Tragedy in the Margallas

KARACHI: In the wake of yesterday’s tragic event that shook the nation, one would’ve hoped that our respective officials and news channels would’ve shown some sort of humanity and discretion in reporting of the incident. However, it was depressing to see the way a free hand had been given to all to dwell on the tragic event. Firstly, no evidence was given by the media as to why the plane had crashed. Secondly the reporters did not show any respect or care for those who were grieving for their loved ones. I write this to bring to the attention of some of the people working in these news channels thought they need to handle their reporting with care and respect the deceased and their family members left behind.

Another case in point is Rehman Malik, our interior minister who had no business to give any sort of statement on the incident. To report even one survivor of the plane crash would be to play with the hopes of all the family and friends of all of the victims. He reported five.

That’s a lot of people and a lot of hearts to break by just making one stupid statement in a rush as he has always done.

Unfortunately that was not the end of the story. If having hopes raised beyond one’s imagination just to have them crashing down again wasn’t enough news channels really took the cake. Take, for instance, a reporter who took the first five minutes to report the trouble she had to go through to reach the place of the wreckage and then said that she was doing this because she wanted to live up to the reputation of her news channels as being the first to report the event. The point I am trying to make is that much of the reporting that was done was in a manner that did not really make it any more newsworthy than it already was.

Some of you who read this may be working in these news channels and it should be the duty of any moral human being to effectively report such incidents keeping the dignity and respect for the ones who are being reported. I personally did not know anyone on that flight but as this website reported most of us know someone affected by this crash through six degrees of separation if not less and I would hate to think what their families would go through having to sit just 20 minutes in front of the television.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 30^th, 2010.