Censorship in India
It may be right to show the citizens of the country what really is going on, but the amount of what is shown should be limited. America did the right thing by censoring the 9/11 attacks. The citizens of U.S.A need not see the gruesome visuals to understand the situation; the mere explanation is enough to get a citizen’s attention.
India believes in publicising events that take place in the country. The most important of them was the 26/11, terrorist attack in Mumbai which was known to be the ‘longest running horror show’. Instead of showing how serious the situation was, the media turned into a soap opera publicizing everything that went on. Instead of recognizing the depth of the situation, the TV networks had a race to get more gore visuals to show the viewers. It is more important to show the criminal being captured rather than showing victims that are suffering.
The gore might be a result of another country’s terrorist and this might allow the media to blatantly blame a country rather than the terrorist from it, which leads to stereotyping the country. Since the media is very influential, it will in turn influence the public’s perception of the country.
The state and the media must work in harmony or else the media will never realise its ethical responsibilities in this mad race of profit making industry. Until then, the corporate media will continue to make bloodbath of the national crises, as it did during the Mumbai attacks and more recently the Pune blasts.