On 9 June, a Hindi news channel with tagline ‘Khabar Har Keemat Par’ [News at any cost] was running a news story prominently at prime time. What was the story about?

The story titled ‘Pati, Patni aur Wo’ [Husband, Wife and the Mistress] was about a problem arising out of an alleged extramarital affair. A man was allegedly caught red-handed romancing with his colleague on the banks of Gomati in a UP town by his wife with help of her brothers. The wife alleged that her husband was having an extramarital affair with the woman since past seven months.

The wife and her supporters physically assaulted the woman, accused her of being of bad character and foiled her all attempts to save herself from being identified and captured on the video camera. Instead they caught hold of the woman by her hair and forced her to face the camera so as to reveal her identity. At the same time they kept on telling that the lady is ***** from Chandigarh.

On the other hand, some men kept hold of the husband and bombarded him with absurd questions and allegations. One Sikh person kept asking one question ‘Wo kya teri behan lagti hai?’ [Is this girl your sister?] The Sikh did not seem to be related to the husband or wife. Must be a curious onlooker, who got bit too involved in the dramatic event. Some great people asked the husband to slap the woman to prove that he was not romantically involved with the woman.

After watching this drama on the TV screen for more than five minutes [Don’t know how long was the story played?], I uttered a bad expletive, not for the man, not for the wife, neither for the woman, but for the people and news channel responsible for airing the news story.

All this drama was enacted before cameras. [From where did the camera appear on the scene? Did the wife call the TV persons to record the drama or they happened to be there by coincidence. Or was it a citizen journalist doing the great service to the society?] Moreover, the reporter of the channel took ‘bites’ from the man, his wife, a loud mouth and also from the other woman.

Is this a news event worth being covered prominently on a national news channel? What if the allegation on the woman of being involved in extramarital affair was wrong? Will the channel be able to return back her reputation and respect in the society?

Is it not important for the media to ensure that characters of people do not get tarnished on mere allegations? Even if the lady was having an affair with the man, is it morally correct to make a news story on such a relationship? I believe, it is purely personal matter and need not be run on news channels that to nationwide. Many extramarital affairs must be going in the world. How is it important for people like us? If someone is engaging in extramarital affair, it’s a family problem and should be tackled accordingly. Some people taking side of the media will say, the wife brought the affair at a public place and created the drama. But why did you telecast it? It is due to the wide coverage to such petty things that the wife must have been prompted to take such a step. I think she must have called the news channel. It is the duty of the news channel to filter the news and keep out that is not good.

The telecast of the news story was morally and ethically wrong. It’s not that the decision makers and the people responsible for airing the news did not have judgment of morality and ethics. It’s only that they choose to overlook the moral and ethical aspect of such news stories as these stories are a means of increasing TRP which translates into more money. This is the general trend of the media business, especially TV. After all they are into money making business.

But how long shall this continue - money over responsibility. How long will the news channels continue to give us ‘news at any cost’?

Image Source: India Daily