#NewsKiMaut: How Indian media has hit a new low with sensational reporting on Sridevi’s death

The Indian media was slammed for its sensational reporting on Sridevi's death.

Mumbai, Feb 27: The India media is truly "sensational". It talks, walks, breathes, eats and feeds on sansani (sensation) to win the war of TRP. In fact, there is a Hindi television crime bulletin named, Sansani, aired on ABP News daily. Imagine the amount of "sansani" the programme manages to create with its extra dose of "masala" (spices) to real and gory crime events.

There seems to be no end to the whole game of "sensational reporting" to grab maximum eyeballs by the Indian media, especially the television news channels (that does not make newspapers and websites any wiser or holier).

The latest case in point is legendary actress Sridevi's death. While her family, friends and fans are mourning and waiting for her body to arrive in Mumbai for her last rites, the India media is busy investigating what actually happened hours before the 54-year-old superstar breathed her last in Dubai on Saturday night.

Initially, the India media reported that Sridevi, who was in Dubai to attend a family wedding, died due to a massive cardiac arrest. Now, according to a forensic report seen by the Dubai media, the Bollywood actress, popularly known as India's first female superstar, died due to "accidental drowning" in a bathtub. She was staying in Jumeirah Emirates Tower Hotel in Dubai.

The forensic report released by the Dubai Police also mentioned about finding traces of alcohol in the actress' body. According to Gulf News, she accidentally lost balance, fell into the bathtub and drowned.

Since the investigation is still on, the authorities in Dubai are yet to hand over the body of the deceased to her family. As the "mystery" surrounding the much-loved actress' death deepens, our Indian "investigative journalists" have taken upon themselves to find out the truth by recreating a "bathtub" in their studios. Hindi TV news channel, Aaj Tak, did a programme named "Maut Ka Bathtub" (The deadly bathtub) to tell viewers how exactly Sridevi died.

Such bizarre way of presentation of news is indeed the "drowning" of the Indian media. It has sunk to the bottom and probably nobody can save Indian journalism from dying an inglorious death if such kind of reporting continues. Remember how Sheena Bora murder case back in 2015 resulted in a similar frenzy among our journalists. As the case offered elements of sex, alcohol, money and murder, media houses lapped it happily. Sad but true, farmers' suicides will never get such "in-depth reporting".

Some media houses also indulged in character assassination of Sridevi as alcohol was found in her body. Journalists also came up with theories if someone forcefully made her drink alcohol, raising doubts that the actress could have been murdered. While the Dubai police recorded the statement of Sridevi's husband, producer Boney Kapoor, television channels told the audience that he was "interrogated".

"As per standard police investigation procedures, director and husband of late Sridevi, Boney Kapoor, only provided his testimony on Sunday morning. The conversation between police and the director took place when her body was discovered at Jumeirah Emirates Tower Hotel on the night of her death," a Gulf-based paper reported.

The frenzy shown by the Indian media did not go unnoticed by India's envoy to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Navdeep Suri. Suri asked Indian journalists to refrain from speculation, as it "does not help".

The lack of sensitivity shown by the media while reporting such a tragic incident was slammed by social media users on Monday evening. Hashtags like #NewsKiMaut and #HumanityKiMaut trended on the micro-blogging site, Twitter.

The netizens raised doubts that the whole media hysteria over Sridevi's death could be an 'escape route' to avoid airing any news related to the Punjab National Bank (PNB)-Nirav Modi scam and mysterious death of Justice BH Loya in 2014.

Others called Indian news channels "vultures" and "parasites" and asked journalists to stop "dissecting the dead soul".

As we mourn Sridevi's death, RIP Indian media for throwing away all ethics of journalism and failing to do its professional duty with accurancy and integrity.

OneIndia News