PressEthic

On December 3rd, the Times of India ran a story about a TV reporter who allegedly posed as a doctor in order to get access to Bollywood actor, Amitabh Bachchan's hospital room.

Two things attracted my attention. One is the obvious -- that a journalist violated ethical codes by pretending to be someone else just to get access to a story, which is completely unacceptable. But the second thing was at the end of the little news snippet:

According to sources, two security guards were sacked on Saturday. However, a Lilavati spokesperson said, "I really can’t comment on it, but a decision will be taken on Monday."

The sources being anonymous does pose some problems, but one assumes that they must have some credibility if the author of the piece included their statement about the guards being sacked (though, as we're learning, writers include sources even when they're untrustworthy). But I think the bigger issue is why the guards are being sacked at all? If the journalist was posing as hospital staff, perhaps it's understandable that the guards made a mistake. If anyone should get the sack, it's the journalist.

But, according to a follow-up piece in the Times the next day, that's unlikely to happen. The news director of Aaj Tak (the TV channel where the reporter in question works), Q.W Naqvi doesn't seem to think that acting unethically is a big deal. In all his statements, he comes across as (waaaay) less than intelligent. Here's one example:

"The reporter went to meet Bachchan out of curiosity," said Naqvi, adding that Amar Singh had blown the "entire episode out of proportion".

That's his defense? That the reporter was just curious? And, he goes on to say, it shouldn't be a big deal because another journalist from a newspaper got to meet Mr. Bachchan, so why not his reporter? Can the man seriously be a news director (of a fairly major national TV station) and be this stupid? It's totally irrelevant that anyone else got to meet the star -- and in this case, the newspaper journalist was also a friend. The point is, whether the reporter dressed as a nurse or a doctor or any other kind of hospital staff, she acted unethically. And it's unconscionable that her news director would condone it.