DailyPost 465
STINGED!
Video seems is the media of choice for today’s electronic multi-media generation. The secret operation of the expose is known as the sting operation. If you don’t get stinged, then the sheer repetition is supposed to provide that impact. In case, this strategy fails, then harbingers of doom & change, the protagonists of the talk shows are there to fill the gap. It has wide & varied impact, yet no serious research has been made. Might be stings have become the mode of expression for vast variety of people. Investigation journalism takes a totally different dimension with Stings.
Not that investigative journalism is born out of stings or depends on it for its sustenance. There have iconic acts of investigative journalism; The Hindu’s Bofors Expose, Tehelka’s Defence Deals Expose, Indian Express’s Cement Scam Expose, Indian Express’s Human Trafficking Expose,Open Magazine’s Nira Radia Tapes, being a few of them. These would remain fresh in our minds for all times to come and hopefully would inspire generations of journalists. The pace of stings gives no time to audience’s minds, even to register. Democratization of media has come a long way, whosoever may do the the sting; all channels start running full time programs on it.
With video capturing capability inbuilt into the smartphones & lots of even better miniature cameras within ones reach, sting operations are not limited to journalists. Everybody is on a sting spree, from estranged lovers to political workers. Even videos not recorded as sting can double up as sting depending on character/s recorded, context & timing. How much magic the video editing tools can do, is left to anybody’s imagination! Purpose fulfilled, who bothers about the authenticity certificate.
The timing & characters are critical to the video sting. It could have been shot at anytime, the time of release is critical. In normal times, any video of any wrong prevalent, in everyday life in the country, with right din & clamor, media transforms it into a sting. In this all pervasive sting culture, the sting has lost its sting.
STING IS THE NEW LANGUAGE OF JOURNALISM.
Sanjay Sahay