Why I hate News Media -- Round 2

I feel that the responsibility of the press is to keep the people informed, keep them up to date on what is TRULY happening around the world. I stress on the word truly here because it is the one aspect that the media tends to bend to the very extremes, the truth. I've talked before about how the media jumps on the bandwagon for anything and everything. Well, now I'm talking about how the media sensationalizes even the most mundane by bending the truth and making it seem like a disaster of gargantuan proportions.

Take for example, the long saga of the Arushi murder case in Noida, India. The day it happened it was headline news that a father killed his daughter as an honor killing. I agree that the cops are partly to blame for cooking up this story and trying to conclude the case without any kind of even superficial investigation, but that does not give the media the right to continue to develop on the story (beyond known fact) and completely tarnish someone's reputation (dead or alive). After the first day of this news breaking out, the press went all out to find evidence to back up the police's claim and they even stooped to the level of hacking emails and facebook accounts to come up with messages that might show that the girl was of poor character, and that her relationship with her dad was strained, hence warranting the honor killing (I really do not wish to elaborate on this).

Move forward in time a few weeks and surprise surprise, after extensive investigation, it was proven that the father was completely innocent and that the girl did nothing wrong. And what do you get from the media, nothing. It is thanks to this media and the fabricated story of the cops that a father had to endure incredible trauma when in reality he would have been in mourning about his daughter's death. But, there is not even an inkling of an apology or a mention that they might have made a mistake. Absolutely nothing. And this infuriates me. A parent's connection to a child is something that only the parent can fully know the magnitude of and this is even stronger in the case of a father and his daughter, and the news media of India went all out to vilify this relationship.

I've actually been wanting to write this for a while now and I've just been letting the thoughts take shape in my head. What triggered my actually writing was this article

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/3312296.cms

Please note that I'm not commenting on what the news is about but more on the media. I don't know (and neither does anyone else) know for sure if this was a dowry killing or not and if it is that is a subject for another discussion. But, as it is clear to see, before there is any proof of the circumstances and what actually happened, the news media has come to its own conclusion with absolutely no idea of the facts. No post-mortem report, no interrogations, but they already have a case of dowry killing according to them.

I feel that this literally amounts to character assassination and I'm sure that in any other country the news media would likely be sued (when proven wrong like the Arushi murder case).

Now if this were a single person's opinion I wouldn't really react this much since everyone is entitled to their own opinions. But this is the news, the media, the people who have the power to influence the decisions and the thought process of millions in just a few words (If you doubt this, just read the comments on the link above). Using the cliched statement from Spiderman "with great power comes great responsibility". And quite frankly, the news media does not seem to be even remotely responsible to possess such power and furthermore they are not in the least bit accountible. The trend of the news media in India these days is clear to see, sensationalist headlines and a whole lot of nonsensical fluff (Paris Hilton's dog anyone?). With a headline that is sure to make people read the article, the media makes its intentions extremely clear.

They're here to sell newspapers and increase TRP ratings, not report what really happens.