Admist the barrage of of nonsense that has dominated the media since Indrani's arrest, here are some sensible pieces on the subject.
A lot has been written about the Indrani Mukerjea - Sheena Bora case by the media and the content of most articles are worth less than the paper it's written on. However, we have had some sensible pieces on the subject. Here are the top 5:
1)BBC: How a a 'breaking' murder exposed Indian media by Shashi Tharoor
From the breathless and hysterical coverage inundating the Indian press and TV screens, you would scarcely realise that there isn't even proof that the charred remains are those of the missing woman, nor that evidence that a murder has even been committed rests entirely on hearsay.
Indian media outlets have given wall-to-wall coverage to the story Welcome to India's extraordinary media environment, in which the Fourth Estate serves simultaneously as witness, prosecutor, judge, jury and executioner. In ancient times, India put its accused through agni pariksha - a trial by fire; today, we put them through a trial by media. Read more on BBC
2)GreatBong.Net Social Schadenfreude by Arnab Ray
If there is anything I struggle to understand more than the convoluted structure of relationships in the Indrani Mukerjea case, it is how the hell did Rahul Roy become the spokesperson of celebrities? He has somehow, because I see him on Times Now, whenever there is some celebrity-related outrage, and I wonder if it’s because he has a body double like Saddam Hussain, or whether it was because he had a song in Naughty Boy which went “Iske kabhi room main taake, to uske bedroom main jhaanke, kabhi kaheen durbeen lagake, kabhi kaheen parda hatake” that he is considered to be knowledgeable on celebrity scandals. Whatever it be, the great man, brave as he was in Sapne Sajan Ke to make love in a tabela with well-hung horses prancing about, himself does not sound too convinced, repeating ad nauseam “In my twenty five years as a celebrity” as if trying desperately to convince himself of his fame. Read more on GreatBong.Net
3)FirstPost.com: Sheena Bora murder: Lessons we did NOT learn from Aarushi Talwar case by Sandip Roy
This is the Aarushi story on steroids. While that involved a middle class dentist couple whom nobody knew until the sensational scandal erupted in our living rooms via television, this already comes with a Page 3 cast of characters, both in terms of principals and the Greek chorus of celebrities. Lawyer Karuna Nundy tweeted “Well I can see why it’s a big story, but restraint, probity and fairness essential.” But hardly likely. All the pious lessons about the pitfalls of sensational media coverage we supposedly learned during the Aarushi case will be thrown out of the window in the rush for TRP gold. Read more on FirstPost.com
4) Daily O: How a deadly mother gave us a bloodless newsroom by Shiv Aroor
Thank you, Indrani Mukerjea. Or Bora. Or Khanna. Or Das. Please don't feel compelled to clarify. If not a nation, a newsroom undeniably tips its hat to you this week. For anyone who describes cricket, with mist in their eyes, as a game of glorious uncertainties, I invite them to step forward and cover the Indrani-Sheena story. For four days now, this compulsively meandering story has seen to it that newsrooms are helplessly pitched about like corks on a rough sea. Beguiled them into believing they're near the truth, only to backhand them across the face with some new unspeakable surprise. You know what? Indrani’s father must be Sheena's father. That is the only plausible explanation. Read more on Daily O.
5) DNA: Sheena Bora and Aarushi Talwar's cases -- classic instances of media's presumption of guilt by Pratik Ghosh
For the man on the street, who has access to newspaper and television, the verdict has been delivered. Indrani Mukerjea, wife of media magnate Peter Mukerjea, is evil personified. She had killed her daughter Sheena (who is Sheena’s father is still a matter of conjecture) with the help of two accomplices; tried to get rid of the body by dumping it on a deserted stretch on the outskirts of Mumbai; and even attempted to poison her son Mikhail — ostensibly because of property and the daughter’s affair with Peter’s son Rahul. Even before investigations are over; without a single word of the charge sheet being written, and long before the case comes up for hearing, the die has been cast. And, what helped the Everyman arrive at such definite conclusions? Read more on DNA
6) The Wire: This is No Way to Cover a Murder Story --
Words like deviant, debauched and dysfunctional, uttered with saintly facial expressions and tones of deep relish, dominate studio patter. Trite comparisons are being aired every day between “good mothers” and “bad mothers”, with a former society columnist even congratulating herself on live TV the other day for being a better mother than prime suspect Indrani Mukerjea. Read more on The Wire
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