Commercializing Death Do newspapers have no taste or decency? I do not wish to see Dhananjoy Chatterjee hogging the front page day after day. HT really took the cake, today, by practically dedicating the front page to him. The man is going to die, for crying out loud. If you think people like reading about every grim detail about a man due to be exectuted, atleast put it in some page inside.

Remember, Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani? The movie had this situation that TV broadcasters were allowed to give a live telecast of a hanging and they advertized and did all sorts of inane things like interviewing the hangman, asking him what the name of his wife was and holding a competition. I pooh-poohed the idea at the time, but now I think the media might be capable of it. Only instead of being cheery, as portrayed in the movie, they'll be grim and revel in every gory, graphic detail, no matter where they stand on the issue. And their audience will only see either the drama of someone's life hanging by the thread and the power of being able to cut it, or a fashionably popular (read: controversial) cause to hold to their hearts.

PS: This was written earlier. Chatterjee has expired.
  ¶ 11:49 pm