Patna : Recently there have been certain controversies regarding reporting of cases of Hardship / Death by Indian and International Media – both Print as well as Electronic. The controversy has mainly centered around the reports being either fake, doctored (old cases being reported as current or else cases being stage – managed etc.) or highly exaggerated. These controversies neither enhance the credibility of the media nor do they serve any public interest.
Can there be some kind of a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), to be voluntarily adopted by Print and Electronic Media, in order to ensure that no unnecessary controversy wastes the time of our nation in the period of this grave CORONA crisis?
Let us make a few assumptions first :-
(A) We shall assume that the Print and Electronic Media are responsible organisations.
(B) We shall assume that reporters/photographers working on behalf of the Print and Electronic Media are responsible persons.
(C) We shall assume that the managerial and editorial policies of the Print and Electronic Media are aimed at bringing out/reporting the truth and that they do not want to sensationalise or spice up any incident.
(D) We shall assume that the citizens of India and the civil society organisations working here are geared up and dedicated to serve the humanity.
(E) We shall assume that most media organisations have created their own small/medium sized charitable funds to help the destitute and the needy in this hour of global pandemic and that they are willing to employ these funds to help the most deserving persons.
(F) We shall assume that no person, organisation, group wants publicity or undue advantage by making use of any unfortunate incident involving the misery of our fellow Indians.
(G) We shall also assume that everybody and all institutions, including Print and Electronic Media, in India, want to enhance the prestige and reputation of India and Indians.
I hope all Indians – Persons, Organizations, Groups and Print as well as Electronic Media – would have no objections to the above assumptions.
My hope would be that even at the International level, all Persons, Organizations, Groups and Print as well as Electronic Media, may agree with the above assumptions.
In that case, the proposed Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) while reporting cases of hardships / deaths by the media would be something like this :-
(a) If a case is being reported by any media – either Print or Electronic – the date, time and exact place of the incident being reported should be given along with the report.
(b) While the case is being reported, name of the reporter/cameraman should also be given by the reporting media house/group.
(c) If the story relates to any person or group of persons in distress (for example, a person or group of persons going hungry for days or a person or group of persons in need of urgent medical attention/medicine, the report must also tell the audience about the actual quantum of help provided by the reporter/cameraman (in shape of money, food packets, water bottles, medicine etc.) to the needy person or group of persons in distress. It goes without saying that in such cases also the date, time and exact place of the incident being reported and name of the reporter/cameraman of the media house should also be mentioned along with the report.
(d) The Print and Electronic media houses must tell the nation whether they have created their own small/medium sized charitable funds to help the destitute and the needy in this hour of national tragedy or not. Further, these Print and Electronic media houses must tell the nation whether they have instructed their field staff (reporters, cameramen etc.) to employ a small portion of these funds to help those deserving persons about whose tragedy they are reporting from the field.
(e) If the answer to both the above questions is YES, we will see that wherever such needy persons are spotted by media representatives, these reporting media representatives shall themselves become the first line of assistance.
(f) If these reporting media representatives do not have sufficient funds or food packets, water bottles, medicine etc. available readily with them, they should take the name, address and mobile numbers of these needy persons and report to the nearest NGO which may be working in that area. After all, we hear that thousands of dedicated NGOs and individuals are working day and night to help the distressed persons.
(g) The underlying assumption here is that the Print and Electronic media in India is responsible and that its reporters/cameramen are reporting true incidents. If the media house is convinced about the truth of its own report, why can it not authorise all its field reporters/cameramen to provide immediate assistance to such needy persons from their own pockets, the amount to be reimbursed by the media house immediately thereafter to its field reporters/cameramen ? I think that would be a truly nationalistic as well as humanitarian gesture.
(h) The media houses, having nationwide network of reporting staff, are in an excellent position to create a national directory of NGOs and Groups /Individuals working towards amelioration of the condition of persons in distress. This directory may be State, District and Police Station – wise, depending on the geographical area of operation of such NGOs/ Groups /Individuals.
If the Print and Electronic media/ NGOs/ Groups /Individuals adopt the above Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) voluntarily, this will go a long way in putting unnecessary controversies at rest.
Modifications may be made and suitably amended SOPs may be put in practice by different media houses. But some kind of standardization of the operating procedure, with some amount of transparency and willingness to help the needy, will go a long way in improving the current situation.
Hostilities do not help the nation. Trading of charges does not help the society. Accusations and counter accusations do not help the needy.