No news is good news!!!!

Mumbai came down on its knees on Wednesday and it was quite depressing to see what was happening out there. What was more depressing was the media's attitude towards it. CNN in the US was covering it as a breaking news the whole afternoon here and the headlines went like - "Mumbai under siege - Americans among targets". I could atleast understand that as a country would be more concerned about its citizens. As a part of the coverage, they called a woman who escaped after hiding in the Oberoi Ballroom and asked her important questions like which cell phone she used to talk to her family and how the mobile reception was in Oberoi ballrooms. CNN folks were also baffled how the "omnipresent" US Intel never had a clue about this. They called some terrorism specialists around the World to ask why and one bright gentleman proclaimed that this was an attempt to convey a message to President-Elect Obama. But of course, all that happens in the World can be categorized into
1. that do Good for America and 2. that do bad for America.


I obviously expected Indian media to be different. I drove home desperately to get to NDTV and IBN India online to see to what happened to the lesser mortals like Indians who were amongst the victims. It was shocking to see them priase the intelligence and presence of mind of the fire department in rescuing the foreigners. Yes, they were rescued without their clothes not getting dirty, yes their breakfast would be served in the lobby as usual in the morning, yes, the Unilever CEO was absolutely safe. The terrorist attacks in CST, Cama Hospital and other 8 places were bearly covered, perhaps because there weren't more important or glamourous lives at stake there. I thought perhaps Hindi channels would be more desi and concerned about such things and switched to Aaj Tak. The reporter there was very busy marketing his first hand video of a victim who had suffered minor injuries and all that he had to say was that "this is the most dramatic video you can ever get to see of the Mumbai terror attacks".

Surprises me that with 100s of people dead and many injured would I look for Drama on the news coverage? Can I just not have an objective real report of what is happening? Isnt that what news is supposed to be? Am I asking too much?!