TELEVISTA
Ills of a star-struck media
Amita Malik

Nothing moves TV audiences as much as a child in distress. For four long, anxious days, the entire nation, it seems, stayed glued to their TV sets to watch the fate of Sonu. That a two-year-old should fall in a well is bad enough. It is much worse that this is not the first time it has happened, and nothing seems to change. The contractor who had left the well open has been arrested and two assistant engineers have been suspended. But there is no guarantee that this will not happen again.

One remembers Prince and Vandana, and there will be more tragedies. Often on TV the question is asked: "Why does this happen only in India that children fall into wells?" The answer is simple. Neither the authorities nor ordinary citizens seem to care until the next disaster. After the hullabaloo, everything is forgotten all over again. There is more than one set of people who can be held responsible. Those who dug the well and did not put a temporary lid on it to prevent accidents. Those who allowed small children to play around in the area without supervision. And, above all, the civic authorities, whose duty it is to keep a constant eye on pitfalls such as open wells.

Apart from the loss of human life, think of the waste of public money, public utilities and public servants. The Army, which has the important job of guarding our borders and helping in national emergencies such as floods and earthquakes, is diverted to digging parallel passages in difficult conditions to rescue the victims. The administration, the police and a crowd of relatives, well-wishers and curiosity-led passers-by spend endless precious time at the sites.

No one minds spending public money on such a humanitarian cause, but all the same it is public money which could be spent on more general public causes. It is at times like this that one questions the efficacy of television in instilling some good sense as well as common sense into the minds of both the authorities and the public. Everyone expresses horror at the tragedy.

The authorities speak a lot about what is being done or what could be done. But seldom about what should have been done in the first place. In the end, we are always back to square one because nothing has been done on a permanent, solid level to prevent such happenings in future.

Television seems to have failed again in this regard.

Meanwhile, the Princes, the Vandanas and the Sonus will keep on reappearing on our TV screens and elicit our sympathy. But nothing much beyond that, till the next time.

Next to children, and sometimes even more, is the media attention given to the illnesses, sometimes routine, if not trivial, of stars. Every detail concerning the stomach-ache of Amitabh Bachchan was reported on TV by the media. Flashes of his son, wife and daughter-in-law escorting him to hospital were shown repeatedly on the screen. Special news bulletins about his health were also on air.

His son had to make periodic appearances for the media. I hate to say it but it seems stars cannot even be allowed to fall sick in peace. The media adds to the tension, and soon we are watching prayers being offered by fans in groups and in public.

Then friends and relatives are constantly pursued for interviews, and crowds gather at the entrances of hospitals, adding to the confusion.

Ambulances are followed on foot and attempts made to film the celebrity patients inside. Surely, this is not the right behaviour, and it does not help the patient.

In the West the public reacts with more maturity and restraint, where both illnesses and deaths of public figures are treated with tact and decorum.