Backstory: Could There Have Been More Substance, Less Sensation in Reporting the Crash of Flight AI171?

Which is the headline that you would have rather read on the morning after India’s worst air disaster in 30 years? The one that appeared in the Times of India: ‘Dreamliner Nightmare Kills 245’ or the one that The Hindu carried: ‘AI flight with 242 on board crashes in Ahmedabad’?

The first is racy, but incomplete and seriously messed up the death toll. There were 242 passengers on board that flight, one survived – this does not include those who were killed in the medical college as a result of the plane crashing into the premises. The second headline is straightforward and could possibly be considered dull, but it was an accurate rendition of the actual disaster. 

There is something about an air crash that triggers a tingling sensation in the newsroom, which is okay provided that tingle ignites minds, as the late president, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, may have said. Instead, from the evidence gained from watching a few hours of the crash reportage on national television, one came away with the feeling that the tingle in this case only creates more tangle.

As a commentator observed about media coverage in the wake of disasters of this kind, “to speculate in public won’t assist the investigative process. Nor will it help the families of the victims, or the first responders and investigators themselves, get through this horrible time” (‘An Aviation Expert Explains Why Wanton Speculation on the Cause of the Air India Crash Is a Problem’, June 13).

The crash of AI171 attracted considerable coverage from international news media. Both BBC and CNN devoted much attention to it, the first because British nationals were on board this flight; the second because the crash involved aviation giant Boeing, possibly USA’s largest exporter.

The difference between BBC/CNN and Indian news television was conspicuous. The former were more restrained and measured. They were also far more sensitive about aspects like the privacy of passengers and respect for the dead. The use of the term ‘souls’, when references were made to the death toll, was particularly striking. 

Hold that hysteria

Indian coverage, in contrast, tended to be loud, sometimes bordering on the hysterical. Many young Indian reporters on television seem to be under the profound misconception that the higher the pitch of their speech, the more weight their words carry. One reporter, while interviewing Bhoomi Chauhan, who happened to have missed her flight on AI171 by 10 minutes and thus escaped the inferno, adopted any almost accusatory note, saying “Hope you are keeping the victims in mind…”, or words to that effect. 

What provided an immediate diversion amidst the gloom was the sight of passenger number 11A making his own way to the ambulance, shrugging off curious onlookers along the way. It caused one of India’s most experienced news personalities, Rajdeep Sardesai, to launch into a philosophical soliloquy about the “miracle survivor” and gods with their plans for mere mortals. Hmmm…television anchors are certainly in extra high spin mode in the religio-political washing machine but he must know that this argument only contributes to lack of accountability and the apportioning of blame which is essential in these circumstances. 

In fact Union home minister Amit Shah was rightly criticised for his comment that “This is an accident, and nobody can stop accidents.” It provoked people to comment, “He has already indicated that there’s no accountability and no action will happen”. Another went: “It has been over 17 hours…More than 240 are dead. A former CM is gone India is in shock Yet not a single resignation. Not from PM Narendra Modi, not from Home Minister Amit Shah, not from Civil Aviation Minister.”

The Modi factor

Speaking of which, news media did not forget their non-biological prime minister in the telling of this story even before he himself had made an appearance at the crash site the following day.

Times Now was right off the blocks when it put out the following kicker as soon as the news of the crash came in, “Team Modi rushes to Ahmedabad”. The civil aviation minister once at the site made it a point to tell the media that the “PM has asked me to take quick action” – as to what quick action he proposed to take was left unexplained.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, when he arrived the following morning, came with the customary phalanx of camerapersons. The shot that that took everyone’s breath away was that of Modi alone, looking up at the tail of the aircraft embedded in the hostel building. The image provoked more than a few comments on X, with one perceptive critic noting that while everything was collapsing and disintegrating, the one thing on track seems to the PM’s public relations machine.

Firstly, it’s unsafe for a Prime Minister to stand directly beneath the wreckage and a severely damaged building.

