Editors want no Gandhigiri

The media always keep space for crime reporting since a criminal act does carry with it some dramatic elements. The crime that involves wealthy people and the vulnerable section like women always makes sensational news. People not in distress, both rich and poor, love to read crime reports as a jerky break to daily humdrum. The media, both print and electronic, know it well and try to make most of a crime to increase its readership or TRP rates.

This morbid intention makes the media to publish or show a gory detail of a crime, for instance, an incident of rape. Photographing the victim, her parents, although bad in taste, does appear in the media to satisfy the sadistic desire of the people. The agony of the victim has become a salable item to editors.

The report of kidnapping a rich man, e.g. an industrialist, for ransom makes a middle class man psychologically happy. The media persons cater to such insanity by mobbing his anxious relatives for their reactions. Similarly, his release or rescue is also an important event. But that finds comparatively lesser space as the drama ends there.

The report of a bank robbery elates the unemployed or the underemployed. Reporters try their best to report the modus operandi and the amount looted. In every report, there is an undercurrent of appreciation for sophisticated methods of robbing.

A lot of movies have been made to portray the criminal activities of the underworld. No social issue is addressed to such films, but to dramatically portray the excitement of crimes. Even if the cops catch the goons at the end, the people are made to enjoy the thrill of the criminal world.

The role of media in popularizing crime is a modern day phenomenon. In early years of recorded history of mankind, efforts were made to condemn criminal activities. But today crime has become almost a profession which commands respect if it could survive the police dragnet. And the entire media world is covertly backing it up.