Responsibility of the media

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One would wish that with all the trappings and contraptions that our media today have they would learn to be responsible. A halfwit even tried to claim that the media had stopped a possible coup! The fact of the matter is that some of them almost started one. It was so obvious that they do not understand the meaning of editing. Adequate information, correct information, these words mean nothing. An armoured personnel carrier or APC as it commonly called becomes a "tank". But then this is a land where a burst (of automatic fire) became "brushfire". There is nothing in the English language called brushfire unless a brush (from toothbrush to paintbrush) was burning. Sometimes, burning bushes may be referred to as a "brushfire".

In fact, there are too any instances when a section of the electronic media (some, not all) were telecasting outlandish, hysterical and propagandist pronouncements of the murderous rebels of the BDR when caution and discretion should have been the order of the day. They also did not shrink from showing dead bodies which thankfully they masked in later telecasts.

Also giving air to various accusations as to who were responsible was incredible. There are enough conspiracy theories to confuse one completely. I was personally jaded by the reams I read on this most ghastly and shocking of incidents in the history of our country. If at least like in some conspiracy theories there are tantalising questions which lead to some possibilities, here we have the blame game on a massive scale. The public meanwhile having digested all that they had, thanks to the media now are sullen or dazed. I can only ask these august people to act more responsibly from now on.

Shaila Akhtar

Monipuripara

Dhaka