Secondly, the photographer’s dedication to capturing every angle - mostly by lying on the ground to ensure Modi ji gets the best possible shot to give to ANI - is… pic.twitter.com/ex13B9Q8NV

— Srivatsa (@srivatsayb) June 13, 2025

Artificial Intelligence footage misinforms

Two aspects of the coverage by Indian television media that were particularly disturbing needs to be noted.

First was the use of AI-generated videos. Authentic footage of the plane in its last moments was available but clearly fell short of the Mirror Now production team’s aesthetic sense. It was caught flatfooted, however, when one of its expert guests pointed out that the sequence it was showing of a plane descending into a sea of flames featured a Boeing 747 and not the 787-8 of flight AI171. 

The medical hospital tragedy, a side note

Second, was the abysmal lack of lack of media attention paid to the fate of the medical students in the hostel buildings that were destroyed in the crash. Although it deserved special focus, it was reduced to a side story, rife with casual images of an empty mess hall without proper captioning and casualty figures ranging from five to a shocking “50-60” being bandied about. Even a day later the exact number of the dead among this cohort proved elusive although this is understandable perhaps because many of those hospitalised were in a critical condition.

Accurate reportage vital

As first responders, the reports of mediapersons on the site provide a wealth of information for future measures that are not only reactive but preventive in nature. The idea is not just to ensure that such events do not recur but to build a culture of safety and public awareness. The first evidence gathered is also extremely vital to ensure that the process of justice to the passengers who have lost their lives, as well as to the medical students whose lives were cut short, is based on accurate facts because typically, what happens in these circumstances, is the often deliberate planting of data by interested parties in order to control the narrative. 

PS: It is Ahmedabad, not 'Ahemdabad', and yes, the correct expression is “passengers on board”, not “passengers abroad” as the folks at CNN News 18 seem to think.

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Foreign media must be allowed into Gaza

The genocidal state of Israel is on the rampage. News of the attacks on Iran has shocked the world. Meanwhile the unbelievable cruelties being perpetrated by the genocidal Israel state in Gaza is playing out against a backdrop of calibrated opacity and deliberate disinformation. The UN has just reported that there is a full internet blackout in the Strip.  Many efforts have been made to break through that devil’s veil and the incredibly courageous effort of the 12 volunteers onboard the Madleen Gaza Flotilla was only among the most recent. 

On June 1, over 120 media outlets (including the Wire) issued a call to the world for access to Gaza. The Open Letter they issued ('Open Gaza for International Journalists': Over 120 Media Outlets Call for Access’, June 5) makes the cardinal point that journalists in Gaza have paid the price for telling the world its truths – with over 200 of them eliminated by the Israeli military. Those who remain, and their families, face death and starvation every day as they continue to bear witness. Meanwhile, Israel keeps an iron grip on the gates to Gaza, as it has done these 20 months, thus ensuring that foreign journalists are denied independent access to the besieged territory and its people – a development unprecedented in the history of modern warfare, as the Open Letter notes.

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Different strokes for different stampedes

The pseudonymous Churumuri, who has always kept a keen eye on media reportage, came up with a neat table on three recent stampedes that shook the country over the last few months which he tweeted on X. 

It tells you in a snapshot how stampedes can be either amplified or buried, depending on their political colour. The stampede outside the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on June 4, following the celebrations of the victory notched by the Royal Challengers, Bengaluru, led to the deaths of 11 people,  some tragically young. The mainstream media lost no time in rushing to cover every details of the news, complete with chat shows and follow up reportage. The impact of the coverage was immediate and so effective that within days 11 officials were shown the door, affected families were promptly paid the compensation due to them and the Karnataka Chief Minister was left apologizing for the deaths even a week after the tragedy because the coverage was continuing at such an unrelenting pace. 

