IBNLive Chat: Rajdeep on lessons from Arushi case

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Keywords: Journalists, News

The media has almost been put on trial for its coverage of the Arushi Talwar murder case. TV news channels and newspapers have been accused of being insensitive, sensationalist and not reporting the facts. Did the media get it all wrong while reporting the case? What has it learnt from its mistakes? IBNLive readers asked CNN-IBN’s Editor-in-Chief Rajdeep Sardesai in a web chat. The most important lesson learnt: media has the power to make the authorities to act but it can do that without flashing ‘breaking news’ permanently on and reporting just the facts. (Excerpts from the web chat)

Amandeep Singh: I think the media today overreacts . The media is becoming impatient and interfering with the work of the police and investigating agencies. As Uncle Ben tells Spiderman: “with bigger powers come bigger responsibilities.” Was media sensible enough and responsible in the Arushi case?

Rajdeep Sardesai: I think the media was irresponsible in the Arushi case but the prime guilt must lie with the police. It’s the police that claimed Dr Rajesh Talwar was the murderer. Once the police had said that publicly, then the very fact that a father could have murdered his daughter in a middle class home became the kind of story that any media anywhere in the world would latch onto. Having said that, the media did not stick to the facts, but engaged in wild speculation that has no basis in good journalism.

Bala: You are honestly accepting errors but what will you do in the TRP race?

Rajdeep Sardesai: My philosophy is that television is not box office. My self-worth and the image of the channel is not determined by ratings alone, but the quality of the journalism. That is the message we send to every journalist who works at CNN-IBN.

Bobby: Rajdeep, you once claimed that you are after TRP. Now that Arushi case is delivering TRP you have turned around and taken a holier-than-thou stance. Why so? Times came out with apology but CNN-IBN is engaging only in debate. Where is your apology?

Rajdeep Sardesai: Apologise for what? For reporting a police press conference? For reporting what the Noida police claimed was an open and shut case? Let us get rid of this lynch-the media-attitude. A section of the media made mistakes—the challenge is to learn from them.

Dayanand: At around the same time when Arushi killed at her home, 200 people died in a hooch tragedy in Bangalore. That was not at all discussed and followed up . I feel that TV channels are not prioritising news properly. What is your opinion?

Rajdeep Sardesai: The hooch tragedy was a big story, which we covered. Yet, the fact is that it didn’t strike the same chord as a teenage girl being killed in her house. Perhaps, because of the father-daughter relationship we were being confronted with a horrifying 'truth'. The hooch tragedy didn’t have a face to it—Arushi did.

Nishant: Can we trust the media? Whatever it reports, can it be said that it is unbiased and factually verifiable? Take this murder case, one school of thought is that the servants are the culprits while another says that they are being made scapegoats. Channels propagate a different theory every day. Should one issue be given a day-by-day extensive coverage like this, or should one just wait for substantial developments before a report is brought to public domain?

Rajdeep Sardesai: I think at times television news channels need to go beyond the hourly news wheel and step back a bit. We are titillating viewers with morsels of information instead of really informing them.