This announced today

Under the six-point guidelines framed by the umbrella body NBA (News Broadcasters Association), the channels shouldn’t be telecasting details of identity, number and status of hostages. Nor should they provide information of pending rescue operations or details on the number of security personnel involved or the methods employed by them.

The News Broadcasting Standards Disputes Redressal Authority, constituted by the NBA, today said television TV channels should avoid any “live contact with the victims or security personnel or other technical personnel involved or the perpetrators during the course of any incident.”

Addressing a press meet, Authority Chairman Justice JS Verma also said media should avoid “unnecessary repeated or continuous broadcast of archival footage that may tend to re-agitate the mind of the viewers. Archival footage, if shown, should clearly indicate ‘file’ and the date and time should be given where feasible.”

The Authority said “no live reporting should be made that facilitates publicity of any terrorist or militant outfit or its ideology or tends to evoke sympathy for the perpetrators or glamourises them or their cause or advances the illegal agenda or objectives of the perpetrators.”

The dead should also be treated with dignity and their visuals should not be shown. Special care should be taken in the broadcast of any distressing visuals and graphics showing grief and emotional scenes of victims and relatives which could cause distress to children and families.

At the outset, the Authority said all telecast of news relating to armed conflict, internal disturbance, communal violence, public disorder, crime and other similar situations should be tested on the touchstone of ‘public interest’.

Furthermore, the media had the responsibility to disseminate information which was factually accurate and objective.

more on indiantelevision.com

sometimes i wonder, whether time makes us heal or does it make us forget. Three weeks are over, and the fourth begins

For Those Who Died

The road to justice has yet to be sighted

The Facebook forwards are dying out. So are the SMS’s. Most people have either moved on with their lives, or decided to act.  And, in the third week it is pleasently surprised to see how many people have actually decided to donate time and energy to ‘do something’.

whether that ‘something’ is ‘good’ or ‘bad’ is a matter of perspective. But, atleast many I know have come out of their comfort zone and begun discussing issues, looking at the law, looking at local self government, and interactions at the local level. The intention is there. it is the third week, and many people from the first week are still there – putting in time, energy and effort.

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Anjana, my masseuse had come over yesterday. She and i usually have interesting conversations. And, she is one of the reasons that my use of the language has increased and consequently improved is her.

She only talked about the victims at CST. She told me that she was terrified of travelling by train now. I asked her if the previous years train blasts hadn’t bothered her ? She said that they did and this has made her more fearful.

She wondered at what kind of boys will kill innocent people. While she was all for war she also admitted that the reason this happened was because we are disuited. ‘look at maharashtra’ she said ‘ vilasrao’ and ‘rr patil’ nehmi bandtat (always fight) and they let outsiders in. Raj ‘ne te tamasha kele ne baherche lokan baddal, bagha kay zala. Baheroon yevoon amhala marle.” (Raj talked about ousiders, and look what happened. outsiders came and killed us’. She said that we will never learn from history. we always fight and let the outsider attack !

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There seems to be an increased sense of paranoia. We went to see Rab Ne last week, and A mentioned after the superficial (and hence superfluous) security check that a place like that will be the next target. so many soft innocent targets. L & I shouted ‘shut up’ in synch. Having said that I had similar thoughts when I had gone to college !

Duh …. This from here:

Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Maulana Abdul Aziz Alvi has claimed that the group was not involved in the Mumbai carnage but said his organisation would admit its mistakes provided it was proved that it was in any way linked to the attacks, which left a trail of death and destruction.

looks like the Jamaat-ud -Dawa have their own version of Sir Humphrey.

Two very different stories caught my attention today. Both are related to media coverage.

One was in the Indian Express by Rajat Sharma, of India TV, quoting a former Army Chief – who had come into the channel to advice producers & camerapersons on :

what precautions they should have taken while showing “live” action. My most important objective was to understand if news channels, in any way, endangered the lives of our commandos.

To my surprise, the former army chief was emphatic: “News channels did nothing wrong. Your coverage didn’t do any harm whatsoever to the commandos! I’ve handled action as a major, then as a full colonel, and finally as an army commander in anti-terrorist operations, and there’s nothing I could make out from the news channel about the strategy of our commandos.”

Frankly, I expected him to echo what some have been saying—how terrorists got valuable clues on the commando plan by watching our channels. But sample what he said: “Do you think that terrorists holed up in a hotel facing commando fire had time to watch TV?” A young reporter persisted. He reminded the general of the “widespread belief” that the terrorists were being briefed on their Blackberries by their bosses, watching our news channels. Promptly came the angry reply. “Anyone suggesting this must be mad. (Even) I could not get an idea about the action plan. Who has the time to look at TV and Blackberries when you are in the midst of gunfire?”

The second was in the International Herald Tribune, quoting Indian authorities :

And, perhaps most significantly, throughout the three-day siege at two luxury hotels and a Jewish center, the Pakistani-based handlers communicated with the attackers using Internet phones that complicate efforts to trace and intercept calls.

Those handlers, who were apparently watching the attacks unfold live on television, were able to inform the attackers of the movement of security forces from news accounts and provide the gunmen with instructions and encouragement, the authorities said.