But hold the applause. Why was the same alacrity and passion not evident in the coverage given to the stampedes that broke out during the mahakumbh mela at Prayagraj in January and at the New Delhi railway station in February? As Churimuri’s table shows, the deaths were larger in number in the first two instances – we now know that the toll at Prayagraj was over 80 (‘At least 82 killed in Mahakumbh stampede: Investigation’, the Wire, June 10) and the railway station stampede caused 18 fatalities. Yet in the first two instances, media reportage, such as it was, melted away after two days and three days respectively. More shocking was the fact that no officials lost their jobs and the chief minister did not console the families in the Prayagraj instance. Was this super soft treatment accorded to the Prayagraj horror story linked to the fact that it was the ruling BJP party that was in power in Uttar Pradesh and the hard line adopted for the Bengaluru stampede driven by the fact that it was the Congress that ruled Karnataka? Without a doubt.

Different strokes for different stampedes. 

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Readers write in…

After Operation Sindoor, a paradox

Santosh Kumar points to an intriguing incongruity:

“It is a paradox that a Government claiming that Operation Sindoor is a revenge action against those who wiped out the ‘kumkum’ from the foreheads of our mothers and sisters is now holding talks with the Taliban. In Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, women are not allowed even to look through the window to the outside world. They are not allowed to go to school and are confined to closed houses. Even if you consider an enemy’s enemy is a friend, how can a democratic government hold talks with an out and out fundamentalist organisation like the Taliban. Perhaps what make the Taliban attractive are the similarities it bears to the ethos of Manusmriti!”

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Dramatic tension

Wire’s ever-vigilant and ceaseless critic K. Karthik, has yet another sarcasm-filled pitch to make:

“Another day of revisiting some of your site's more prescient journalism. I recently had the pleasure of revisiting your article titled ‘As the G7 Clock Ticks: Silence over India’s Invite and What It Means’ (June 4). I must commend you on the sheer confidence with which the piece dives into speculative despair about India being left out—only for the G7 to, quite predictably, extend its usual invitation to India shortly thereafter.

“Surely, the dramatic tension of that “will-they-won’t-they” narrative deserved at least a footnote once the invite landed? Or are we letting it slowly sink into obscurity while hoping nobody notices that reality called and left a voicemail? It’s almost charming how the article tried to paint routine diplomatic choreography as some sort of geopolitical snub. The suspense! The silence! The… standard protocol?

“May I humbly suggest a follow-up piece: ‘India Invited Anyway: When Premature Narratives Age Like Milk’ — just to tie the thread for readers who might mistakenly believe the G7 was plotting India's exile from polite international society. Looking forward to your team's next prophecy—fingers crossed it holds up past the publishing date.

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Interpret the times

Wire reader S.C. Singh is an ex-army officer and a retired bank deputy general manager:

“I have been reading your articles as well as other publications. What has impressed me most about your journalism is that you do not hesitate in calling spade a spade. This is precisely where I find your news reporting a bit distinctive. And that is despite the threats you stand exposed while resorting to fair and free reporting. Press freedom is now on decline in our country.

“Upholding Indian Constitution as my religion, I carry a sense of anguish over the ongoings within the country. There is a very apparent vertical split within the Indian society which is now visible; the liberals and the non-liberals. While the former upholds the Indian Constitution, the latter draws motivation from Manusmriti.”

“It is against this backdrop, I intend sharing with you my own writings. Reading and writing is my hobby. I only aspire that my views reach people. We have turned retrogressive. We can’t build a ‘modern’ India drawing guidance and motivation from ancient & medieval India. We can't drive a car looking in its rear view mirror.” 

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Correction

An alert from Justin Bergman, an editor at The Conversation. The desk has been informed:

“I'm one of the editors at The Conversation in Melbourne, Australia, and I need to alert you to a correction in one of our stories that you republished recently: https://thewire.in/world/national-guards-in-la-protests-california

The new version with the correction is here.

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End piece

This notice board that came up outside the Goa Medical College shortly after the fracas caused by the very arrogant health minister of the state, Vishwajit Rane, demands attention. Why are mediapersons so targeted, we ask. And what if media persons also happen to be patients? Will entry be denied to them?

Write to ombudsperson@thewire.in.

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