A Demon - The Electronic Media

Guidelines for terror on TV
OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
New Delhi, Dec. 18: TV channels have adopted self-regulatory guidelines on covering terror or hostage situations, agreeing not to air gory scenes or live coverage of commando operations.

The News Broadcasters Association (NBA), a conglomerate of various channels, has come up with the “emergency protocol” after widespread criticism of the coverage of the Mumbai attack last month.

Channels have agreed not to beam live contact with the victims or security personnel engaged in rescue operations. The guidelines also urge broadcasters not to telecast the number or identities of hostages, and to eschew reportage or commentary that appears sympathetic to the terrorists.

Coverage should avoid shocking, offending or misleading the audience, and horrifying or bloody situations must not be beamed, the protocol says.

It adds that reporting must not jeopardise the nation’s security. Security experts had said the Mumbai attack coverage may have distracted the commandos while providing key inputs about security forces’ plans to the gunmen.

The protocol asks senior editorial and management staff to carefully vet planned broadcasts that explore the views of people who use or advocate violence for the achievement of political ends.

The guidelines are similar to the advisories the information and broadcasting ministry had issued to TV channels during and after the Mumbai terror attacks. At the time, however, the channels had refused to abide by what they saw as government intervention.

The above is from "The Telegraph" and is a good joke.
You are asking one crook to take care for another crook
The TV channels are just interested in raising the TRP's, by hook or by crook.
They don't care for the victim's feelings, the more gory the details, the better it is.
They should just report facts instead of taking interviews and airing the views of onlookers and bystanders. This influences investigations and the police start creating alibis.
The way the interviewer shoves the microphone on the face of the interviewee makes me wish I was there. I would just take the microphone and beat him/her on the nose.
The police should also be barred from airing half baked views which have to be withdrawn later on. It seems they like to see their faces on the TV and win fleeting fame.
The government should study the Arushi murder case and the way the media and police took everybody for a ride and should prevent such recurrence in future and not believe the media will correct itself.

Radheshyam