The recent bomb blast at Pune has garnered a lot of media attention – well it should. What is ironic is that there are so many such incidents that take place on a daily basis in our country and none of them gets noticed unless it happens to involve a high profile place or person. For instance, in the case of German Bakery, it is a well-known iconic place in an upscale location that is frequented by foreigners – so people are going to write about it and we are going to hear stories of the victims time and again. Actually looking at the scale of the incident, it was a relatively minor one since not many lives were lost. I am not trying to downplay the gravity of the situation, but merely to point out that the media conveniently glosses over equally grave incidents that do not have ‘drama’ value.

How many people know that 21 jawans were gunned down yesterday in Bengal by armed Maosists? These jawans were preparing their dinner, engaged in daily routine, when they were ambushed, surrounded and mowed down – they were unable to escape from within the confines of their camp. The injured have been taken hostage. This is a horrifying incident but not many people will hear about it because it does not feature the rich, any celebrity or any high-profile people or places. After all, it is just another 20 nameless jawans in the long list of many who die.

In today’s environment, the media has a larger role to play than mere reporter of events – after all they make or break stories. Let’s be clear – there is no such thing as objectivism anymore. We can live with that as long as the media shows some responsibility in reporting. Tabloid journalism seems to be order of the day with the latest break-ups in Bollywood getting more attention than brave soldiers who lose their lives in vain!

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