Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Blood and gore on Telugu news channels

Yesterday evening, primetime news on Telugu channels was dominated by the death of Suri - real life inspiration for the character in the movie Raktha Charitra.

No news channel wants to miss out on such a sure shot means to attract audience. But surely they could have portrayed the episode more sensitively. What is the point in displaying graphic scenes of blood and violence at 7.30 pm when young children are very likely to be watching TV? There was no warning about the graphic scenes, no sensitivity or humaneness in editing or any message about requiring parental guidance.

There are several international standards that reputed news channels apply in covering such news items. And I am sure that Telugu news channels aware of the concept of self regulation, even if only tangentially.  It is macabre to exploit the killing simply as a means to boost TRP rating. If Telugu news media does not want a censor authority looking over its shoulder (or maybe they really do), they would have to do better than come up with such disgusting coverage.

1 comment:

  1. Nice blog, Sriram. Keep it up. Telugu channels and other regional channels seem to play to the gallery instead of being prudent in its coverage.

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