Another Indian student attacked in Australia – Indians Abroad – World – The Times of India
Another Indian student attacked in Australia – Indians Abroad – World – The Times of India.
While it is worrying to read about Indian students getting mugged, what really gets my goat is that nobody in TOI has bothered to read the article that they have published. The article quotes the name of the student who has been attacked, gives the city and location he is and then the reporter states ” Singh, who is recuperating from emergency surgery at the Alfred Hospital, has not told his family for fear they will be distressed. “
Duh!!! Are you a reporter or a sub intelligent species impersonating as a human being with brains. After using his name a zillion times in the article you write a sentence which says that he has not informed his family because they will get worried. Did you forget that you are writing this for a newspaper that millions of Indians read and there is a teeny weeny chance that his family may be literate and hence read this story in their daily newspaper and get the shock of their lives. But of course that is not the reporters lookout or his responsibility. His is just to file a story and not to question beyond that. I tried to check the name of the brilliant reporter who has filed this story and realised that its a standard press release credited to Press Trust of India ostensibly “India’s Premier News Agency”. PTI needs to give a better brief to its reporters and sub editors. And Times of India journalists and desk need to ”READ” the press releases that they publish blindly.
To be fair to The Times I did a spot check of other publications and what they had to say on this story. DNA article on this looks like a carbon copy of the TOI one, so you know that this is another newspaper who’s journalists do not bother to read or edit before they publish. Take the release and hit copy paste. The headline says “Indians continue to be victims abroad“ and if you’ve already read the TOI article dont bother to read further because the DNA journo has followed the TOI philosophy and done a copy paste. Obviously DNA also cant be bothered about the students or his families feelings.
The Indian Express article on this is better as the reporter/desk editor has at least tried to put together information from a variety of sources and sum up the situation in a story format. The source is still PTI but the story reads like a screenplay with dialogues such as “Singh screamed for his life, but his attackers laughed and fled the scene.” and a dramatic black & white graphic with bright red drops splattered all over it hopes to add a visual punch to the story. The Hindu has a dry factual report but they’ve also listed the students name etc. The Hindustan Times has a similar report. These three newspapers have very conveniently edited out the sentence which said that the student has not informed his family, which ostensibly absolves them of any responsibility.
In the wake of the Mumbai terror attacks, a lot was said about TV journalists and their infantile reporting. The print journalists are no better, and the coverage of this story by all the so called “top” Indian newspapers just proves that not even one of them has tried to report with a view to respect the privacy of the victim. It took many years and a constant series of criticism before Indian newspapers stopped reproting rape victims names, but I still see them slipping up on this. It will take many more years for them to reach a point where they will be concerned about privacy unless someone sues them first.
