Letting facts get in the way of a good story
I have a serious confession to make. I am not Ravina Kohli. And I am not married to Kunal Kohli. I have never worked at YashRaj Films and no, I am not responsible for a channel called Epic.
If I was a politician, or a Bollywood star, the newspapers may have had my identity right by now. Or my Wikipedia page would read like its actually about me. Unfortunately, neither is the case. I am in someone else's marriage and someone else is in my CV.
Yes there are two of us. Despite my pleas and clarifications to the media. I even discussed it with my namesake, who did her best too. Nope. I am still somebody else. A funny mutated version of us both. I think she is also a little bit me.
Which brings me to the accuracy of news reporting. I'll keep the facts simple.
After the "jea vs jiya" acoustic complication, we are left with the minor puzzle of the many Mikhail Boras. Or is it Mecheil. Or Michail. The point is, why don't we really know his name?
The answer is simple. In the rush to be first among equals we have forgotten how to be the best. We have sold our piece of the Fourth Estate cheap in what is clearly a professional downturn.
The first person a reporter is accountable to is himself. This is the person on ground zero who is supposed to "report by fact". Not by speculation. Heads must roll if a reporter cannot "report". The designation is "correspondent", not "illusionist".
"There seems to be a sort of explosion (or is it just a minor little bang?) and I think almost ten and a half people have been injured or are they just a little bit dead?" would certainly not qualify as a responsible news report. Yes, I know you all agree. So is it a seemingly trivial detail when there is so much more to the story, to actually give a person his real name? Is it really that unimportant?
Hello?
What's getting exposed in this "exposé" is not the facts. It's the immaturity of our own conscience as the media whose primary responsibility is fact, not opinion. Get your facts right and I will believe your views.
You have a duty to tell the truth. And be very sure of your facts before you put your name on them. Your accuracy is your fortune. Your mugshot on air is pointless unless it is framed with credibility. Your "phono" will sound "phoney" if you don't get it right. After all, you are in television to be seen. And more importantly, believed. No?
Imagine a movie where SRK's name was spelt Saruk. Quite another matter that it is pronounced that way a lot. The point is, no one would ever make that fatal error and still have lunch in B-Town again. So why should someone else, even just an ordinary citizen be ok with a case of mistaken identity?
Considering the news broke on August 25, and the Bora boy appeared on August 26, we've had, as media producers, a good fortnight on the trail. We have no excuse not to know our facts down pat. How can a country of fewer English brands than cuisines remain undecided on the accuracy of such a prominent name in the news?
Is it not the responsibility of the media to fix the truth even it has even fractionally leaked it out in the form of an inadvertent untruth?
I am a slave of the media. I have spent 30 years in the business. I go online again today. I type "Ravina Kohli" instead of my usual triple barrelled name and wait.
It says "The page Ravina Kohli does not exist". And then, "Did you mean Ravina Raj Kohli?" So I say yes. I hope I have found me.
Apparently, I am still married to Kunal Kohli. And after Star News for some reason I worked at YRF and I now work at Epic. And then there's a picture of the gorgeous Raveena Tandon. I am all three of us.
I give up.
I am changing my name to Mikhaila. Perhaps YRF will offer me a cameo in their next movie.