Breaking News

Breaking News is the new mantra for the electronic media. One would always find "Breaking News " on the bottom half of the screen on any news channel . The Indian media has almost forgotten how to classify what is important and what is not . Very often trivial issues are highlighted as breaking news and makes a mockery of Journalism .

The recent live coverage of the terrorist attacks at Mumbai was a challenge for all the media personalities as they had to cover it for more than 60 hours . Most of the channels provided their best coverage with their anchors and camera crew spending long hours out in the open braving the weather and also the possibility of stray bullets and grenade attacks hitting them . The picture above shows an army of media men and women with their cameras , booms and outdoor broadcasting vans in the background beaming out live pictures of the terrorist attack at the Taj Mahal Hotel. They maintained a vigil through out the 60 hours till the saga ended . It was a good job done by them .

However it also had a negative side to it as they were instigating personalities of different walks of life to make their comments on the drastic attack and the failure of the security agencies to prevent the attack on the commercial capital of India . Some of the personalities were very biased and vocal as usual in their opinion . One is often led to believe that they are also part of the media as they are the only people who are seen on different talk shows .

The media is often under fire for glorifying events and causing unwanted controversies . Be it a murder , a terrorist attack , a natural calamity or a catastrophe the media just blows it out of proportion . The media needs to be more sensitive to issues and also not highlight issues over and over to increase the TRP of their respective channels. It is time that both the electronic and print media act more responsibly and report more sensibly .

So let us have some genuine news with national importance appear under Breaking News.

Terror strikes Mumbai

The Taj Mahal hotel the famous landmark near the Gateway of India , Mumbai was witness to a deadly terrorist attack on the 26th of November 2008 . The other places which was also under attack were The Trident & Oberoi Hotels in South Mumbai , Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus and the Nariman house to name a few.

The well planned attack had all the ingredients of a Hollywood movie. The terrorists had sneaked in to Mumbai through the sea and landed on the seafront at Mumbai using a rubber dingy . They were armed with grenades , Ak47's , satellite phones and other advanced GPS devices . Their motive was to create mayhem in the city and to kill innocent people of both Indian and foreign origin . They had spread across the city of Mumbai targeting different landmarks . They went on a firing spree and killed innocent people and among them were some top police officers . Some of the terrorists got killed in the crossfire and one got captured live .

The action then shifted to the Taj Mahal , Trident & Oberoi hotels and the Nariman House where the other terrorists were holed up . They went on a firing spree within the hotel killing the guests and also held some as hostages . The commandos got into action to flush the terrorists from all three locations taking utmost care to avoid co-lateral damage to the heritage buildings and the hostages . We had all the news channels covering the saga minute by minute . The media personalities were armed with their microphones and cameras and trying to outdo each other with the live coverage . A lot of us were glued to our television sets trying to get updates on the battle between the commandos and the terrorists .

We could hear the occasional blasts and also the rapid gun fire in the background as the cameras were shifting focus from one place to another . We could see more enforcements coming in to ensure that there was no escape route for the terrorists from the three buildings . We had the army ,the naval marine commandos , the Maharashtra police and the rapid action force providing different tiers of support to the National Security guard commandos who were in charge of the flush out . The fire force was busy putting off the occasional fire which was spreading out on some parts of the building and was also rescuing people from the hotel through the windows of the Taj Mahal Hotel.

The hotels were under seige by the terrorists for more than fifty hours before the attackers were gunned down by our elite commandos from the National Security guards. The attack had claimed more than 200 lives across the city . Investigations reveal that the terrorists are of Pakistani's origin and had intensive training in arms and other ammunition's .

The country salutes all the brave commandos and policemen who gave up their lives fighting the terrorists and our heartfelt condolences to all who lost their beloved ones in the gruesome attack.