While pursuing my MBA, I learnt about Blue Ocean & Red Ocean strategies. Blue ocean is an unexplored market where there is no competition & ample scope to grow. On the other hand Red Ocean in management parlance is a market where there is cut throat competition and the players compete with each other to get the biggest pie. Today, TV news industry has effectively become a Red Ocean where all the players struggle to get maximum viewership. High viewership for a channel is important for its revenue and sustenance...but the channels don’t get viewership just by showing pure journalistic content (ask Mr.Roy)...hence you see the hyperactive reporters, the hysterical anchors, the chasing of cars, the lining up of OB vans outside residences of suspects & witnesses & offices of investigating agencies...And yes this coverage also gives you a feeling of time travel & takes you 4 months back, the pre-Covid days. There is no fear of infection ,no physical distancing & no precautions. (btw 3 young journalists across India lost their life due to Covid-19 during last 10 days) As soon as reporters see some suspect or witness arriving at DRDO guest house in Santacruz (where CBI team has camped) they pounce on them making everybody susceptible to the virus. The TV channels are giving maximum airtime to Sushant's coverage at a time when our GDP is going to Pataal Lok, figures of Covid infections and deaths are rocketing towards Aakashlok, China is expanding towards its west & floods have brought doom in India's north & east. Except one, for all other news channels Sushant's coverage was the most important news event of the nation. That one channel which didn’t cover Sushant like others remains at number 8 or 9 in the weekly ‘merit list’ of ratings. (I don’t know whom to blame for this) Here is my take on why the media arrived at this mess.
When
the news of Sushant Singh's suicide came all crime seasoned reporters of Mumbai
knew that the follow up coverage would stretch for many days to come. Suicide
cases of Ziah Khan, Viveka Babaji & Pratyusha Banerji from the past suggest
that such deaths from glamour industry are followed for long time and in great
detail. However, nobody expected that Sushant's coverage would stretch over to
4 months and would overshadow all other national stories. Many channels had
planned big coverage for 1st anniversary of abrogation of Art 370 in Kashmir
& groundbreaking ceremony of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya but such was the impact
of Sushant's story that these two events were confined to just one day coverage
on most TV channels. Nothing seemed more important than Sushant’s story.
I
don’t doubt Mumbai Police's line of investigation which treated Sushant's death
as suicide with the initial inputs it had.(Yes, the CBI may or may not come out
with a different finding). Almost, all
the crime journalists with whom I discussed the case concur with my view. Prima
facie nothing came in Mumbai Police's hands to suggest that it was a case of
murder. But then Mumbai Police & Maharashtra government made certain
mistakes which are the root cause of mess which we are seeing today.
Lack
of Transparency:
The
Mumbai Police on the instructions of Maharashtra government acted on the tweets
made by some film personalities who cried that Sushant was killed due to
nepotism (the same ones are now talking about drug angle after nepotism was
ruled out and Rhea was made accused for abetting Sushant’s suicide) Calling of
over 50 personalities from film world for investigation on nepotism angle was
generating suspicion, more so because Mumbai Police was not officially coming
out to speak what was being achieved from the said investigation. You may
counter me by asking why the cops should reveal details of their
investigation. Here, I feel that they should have been prudent by deputing some
officers of DCP or above rank to atleast provide minimum details to media.
People were called for interrogation just on the basis of an ADR (Accidental
Death Report). It was not a criminal investigation as no FIR was filed. Lack of
transparency damaged Mumbai Police. Lack of information often leads to
misinformation which very soon began happening.
The
Conspiracy Theorists of Social Media:
The
misinformation campaign began with a Facebook post of one small time actor
residing in a western suburb of Mumbai. His post linked death of Disha Salian,
erstwhile manager of SSR with death of SSR. According to his post both had been
murdered, Disha was pregnant & Sooraj and his accomplices were the
culprits. He added that some politicians were also involved. He added 'Fw :'
before draft of the post so that it looks like it was written by somebody else.
