Breaking News

That was a 'Breaking News' from Aaj Tak news channel of India Today group. The news is 'Amitabh Bachchan ko thand lagi' ('Amitabh Bachchan caught cold').

Now I'm totally against the people who are just ridiculing Aaj Tak for this. I think it was indeed a breaking news. Breaking news as per Wiki is "often loosely assigned to the most significant story of the moment or a story that is being covered live".

So if on that day "Amitabh caught cold" is the most significant story what would Aaj Tak do? They are a private enterprise to make money; they need to show 'breaking news' every 3rd hour otherwise the rival channel would 'break' some other news and subsequently Aaj Tak would loose the money.

We know that killing 15 policemen by Naxalites or killing innocent protesters by police or spreading of Bird flu virus and subsequently extra money given to voters for Panchayet election or giving financial support to the families of terrorist or China claiming Arunachal with Indian Leftists supporting them are never so important issues in any given day to be called breaking news.

A breaking news on a national channel has to be for the people to know instantly and react as to 'whoa' or 'oh my god' like 9/11 - America under attack or Eklavya selected as India's official Oscar entry or Shah Rukh Khan buys Kokatta team out of sheer love and passion for cricket or future prime minister Rahul Gandhi speaks a word in parliament after 457 days or why the Mughal king Akbar always marries his daughter-in-law in Bollywood movies.

These grave issues need to be brought forward in to the minds of people and what better way to do than to put them in 'breaking news' packets. Aaj Tak along with host of national news channels are doing a perfectly fine job in getting them.

As for the current news, Amitabh is from the first family of India (ok, second family after 10 Janpath government bungalow) and his actions wield a great power and impact on India's future. So it made perfect sense that channels are working their best to keep us updated. Bravo!