So, “The Verdict” has arrived, finally. In what seemed to be an expected outcome, it was precise to the fact that all the groups involved got the rose. Thorns included of course. It was left to them to be happy for the rose or to crib about the thorns. In a communally diverse country like India, the strength of the nation is often its weakness. Today, the vice versa made more sense, as the silent majority of this country made their voices heard. In fact it was the Indian Media which, for a change were intent on doing it.
In the build up to the Big Verdict, the government left no stone unturned to see that there would be no provocation towards anything untoward following the verdict. The Indian Media’s road saw a few jams too. They were strictly directed not to sensationalise or to air/print provocative material. It can be conveniently said that we saw a different face of Media, especially the Electronic media this time around.
On further introspection of the electronic media we can observe that leading channels like the NDTV and the CNN-IBN just stuck to facts and general discussions. All we got was updates about security arrangements and a brief description about the verdict that was awaited. TIMES NOW on the other hand aired programmes highlighting the sentiments of the common man toward Communal harmony. We could see them bring in noted celebrities like Amitabh Bachchan to spread and inspire the word of communal harmony. The Hindi news channels though, were on form as usual but a little subtly for their own standards. Using background music to orchestrate their bulletins, action packed capsules filled with religious leaders they tended to strike the emotional note on the issue. As for the International Electronic Media like BBC and CNN, they limited themselves to plain Reporting.
Once the verdict trickled into the media, all the news channels reduced to Talk Shows. Experts were ready with their point of view and reactions to the verdict. What interjected these talk shows were individual interviews of various people involved in the case and major political leaders. The common voice or the common discussion echoing out of those Talk shows were about the morality of approaching the Supreme Court as a next step. The ultimate consensus would reveal that nobody were exactly unhappy about the verdict.
On the web, major news websites had a wide array of articles to post. For example the CNN-IBN website posted articles or interviews of people ranging from political circles to religious heads to in-house column/article writers and so on. The web as a whole was spilled with articles with all possible views. The foreign media, the website of BBC for example had their report posted about the security arrangements basically and then after the verdict was out, their sarcastic brains got to task. It could be observed that their reporting had a subtle dose of sarcasm. They pointed out that the judgement could not still give a concrete idea about Lord Ram’s birth place.
The Print Media is generally known to be the most ethical or the more factual medium in terms of news reporting. In the build up to the verdict, newspapers like the Times Of India educated the readers about what the actual issue was about, the chronology of events that took place, where the issue stands now and what to expect from the verdict. A particular article on the Times Of India with a heading- “Will verdict settle Ayodhya dispute?” gave a complete insight into the history of the happenings with the disputed site. In a paper like Pune Mirror, which appeals more to the youth, the chronology of events were summarised in a simpler way. The paper also went a long way in voicing the present generation’s views about all the hue and cry. The Indian Express, known for daring journalism also followed a similar track. Though it was less of voicing opinions, it published with a good dose of awareness about the verdict and what implications one can expect. On the day of the verdict, the Indian Express, The Times Of India and other major publications highlighted their pages with a sense of optimism highlighting Central Home minister P. Chidambaram’s statement- “I think India has moved on. I think young people have recognised India’s story is more than a dispute over one religious groups’ claims they are more entitled to than another.”
Media is powerful. How they play their cards is what will shape our citizen’s minds.
