Writing tonight, after a 7.3 magnitude earthquake hit Nepal this morning, followed by another tremor of 6.3, the subject becomes relevant, both in hindsight and foresight. The death toll after the earthquake that has hit this morning has already creeped up to 50 and the number of injured has reached almost 1,117(data by Nepal Home Ministry).As teams of reporters and journalists are preparing to leave for the mountain country again, I look back on why #Go back Indian Media cropped up when they last visited Nepal roughly three weeks back.
I was not present in Nepal, so what I am writing here is based on my reading of newspapers and my own judgement. It is true that the Indian Government had offered enormous help to its neighbouring country in its time of need. The swift dispatch of relief materials and response teams did help the mountain country. However, the Indian media has always had the reputation of exaggerating stories, and sadly, unconsciously, the Indian media treated Nepal’s most feared tragedy as a story.
The benign nature of the Indian government and media got marred by some cheap propagandist news proliferated by some sections of the media. This in turn, hurt the delicate sentiments of sovereignty of the Nepalese citizens; struck by earthquakes and aftershocks, in moments of extreme agony and despair they lashed out at the Indian Media with a strong and aggressive slogan-a statement.
As our revered journalists gear up again to leave for a country that has been hit very, very hard by nature, I hope our media conducts itself in the most humane way and wins the love of the Nepalese people in the days of their biggest plight.
Tags: Earth quake Indian Media Nepal
