On Sunday, 6 September, Rhea Chakraborty, the partner of late actor Sushant Singh, arrived at the Narcotics Control Bureau's office in Mumbai. And we witnessed, perhaps one of the lowest points in our media's history. A mob of media personnel aggressively shoved their cameras and microphones in the actor's face as she made her way to the building. As visuals of the media's behaviour were shared across social media, widespread condemnation and calls for TV news channels and journalists to introspect were made. Which were all correct and needed. But then, we have been condemning the media witch-hunt against Rhea Chakraborty for a while now. And it hasn't made any difference.
She is still being vilified every night on prime-time, while during the day, reporters chase her and her family's cars and hound unsuspecting delivery boys and security guards for any information on Rhea Chakraborty. A young actor died a tragic death, his young partner is being questioned about it, the investigating agencies are doing their job. It could be a story that can be reported on with civility and grace, waiting for justice to take its course.
Especially since the media also needs the energy and space to report on other things, like the fact that we reported over 90,000 fresh coronavirus cases in the country, the highest single-day spike, or that the economy is still in the dumps and has a long and difficult recovery road ahead, or that things are still not great with China, or that there are important elections round the corner. But then, with the Indian media and its wild ways, we never really know what's the hunt they are after, do we?
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