Following
this actor's FB post there were many other posts spread by the Whatsapp
University where photoshopped images of SSR's dead body was shown with
questions being raised about ligature marks. Such posts attempted to convey
that SSR was killed & his murder was made to look like suicide. Some self
proclaimed experts and video bloggers went into great detail explaining the
`coverup’. Meanwhile, some people added
name of Aditya Thackeray, son of Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray & a
minister in his cabinet.
With
adding of Aditya's name a narrative began against Mumbai Police. A campaign for
CBI enquiry started & it was alleged that Mumbai cops were trying to
protect someone powerful.
Here,
the fault of Mumbai Police was that it remained passive or unresponsive to the
various conspiracy theories which were getting viral on social media. A stitch
in time saves nine & Mumbai Police should have acted as soon as
rumour mongering began. It should have traced the origin of such social media
posts & have pulled up the originators - "Tell us who told you all
this? What is the evidence to corroborate your theory?" However, no action
was taken in this regard. Infact, being perturbed by such viral posts Aditya
Thackeray released a defensive statement saying he had nothing to do with the
matter.
Enter the BJP:
The BJP which has been struggling to topple the MVA govt
& find some issue to corner the incumbent jumped in the fray. With one shot
the BJP aimed at two targets. Apart from pulling up the MVA govt of
Maharashtra, the party also made an emotional appeal to the electorates in
Bihar. It was quick to read the emotions of Biharis attached with the case
& decided to capitalize in it. Last week a poster by Bihar BJP's cultural
wing was released which indicates that SSR death would be the biggest issue in
Bihar assembly polls. (sadly, a state where last months lakhs of people were
displaced and hundreds died due to floods)
BJP demanded a CBI enquiry and the central government led
by it also announced an investigation into financial trail by the Enforcement
Directorate.
Then came Narayan Rane. Rane who is former CM of
Maharashtra & MP of the BJP took a press conference and made all those
allegations on record which were doing the rounds on social media without
anything to substantiate. He alleged that SSR was murdered and the evidence was
destroyed. His press conference & subsequent interviews to some news
channels lent credence to social media conspiracy theories- "An ex CM will
not speak anything without any basis. Right?"
Enter the Patna Police :
The
media (except the vengeful anchor about whom we will discuss further in this
blog) which had almost lost interest in SSR case got activated once again when
SSR's father registered a case in Patna alleging that Rhea, her family members
and others abetted SSR's suicide. He didn’t allege that he was murdered (but
the vengeful anchor and social media conspiracy theorists continued to call it
so) Patna Police instead of registering the case as "Zero Number FIR"
itself began investigating the case. In view of my many lawyer friends it was
absurd. As per the law Patna police should have simply transferred the case to
Mumbai Police. Somebody asked whether a crime committed in Kanyakumari could be
investigated by Kashmir police because complainant desires so? (later Supreme
Court settled this debate with its own reasoning)
Four Patna Police officers airdropped to Mumbai and began
their investigation. They hardly got any co-operation from their counterparts
in Mumbai. In this case also Maharashtra administration made a mistake. When
IPS officer Vinay Tiwari landed in Mumbai from Patna to supervise the
investigation he was stamped and quarantined by the BMC & asked not to move
out of his guest house. The BMC is ruled by Shiv Sena & the blocking of
Tiwari in such manner gave air to various conspiracy theories that Shiv Sena
was hiding something. In my view, Shiv Sena feared that Patna cops would drag
Aditya's name in the case due to political colour the case has taken. The BJP
is sharing power with JDU in Bihar.
