So i first noticed it this evening as i was browsing Google News as i do pretty much every 2 minutes when i'm bored.
Two BE girls suffer burns in acid attack. Now, such a headline is in itself shocking and disgusting enough, for I still cant get over how someone could be so heinous and cruel as to do something like this. I open the article and read it, and apparently its once again, in Hyderabad, a guy who got turned down by a girl he liked and so for some strange reason decided to disfigure her for life by throwing acid on her face. That really disgusts me. You get turned down so you decide to pull something like this. Maybe this is why you got turned down in the first place. Geez, fckin pricks.
Of course, the girl suffered severe burns to her face, as did her friend who was riding along with her on the scooter. The bastards who did this will hopefully get punished and sent to jail, but thats clearly not going to fix the girls' injuries now, is it.
Bad enough as it is, it gets worse. Only one guy has actually been arrested so far, while the 2 others who helped him are still out free.
But what really caught my attention was this. As i tried to search for more articles on this topic, i noticed that there weren't all that many articles on this report for some reason. To be precise, there were only 8. No, seriously, 8. And it gets worse. Most of those articles were from Express Buzz and a few other small local papers, including a small Pakistani one. Times of India was the only major newspaper with coverage, and even that wasnt much. At last count, there were all of 21 articles on this report, out of which more than half were Express Buzz updates on this story, and more small papers.
And guess what, its not over. By comparison, there are over 4000 articles on the India-England test match. Ok, granted that cricket coverage online shouldnt necessarily be compared to something like this. Fine. How about this then, there are 266 articles debating whether Rab ne Bana di Jodi can draw people to theaters. Seriously. 266. Weird isn't it? And there's another 72 articles on Asin, the south Indian actress. And whats sad and yet unsurprising is that its not just entertainment portals n tabloids which posted these articles, but also several major news sites like DNA, TOI, ZeeNews, IBNLive, Indian Express, Hindustan Times, etc. The list just goes on.
Just look at the numbers. 266 articles on one movie, another 72 on an actress, and yet, just 21, i say again, 21, articles on a horrific incident like this. And whats really shameful is that small newspapers and even a Pakistani paper are covering this while our own major news organizations have totally and utterly failed to report this incident, choosing instead to focus on Bollywood stories, coz after all, (note the sarcasm) who really cares if people get their faces burned in an acid attack.
Clearly, something, somewhere went terribly wrong. I mean, c'mon people, fine SRK is big, but goddamnit, its not massive news. News organizations need to get their priorities straightened out, and fast. Even during the recent terror attacks, the news channels nearly jeopardised the rescue operations by showing live videos of the commandos, just to garner ratings, despite requests from the military not to do so.
Clearly, somethings messed up, big time.
