Depiction of Mob Violence in Media

 

Lack of sensitiveness in media is going from bad to worse. With CCTV cameras installed everywhere these days, there has been an explosion in availability of crime and accident videos. Such videos started filling social media first, then digital news, and finally TV news. These media houses do not even blur the images most of the time and do not even post a trigger warning – they just show the accident or crime video as if they are helping the humanity by their insensitive act.

Yesterday, a politician was attacked in Bengal and TV media kept showing his videos with huge amount of blood dripping from his face. Another poor man was lynched by a mob in UP and the internet and TV media showed his face at the crime scene. As I saw his face in picture, I became affected by it, with heart filled with pain and grief. Should I blame myself or the insensitive media for it?

The closest I have witnessed a mob action is when I saw a huge gathering near our village chowk where people were beating up a man. I asked what that was about and got to know that the man was caught red-handed stealing a “bicycle” and hence people were beating him up. I saw the man and he clearly looked drunk. People were hitting his head with their hands, boys were laughing and taking turns hitting him with fists, their faces beaming with pride, as if they were earning some kind of punya. Is that how it feels: beat up a weak unarmed man and feel you are the saviour of humanity? The scene was sickening. I remember the drunk man was neither crying nor shouting for help, but just moved in slow motion, as if in a hangover. Next day, there was no such news in any newspaper, which meant the man had survived the assault.

On one hand, our society is filled with blood thirsty parasitic mobs and on the other hand we have this media which has become their ‘cheerleader’ by showing their action in pictures and videos. No one cares anything about being sensible and caring about how some people can get affected by their content.

At its best, the society is becoming more like a fool’s paradise. In a fool’s world, perhaps we need to be a fool too, to thrive. Or may be a little drunk, like the guy who allegedly stole a bicycle from the roadside.

- Rahul