There are dozens of irritating things on the 24-hour news channels, but does anything come close to the slick, air-conditioned, accented tears that are shed for the victims of the "Uphaar Fire Tragedy" year after year? Like today, 13 June 2006, the 9th anniversary.
Make no mistake, we must mourn lives snuffed out by the mind-numbing avarice of the theatre's recalcitrant owners (the Ansals) and we must remind and remember so that such incidents do not recur.
But where is such an annual orchestrated demonstration of grief on national TV for, say, the 90 children of the Kumbakonam school who were cooked alive?
Where is such an annual orchestrated demonstration of grief for, say, the 25 mentally retarded people who were charred to death because they were shackled in Erwady?
Where is such an annual orchestrated demonstration of grief for say, the victims of the Venus Circus fire in Bangalore or the 'Sword of Tipu Sultan' fire in Mysore? Or the dozens of natural and man-made disasters and tragedies that stalk us day in and day out across the country?
Put more bluntly, do South Delhi lives matter more than the lives of other Indians? Or what? You tell us.
Samething here .. Every US White Citizen life is precious .
We see anniversary in the ‘Holloway’ case or ‘Laci Peterson’ case .
But there are scores of Blacks killed in crimes across US daily and no one cares .There are hundreds of Iraqis killed in Bombs or gunned down by US troops .No one cares . Only few Lives carry value..they rest all are born to die .
Why do u want to blame the national channels only ???, whats our regional channels doing ( apart from being obssessed with some serials which do no good to anyone)…
What about our print media?
Easier solution – have one national holiday to remember all victims of such accidents. We “remember” and we also have a holiday….rajaa majaa.
No easy answers to this challenging question. Certainly, deserves serious thought
To answer your question: Yes and No.
Not necessarily South Delhi, in general some people matter more than other people. Get over it already. In the case of a newspaper/channel, it could be their target demographic. Someone like me would empathise more with the victims of a multiplex fire than some fire in some backwoods whatever it is you referred to. The tv channels only do what meets their audience’s needs.
It is a disease that plagues not just news channels but news papers and magazines also. In the past, I have seen good cover stories of national importance being shelved in favor of some trivial happening in their own backyard. The Delhi syndrome also extends to Mumbai. Even worse, Mumbai’s newspapers attach undue importance to the city’s various institutions such as Bollywood, dance bars, red light area etc.. so much so that a singer smooching an item girl makes it to the front page while more newsy stuff gets buried inside. Sure, molestation or rape makes more interesting reading than some poor sods getting killed some 2000 kilometers away.
Non of the politician or loaded people was not involved , so. its all not importent to the channels.
Watch the crime news programs in Aaj tak, Zee news, Star news: “Chain se sona hai to..Jaag Jao”!!! They show only UP and Delhi crimes, sometimes Bihar crimes. We have a right to think why this disparity.
It’s simple. The viewership of ‘National channels’ is in Hindi belt and Uphaar is a great learning experience for them (though Meerat exhibition fire occured). It’s for regional channels which have more viewerships to focus on Bangalore and Kumbakonam. But one thing: Let’s not forget.
Till now: There is no true national channel and in this vast land its simply not easy to.