meters from my  
> house. So I have the opportunity to see how things are turning up.  
> I had gone out of the area for some work while the incident was  
> taking place around 11 am, but found it impossible to reach back  
> home 2 hours later, because the road for about 1 and a half  
> kilometer (on both sides) was completely blocked, not by the police  
> vehicles, but by the parked OB vans of the countless TV channels,  
> some of which I never heard of before. Each of these vehicles had  
> its generators on, and thick video cables jetting out of them for  
> several meters to the other end where the cameraperson and the  
> excited anchor were shouting how two terrorists have been killed in  
> the fierce encounter. Most local people are surprised at the speed  
> with which the TV crews arrived here and in such large number.  
> Apparently, the Delhi Police had already told a section of the  
> press they are going for a raid in Batla House, based
>  on the suspect Abu Bashir’s tip-off (I heard this from a anchor on  
> Times NOW channel, although Police chief Dadwal is now denying  
> there is any link with Abu Bashir), but they didn’t obviously say  
> it was going to be an encounter. Its strange that the local  
> residents got to know about the incident only after the two people  
> had been killed – many in fact learnt it from the Aaj-tak channel.  
> They claim they heard only the police firing and no gunshots from  
> inside the flat, which the police claim have injured two of their  
> constables.
>
> Most of you watching news TV in your homes may have already heard  
> the cacophony of the TV anchors, each trying to be shriller than  
> the other to prove that the local members of the Indian Mujahideen  
> have been killed. They now seem to have memorized their lines on  
> this issue well, since they have to repeat the same thing again and  
> again. The graphics, animated logos, crawling tickers, and dramatic  
> music/soundtrack to go with such coverage are always ready in the  
> cans to be used at short notice. A cameraman running towards Batla  
> House is nibbling at a burger while he holds on to a camera in his  
> other hand. I saw two members of a TV crew outside the Holy Family  
> Hospital (where the injured policemen have been taken) fiercely  
> fight about which camera angle would look best for a sound byte.  
> Everything looks as if planned and part of the usual business. The  
> cops are happily allowing the media to climb any wall to get the  
> best shot while they beat the local
>  rickshawpullers to leave the roads clean. The message has got  
> across loud and clear: we told you – Batla House is a haven of  
> terrorists.
>
> But many things sound fishy. I’ve been hearing a lot of angry  
> conversations in the neighborhood: people are asking that if the  
> police had only planned a simple raid (which they did 2 days ago in  
> Zakir Nagar and Abul Fazl Enclave too), why did they have to bring  
> battalions of police and encounter specialists with AK-56 and other  
> deadly looking guns (that I myself saw) in advance. And why is the  
> media called in even before the residents are told. Of course the  
> fact the this happens in the month of Ramzan, on a Friday, and near  
> a large mosque where people were going to gather in large numbers  
> later for prayers, sounds just too predictable and clichéd for  
> anyone’s imagination. Some locals claim that the police had been  
> visiting this place (and that particular house) since last few  
> days, and the so-called terrorists and their weapons were probably  
> “planted” last night for this encounter. This claim would obviously  
> find no takers in the presently
>  created euphoria (did you see any channel showing a sound byte to  
> this affect?) I didn’t find a single local resident who is not fed  
> up with this oft-repeated image of Jamia Nagar as harboring  
> terrorists. But none of the channels I saw aired the public angst  
> against their portrayal.
>
> To be honest, one shouldn’t deny that the Batla House area has some  
> criminal and anti-social elements, just as Darya Ganj or Shahadra  
> or Govindpuri would have. But most local residents believe that for  
> Jamia to become a haven of such criminal elements, the local police  
> and land-mafia are equally responsible. Jamia area is one of the  
> rare localities of Delhi where the rule of law doesn’t apply in  
> most spheres. The land mafia openly indulges in illegal  
> construction; no rules of traffic apply here, the condition of  
> civic amenities is abysmal. Illegal shops, factories (many with  
> child labour) and businesses operate here actively with police  
> connivance. The local politicians (MLA, councilors) are actually  
> part of the problem rather than the solution. There is a full-scale  
> illegal ISBT (bus stand) running in Batla House’s backyard to bring  
> hundreds of migrants everyday from small towns of UP (you can see  
> the police openly accepting bribe from its
>  operators any day).
>
> There is no question of sealing whatever the heck business you may  
> run here, and most places stink with heaps of garbage everywhere.  
> There are no RWAs or citizen’s initiatives to discuss the problems.  
> It is truly a manufactured ghetto of Delhi – why don’t all these  
> problems happen in Lajpat Nagar or Kalkaji? I am positive that the  
> authorities are aware that criminals (or what they call terrorists)  
> exist here. But they deliberately allow them to thrive here – never  
> to be touched in the normal/peaceful times – keep them for the  
> right time. It is as if Batla House is a laboratory or breeding  
> ground where things are allowed to grow by providing all the  
> required ingredients and safety. The fruits are plucked only when  
> they are ripe (or required). So today, they simply came to gather  
> the fruit they had sown, and made a big exhibition of it by calling  
> the media. The local people, frightened that the next encounter may  
> happen in their house, simply
>  squirm and hide in their personal ghettos.
>
> In all this, a big responsibility lies with the media, and I am yet  
> to come across bold and honest reporters who are ready to go beyond  
> the obvious and investigate the truth – not simply repeat what is  
> told to them by the authorities or their channel bosses.
>
> Yousuf Saeed
> September 19, 2008
>
>
>
>
>
>
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Shuddhabrata Sengupta
The Sarai Programme at CSDS
Raqs Media Collective
shuddha at sarai.net
www.sarai.net
www.raqsmediacollective.net