Trigger warning: Descriptions of suicide
New Delhi: A journalist is not expected to dramatise an incident and place the subject of the news report at risk, the Allahabad high court observed while hearing a case where a reporter allegedly egged on a person to die by suicide in front of the Uttar Pradesh assembly, promising him airtime.
LiveLaw has reported that in October 2020, the accused journalist, Shameem Ahmad, had asked a person who was being threatened with eviction by his landlord to set himself on fire in front of the Vidhan Sabha building in protest. Ahmad had also allegedly said that he would broadcast the video on a television news channel, thus highlighting the matter, which would in turn save the person from eviction.
The person who set himself on fire was rushed to a hospital by police but succumbed to his burn injuries.
“…[I]nstead of saving the grievously burning deceased, the accused kept on filming it till he was badly scorched,” the court reportedly noted.
The deceased person’s wife is the complainant in this case.
The landlord who had threatened the couple with eviction, thus setting off the chain of events, had also reportedly asked the deceased person to “set himself on fire and die” if he could not furnish the rent.
A bench of Justice Vikas Kunvar Srivastav denied bail to the journalist, according to LiveLaw, and observed,”A journalist is not expected to dramatize a sensational and horrifying incident and make news by putting his actor in pitiable condition in danger of death.
The bench also spoke on the role of a journalist and said, “The journalist keeps an eye on the anticipated or sudden events happening in the society and brings them to the information of all the people through various news media without any tampering, this is his business.”
The role of journalists in exacerbating or propagating a situation thrust into public view was also critiqued in the aftermath of the passing of actor Sushant Singh Rajput last year, when several mainstream television news channels put Bollywood actors on a media trial and conducted televised investigations on their own, going to the extent of pronouncing select people guilty.
If you know someone – friend or family member – at risk of suicide, please reach out to them. The Suicide Prevention India Foundation maintains a list of telephone numbers they can call to speak in confidence. Icall, a counselling service run by TISS, has maintained a crowdsourced list of therapists across the country. You could also take them to the nearest hospital.