Entry of the Vengeful Anchor :
Whatever was being circulated on social media was soon
picked up by a TV journalist who runs an English & a Hindi news
channel. In my view this journalist had to settle a score with Thackeray
Sarkaar & Mumbai Police chief. Few months ago he had targetted Sonia Gandhi
& MVA government on his channel allegedly in a derogatory manner. A
criminal case was filed against him & he was made to sit in police station
for long hours. Hence, with SSR case he got an oppurtunity to take
revenge for his alleged harassment. On his channel he began to show the content
& conspiracy theories which so far were floating only on social media. He
alleged that Mumbai Police & MVA govt were covering up the case by calling
it a suicide. His channel began the narrative of "Sushant Murder
Case". His reporters were not allowed to call it a case of suicide or even
"alleged suicide" but were told to call it a murder case. His
animosity towards Maharashtra CM & Mumbai Police Commissioner reflected in
the bitter manner in which he referred to them on screen.
Everybody is trapped by the Vengeful Anchor:
The Vengeful Anchor adopted a "no holds barred"
approach in his coverage. While doing live chats his journalists behaved
like political leaders giving speeches. Their body language displayed aggression
and they appeared fully committed towards "Justice For Sushant". The
reporters of the Vengeful Anchor were at every location related to the case and
chased any person related even mildly with it. An aggressive campaign began on
his both the channels.
The Vengeful Anchor benefitted by his loud, hysterical
campaign & toppled Aaj Tak from number 1 position & continued to do so
week after week. This success of the Vengeful Anchor led to a bandwagon effect
& most of mainstream Hindi & English channels focused on SSR's coverage
with full strength dropping all other serious news events. Most of the channels
air dropped 5 to 6 reporters from Delhi to join their Mumbai teams. From
morning to night, airtime of all bulletins was occupied by SSR's coverage.
However, the rivals of the Vengeful Anchor failed to notice that he had created
his own pitch based on his histronics, venegeance, speculation & conspiracy
theories.
Now all the channels in the fray were playing on his
pitch. He appeared to be impregnable. Aaj Tak inspite of getting long exclusive
interview of Rhea lost to the Vengeful Anchor and it is enough to substantiate
that everybody has fallen in his trap.
It appeared that all the news channels were compelled to
focus on SSR coverage. However, TV-9 played smart by sticking to its
India-China border dispute coverage which it has been doing since past few
months & gave least importance to SSR coverage. By doing this the channel
managed to keep itself at number 3 or 4 position in the weekly `Merit List’ of
TRP.
Reporters: The Silent Sufferers.
TV reporters & silent? Doesn’t this sound ironical
when you see many of them screaming and shouting on TV screens? The biggest
recipients of admonishment and criticism have been field reporters. Being on
field myself during this coverage provided me an insight of what they have been
feeling. Most of them know that they are mere foot soldiers in this crazy war.
They are frustrated and a major cause of their frustration is that they are
part of a rat race where winner is the one who has come up with a strategy
which is a cocktail of speculation, conspiracy theories, hysteria &
arrogance. The channels have fallen into the trap and so have the reporters.
Most of the reporters have been pressurised by their respective channels to get
something exclusive in the case...some leaked statement, some Whatsapp chat,
some pictures, some videos and so on. Anything mildly related to the case is being
treated as 'exclusive' if the rivals don’t have it. Some of the statements I
overheard from discussions of reporters who were posted outside the DRDO, the
NCB office & the courts reflect their disgust, their helplessness &
their unwillingness to be part of this coverage.
A TV journalist
who has been in the profession since past 20 years said -"No journalist
worth his salt is part of this coverage with the approval of his
conscience",
“I have to unlearn whatever journalistic skills I have
acquired over the years to be part of this”, a Delhi based reporter spoke to
his colleague.
A lady reporter working for an English news channel
commented – “I am worried that the way mockery of spot reporting has been done
& importance to conspiracy theories has been given, this will become a new normal for TV news. Every channel will emulate this”.
My counterpart in a rival channel whose journalistic
career began alongwith mine called me in a depressed voice and said – “We must
write a book to tell everybody what this profession was when we entered it over
twenty years back and what it is today. Paani ab naak ke oopar jaa raha hai”.
(Disclaimer: This is personal blog of the author. Views
& observations expressed in this blog are author’s own & doesn’t reflect
the opinion of news organisation he works with.)
