Admiral's Disgust With Media

On Navy Day, Chief of the Naval Staff, Admiral Sureesh Mehta, expresses his disgust with the media coverage of Islamic death cult Mumbai terror attacks and the recent INS Tabar destruction of pirate mother ship. He also talks of how media endangered soldiers lives during Kargil war. Of course, here the media are English language TV channels - the silly media.

The competition among news channels to score brownie points reminded him of the “famous shot” during the Kargil War that led to the destruction of an ultra-powerful artillery gun of the Army. Three soldiers died and the Colonel, who yielded to a woman reporter’s entreaty to fire the gun for the camera’s benefit was dismissed from service...

Admiral Mehta said he was disturbed by the “extra heavy reporting” on the attacks. “When operations are taking place, you are reporting that two commandos are going inside. They [terrorists] were in live contact with their masters, who were telling them what the channels were reporting. I think it requires a certain amount of restraint in ongoing operations. Do you really have to give minute-by-minute coverage? Media is an enabling instrument. Today it is a disenabling instrument.”...

For the media, more “eye catching” was the owner’s claim that was unquestionably accepted.

“The Thai vessel was a pirated trawler. The ship was operating there for a long time. The ship was doing what it should not be doing. You went to his house to interview him. Those reports are now floating worldwide. The media should have asked what the trawler was transporting between Yemen and Oman for such a long time. What cargo was it carrying? If it was low on fuel, how come the fireball was so bright? It was because of all the ammunition that was lying on the ship. There is nothing wrong your Navy has done,” asserted Admiral Mehta...

The silly media in this case is CITV - Congress I TV, meaning CNN-IBN, and the so-called journalist that ended up causing the death of three soldiers is the famous psec talking head Barkha Dutt that works for another CITV.