BENGALURU: The Talibanesque hounding of Rhea Chakraborty over the last few days has taken the term ‘trial by media’ and elevated it to a level of ‘stoning by media’. With single-minded focus, our entire nation has been obsessed with the nitty-gritties of the case.I understand the emotions that we attach to film stars. But while we were introducing our older generations to terms like LSD and MDMA, larger issues are going unnoticed. Floods in Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, skirmishes along the China border, and most importantly, India’s steady climb to the top of the Coronavirus statistics.
As a journalist, I understand the nature of daily news. If news channels merely showed statistics every day, they would have to shut down. News in today’s times requires a new angle, a breaking story, a hero, and a culprit. The battle against Coronavirus does not give us that. As nature and science are combating each other, who can our esteemed news anchors shout at?
As a student of journalism a decade ago, I remember the day’s prime time issue would be the one that would affect us the most – economic, political, or judiciary. But with the advent of social media, the most important news is the one that people can do something about. Since we can personally do nothing about Covid-19, China, or floods, we feel a need to seek justice in the Sushant Singh case. Of course, the case is being handled by the CBI – the premier investigative agency in India. But how will they nab culprits without Random Ramesh’s insightful and incisive tweet?
As a result, we barely hear of Covid in our daily news. We have used up all our anxiety in the first few months, and have nothing left. Like South Africa at every cricket World Cup, we peaked early and fizzled out in the end. This stark contrast can also be seen in my colony. When we were around 100 daily cases, there was a sense of dystopian paranoia in my colony. Our building watchman, a genial 65-year-old who in case of a theft could only catch a cold, quit his job and went home. Shops were shut and cigarettes were sold in black. Family WhatsApp groups worked diligently along with the top scientists of the world to come up with solutions to the deadly virus.
Today, India is reporting 90,000 cases a day. But somehow, there isn’t much panic or dialogue around it. Festivals are being celebrated and parties are being organised. At a time when we should be at our most cautious, the nation seems to have tired of all discussions around the virus. News cycles have dried up, and our interest levels have dipped.
There are undeniable economic reasons behind the opening up of business establishments and places of work. But there’s also a sense of complacency that has crept into us. The shops have opened, cigarettes are being sold at usual rates. Our loving watchman uncle has returned; the only mask he wears is the one meant for society. We might have not defeated the virus, but we have defeated the fear of the virus.I wonder if it is the name. Covid-19 sounds like something from last year. Perhaps if we had a Covid-20 PRO-MAX, we would take it seriously. We have exhausted all our anxiety and precaution before the semi-final stage of the tournament. Perhaps if there was a lockdown especially for prime-time news anchors, we would wake up from Rhea issues, to the real issues.