Most TV channels largely ignore it on Saturday. But come Sunday, families all over India gather around the TV and get treated to a gut-wrenching, emotional overdose of gigantic proportions that would make Karan Johar, Yashraj and the Barjatyas cringe in misery and go green in envy.
You think I’m ODing? Check out these prize-winning captions thought of by the news channels that ran this saga for an entire day.
- Dharti maan ki god se, sena ki god mein, maa ki god tak
- Prince ka dhairya, sena ki himmat, maa ki mamta, Zee News ki muhim rang layi
- Prince ne di maut ko maat, Saare desh mein khushi ki lehar
- Prince ko zindagi, zindagi ka prince (followed by waah !)
And the press today ?
Headline on TOI (also kind enough to allot 90% of front page space for this news) – “Li’l Prince is born again”. Text then reads - “When Prince Kumar rode out of the black hole in a crane at 7.47 pm on Sunday, the applause was something Zinedine Zidane might have got if he had won the World Cup for France. The four-year-old’s homecoming signalled the end of a human drama that had kept the nation engrossed during the weekend and turned him into India’s most heart-tugging kid.”
Headline on Mumbai Mirror with photo– "Prince wins battle of Kurukshetra"
Headline on HT Junior, borrowing from TOI - "Little Prince is reborn on his sixth birthday"
Also check this google search for international press coverage of this "gripping event"
Of course, the Haryana Chief Minister chipped in his bit by announcing a grant of Rs2lakh for Prince.
Finally, this SMS received by a TV channel stood out in stark contradiction to all the duas and prathanas for Prince’s rescue. It read “What do I have to do to get free education in India ? fall in a ditch?”
5 comments:
I was one of the many guys glued to the idiot box during the entire rescue operation and cheered when the boy emerged.
But seriously, had his name not been "Prince", do you think the Press would have had such a field day as this? If it was just a regular ramu or shamu, I think the press wouldnt be fluttering about that much.
But boy am I glad Prince survived that terrible ordeal. Praise the Lord.
As far as my opinion is concerned, all the news channels were trying to cash in on the plight of a poor boy. Their concern was not his wellbeing but TRP. Read my views here
I wholly agree with Navin. Now pray tell me what will one do if a country has 20, 24 hr news channels. What can be there to fill in the time...on sunday it is prince...on monday it will be something else. I don't think that the press generally gives a hoot about who was involved in the incident. Unfortunately that is the case and we got to live with it.
Oh i hate the media when they join in on this overexposure, i'm always left feeling sorry for the victims of the story cause then people start getting sick of them, and then get annoyed by them, then get jealous of them...it's really sad cause it's the media who is to blame!
I got a nice sms about this..when the boy was in the pit, the whole country prayed...but what about the fact that whole country is in the pit? Are we doing anything about it...
i think it got the msg thru quite well..
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