Delhi Crime Season 3 is trending on Netflix in India and with right cause. The show (now heavily serialized) has invoked a certain fan following. The show typically focusses on crime against women. Starting off as a documentary series on the brutal Nirbhaya rape and murder case, the show has effectively developed on the genre.
And it makes sense – statistically, crime against women sells. Stories on rape, brutal murder, domestic violence – it has time and again proven that it has a large audience. And Delhi Crime – which originally started I think as a one off – has now turned into a full-fledged crime show in its own right.
We are not discussing the right and wrong of the show – it’s a show, done well. Period. It has enough drama and facts to both mortify and enrage you. However, let’s not ignore the ramifications of media houses peddling SMUT in the name of ‘news coverage’.
Crime Against Women – Media Houses Should Introspect
Rape is not new, and neither is reporting on it. However, something has marginally shifted on the way the news of crime against women is reported. And in my memory, it all goes back to the Nirbhaya case – the crime that jolted the collective conscience of the nation.
The newspapers and media houses went all guns blazing and explained in ‘detail’ the heinous crime. The purpose – sure – to instil outrage and well – it did. The brutality of the act revolted the masses and started a protest unlike any the capital had seen. (Not to mention the political career of many!) And all was good.
And then, I noticed a strange thing. ‘Repeats’ of Nirbhaya. Many may even call it perhaps a hypothesis but the facts – at least the reported facts suggest that instances of ‘iron rod’ and other substances (sometimes even rocks) being inserted into the private parts of rape victims increased. It was almost as if every person was doing it.
Coincidence or ‘Media Fuelled’?
Was it just a coincidence or does the media that was kind enough to ‘explain’ how the DNA samples ‘could’ be destroyed by an iron rod. In stead of highlighting the fact that it was indeed the same on the Iron Rod that finally led to the conviction of the criminals, the focus was all on the gruesome details.
Whether it was arming assaulters with information or whether feeding the perverted need of the masses to know the gruesome details, the fact remains that ‘Media’ houses – be it print, broadcast (and let’s not forget – digital) have an equal role to play.
Over the years the more brutal the act, the more coverage it gets. Reporters go on a frenzy to find out the state of the victim’s body when discovered, how many cuts and bruises and on and on and on.
And then came the ‘videos’ and all hell broke loose. News articles that talk about ‘woman raped, heinous act recorded – video surfaces on social media – “Watch”. Media houses continued to exploit the women again and again – the videos were ‘blurred’ yes but the headlines just went bolder and bolder. How would watching a crime against woman stop it?
THE NEW(s) LOW
In latest such case, the digital news outlets just went one step ahead. Headlines where they used the plea of a girl in the headline to ‘highlight’ what the girl must have been feeling. I ask, however, what are digital media houses trying to achieve by starting a headline – “Bhaiya Mat Karo”?
The use of the phrase was simply a cheap stunt of garnering eyeballs by appealing to the voyeuristic tendencies. Add the keyword – video and digital houses were happily smiling at the numbers that poured in.
Many would counter – how can we not highlight the disgusting details…how else do we move the people?
I say by doing your job right. A headline like the one mentioned above does not move anyone to disgust – it’s appalling and smut. Plain and simple. And if all else fails, then maybe by shows like Delhi Crime Season 3.
And if you are worried about numbers – try the simple approach this article has taken. Talk about it and talk about it right. Using a keyword cannot be the only criteria when we are talking about news. A simple moral ground must be maintained – no matter what the cost.