The Protest March at Gateway of India
Has the media given the required attention to the peace rally (against the Mumbai terror attacks) held on the 3rd of December 2008?
More than one lakh Mumbaikars assembled at Gateway of India on 3rd December, 2008 at 6pm for an unprecedented movement. This was a unique protest - a leaderless movement where the common man and the youth in Mumbai, voluntarily assembled to express their angst against the failure of the present political scenario.
Not only in Mumbai, but also in different cities such as Bengaluru, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai and Lucknow thousands of people came together to pay respects to the martyrs and victims of these attacks.
Tech-driven rally in Mumbai
The leaderless movement in Mumbai was the first of its kind in India and true evidence of the integrity of Mumbaikars. It was an enormous response to the 'Online Call' of an angry Indian soul - Suparn Verma. His blog "I'm mad as hell and won't take it anymore" hit just the place where it should have and spread like wildfire amongst the netizens. The word spread amongst masses through SMS's, emails, blogs, orkut, facebook, twitter and many more Internet resources.
Why did it not get enough media coverage?
It surely came as a surprise that a popular news channel aired this social movement live for just 15 minutes and later pulled it off air. Around the same time, the channel began telecasting other apparently important news. Let us take a look at some headlines that flashed:
RDX bomb at CST defused
The breaking news was that an RDX bomb was found with the luggage of one of the victims of the CST attack. Was this news aired to discourage the masses of Mumbai from joining the mass procession? Was this news flashed to divert the attention of the viewers?
Terror threat to Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai airports
Airports in metro cities of India were put on high alert around the same time that the rally was gaining momentum. This was announced in response to the mails sent by Deccan Mujahideen.
Defense Minister warns air force of possible airborne attacks
Another breaking news was of the Defense Minister A K Antony warning the defense officials to be prepared to counter terrorist attacks from air.
Chief Minister of Maharashtra - Vilasrao Deshmukh Resigns
The CM had resigned 2 days back; but official acceptance of his resignation was not announced. Then why was this declaration made late evening? The decision to accept the resignation that was scheduled for the next day seemed to have been hastened by AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi.
Press Conference in New Delhi
Another news was the meeting between Pranab Mukherjee, Minister for External Affairs, India and Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of State.
It was also reported that required police permission was not sought before the holding of the public rally in Mumbai.
The news channels promptly aired the events above; thus, once again distracting the audiences from the rally of civilians of Mumbai. It's the same media showing minute-by-minute coverage of the terror attack last week. Was it a coincidence? Is there any difference between the responsible media and our politicians who turn their face away when we need them the most?
From social networking to social movement
Some of the prominent news channels were busy making business by demoting the Internet media. They questioned the authenticity of the Internet news. Did the visual media sideline the movement? Is there a third-party lobby behind sidelining the social movement of the Indians? Is this media ethics? Was this an attempt to dampen the spirits of the people asking for justice?
One thing's for certain; despite the attempts by news channels to sidetrack the social movement staged against terrorism, the rally was a huge success. The huge assemblage of people in the rally just explains the potential of Internet as a source of information as well as inspiration for the masses.
The rally was perhaps the most happening phenomenon brought into effect by one of the many important forms of media - Internet. In spite of being a leaderless movement, it was a display of collaborative leadership! This unique, unprecedented movement definitely has the potential to challenge the very credibility of the political leaders who rule the nation.
Not only in Mumbai, but also in different cities such as Bengaluru, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai and Lucknow thousands of people came together to pay respects to the martyrs and victims of these attacks.
Tech-driven rally in Mumbai
The leaderless movement in Mumbai was the first of its kind in India and true evidence of the integrity of Mumbaikars. It was an enormous response to the 'Online Call' of an angry Indian soul - Suparn Verma. His blog "I'm mad as hell and won't take it anymore" hit just the place where it should have and spread like wildfire amongst the netizens. The word spread amongst masses through SMS's, emails, blogs, orkut, facebook, twitter and many more Internet resources.
Why did it not get enough media coverage?
It surely came as a surprise that a popular news channel aired this social movement live for just 15 minutes and later pulled it off air. Around the same time, the channel began telecasting other apparently important news. Let us take a look at some headlines that flashed:
RDX bomb at CST defused
The breaking news was that an RDX bomb was found with the luggage of one of the victims of the CST attack. Was this news aired to discourage the masses of Mumbai from joining the mass procession? Was this news flashed to divert the attention of the viewers?
Terror threat to Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai airports
Airports in metro cities of India were put on high alert around the same time that the rally was gaining momentum. This was announced in response to the mails sent by Deccan Mujahideen.
Defense Minister warns air force of possible airborne attacks
Another breaking news was of the Defense Minister A K Antony warning the defense officials to be prepared to counter terrorist attacks from air.
Chief Minister of Maharashtra - Vilasrao Deshmukh Resigns
The CM had resigned 2 days back; but official acceptance of his resignation was not announced. Then why was this declaration made late evening? The decision to accept the resignation that was scheduled for the next day seemed to have been hastened by AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi.
Press Conference in New Delhi
Another news was the meeting between Pranab Mukherjee, Minister for External Affairs, India and Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of State.
It was also reported that required police permission was not sought before the holding of the public rally in Mumbai.
The news channels promptly aired the events above; thus, once again distracting the audiences from the rally of civilians of Mumbai. It's the same media showing minute-by-minute coverage of the terror attack last week. Was it a coincidence? Is there any difference between the responsible media and our politicians who turn their face away when we need them the most?
From social networking to social movement
Some of the prominent news channels were busy making business by demoting the Internet media. They questioned the authenticity of the Internet news. Did the visual media sideline the movement? Is there a third-party lobby behind sidelining the social movement of the Indians? Is this media ethics? Was this an attempt to dampen the spirits of the people asking for justice?
One thing's for certain; despite the attempts by news channels to sidetrack the social movement staged against terrorism, the rally was a huge success. The huge assemblage of people in the rally just explains the potential of Internet as a source of information as well as inspiration for the masses.
The rally was perhaps the most happening phenomenon brought into effect by one of the many important forms of media - Internet. In spite of being a leaderless movement, it was a display of collaborative leadership! This unique, unprecedented movement definitely has the potential to challenge the very credibility of the political leaders who rule the nation.
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