Mumbai, January 10
Lack of training to those covering a crisis, anchors crossing the line between professionalism and personal biases and commercial compulsions are some of the issues that came to the fore as experts introspected media’s role in covering the Mumbai terror attacks here.

Accepting that there were “some shortcomings” in the coverage of the attack that held the city hostage for three days starting November 26, the panellist said, “we should learn from mistakes and not allow anyone to exploit our weaknesses.”

“Media coverage, especially by television channels, was amateurish. We need to evolve as journalists,” Uday Shankar, CEO of Star India, said.

More than analysing the media coverage of 26/11, it is important to know who is demanding a review of it, Shankar said, adding it was only because of this coverage that political heads rolled and the serious loopholes and laxity in the system were exposed.

“Also, there is a crisis of competence in media. On one hand upcoming journalists lack professionalism and urge to learn and on the other hand editors have failed to be mentors to these young guys,” Shankar said, participating in a debate organised by the Press Club, Mumbai, on ‘Did the Media Do its Job Covering 26/11 Terror Story?’

Echoing Shankar’s views on shrinking talent pool in the Fourth Estate, R Jaganathan, managing editor of DNA newspaper, came down heavily on the role of anchors in the post-attack coverage.

“The TV anchors need to shut up and let the guests speak. They should understand that building a mood, heckling guests is not proper. They have almost lost the art of asking open-ended questions,” Jaganathan added.

Defending them, Shankar said, “questions by TV anchors are okay as far as they are fact-based. While some anchors are pure newsreaders, some are authorised to ask questions and only a few among them can comment,” he said. — PTI