Why NDTV lost my respect

I have not blogged about the 26/11 Terror Attacks in Mumbai and I actually wanted to wait and see what India’s response was. I did not want to jump the gun, do or say anything stupid like going to war with Pakistan. Did not agree then and do not agree now. Would have been a big harakiri, but that is going to be the subject of another blog.

Today, in this post, I am talking particularly about NDTV and its recent actions against a blogger called Chyetanya Kunte, who blogs at ckunte.com, recently posted an unconditional withdrawal of his previous blog post criticizing NDTV and Barkha Dutt for their coverage of the 26/11 Mumbai Attacks. If you go through the post, it clearly is legally worded and stems of a threat of legal action by NDTV against Chyetanya for defamatory remarks. Since, Chyetanya has removed the post, an archive can be found here.

Ironically it was done on January 26th, 2009. The day when our nation celebrates the introduction of the constitution which guarantees freedom of speech. I have read through the post and I do not find anything defamatory on behalf of Chyetanya because he blogged about what Barkha reported, so there ought to be a clipping that ought to show that those things happened. The pertinent paragraph is mentioned below:

I am dumbfounded to see Barkha Dutt of NDTV break every rule of ethical journalism in reporting the Mumbai meyhem. Take a couple of instances for example:

In one instance she asks a husband about his wife being stuck, or held as a hostage. The poor guy adds in the end about where she was last hiding. Aired! My dear friends with AK-47s, our national news is helping you. Go get those still in. And be sure to thank NDTV for not censoring this bit of information.
In another instance, a General sort of suggests that there were no hostages in Oberoi Trident. (Clever.) Then, our herione of revelations calls the head of Oberoi, and the idiot confirms a possibility of 100 or more people still in the building. Hello! Guys with guns, you’ve got more goats to slay. But before you do, you’ve got to love NDTV and more precisely Ms. Dutt. She’s your official intelligence from Ground zero.
You do not need to be a journalist to understand the basic premise of ethics, which starts with protecting victims first; and that is done by avoiding key information from being aired publicly—such as but not limited to revealing the number of possible people still in, the hideouts of hostages and people stuck in buildings.

NDTV has always been one of my favorite news channels. But, by taking this legal action, NDTV has lost my respect. And so has Barkha Dutt. There are many instances where other people said far more worse things to her, like Rahul Easwar who called her a fundamentalist, extremist. (Video on YouTube). I never heard or read about Rahul Easwar being sued by NDTV or Barkha.

Also, my question to NDTV & Barkha is you uphold the press’s freedom to say anything about anyone as you please. Because you are NDTV & a recognized and respected journalist you can get away with it but not an ordinary man.

This is utter lack of the other guys right to speech. Who authorised you to take it away. In an interview you said and I quote,

“My job is to get all shades of opinion in the story,” she says. “That surely makes me unpopular. But then if you are hated by all sides, it means you are a great reporter.”

Then why have a problem when Cheytanya questions your reporting, its part of being a great reporter right?

Can you answer to the people of India, why did you take such a step?

A responsible media channel always apologizes for the mistakes it did. I mean, I do not respect FOX News as many people in their right minds dont, but I respect the fact that FOX News admitted it made a mistake by calling Florida in favour of George Bush during the 2000 US Presidential Elections.

So Barkha, on a future episode of We the People, can we debate on why cant Indian media man up to its mistakes?

P.S: A shoutout to @thecomicproject for linking to his blog which brought it to my attention. An excerpt from his blog that really touched me:

I will leave you with the lyrics of a song, “Freedom of Speech” by Ice T

Your opinion is yours, my opinion is mine
If you don’t like what I’m sayin’? Fine
But don’t close it, always keep an open mind
A man who fails to listen is blind
We only got one right left in the world today
Let me have it or throw The Constitution away