Breaking bad over breaking news

KOCHI: Investigative journalism knows no boundaries. Or, does it? In the politically vibrant Kerala, there’s no dearth of controversies that sprout out of allegations, counter-allegations and, er, more allegations. Currently, the state seems to be caught in the throes of such a flux since last week, courtesy new revelations tumbling out with increasing alacrity in the sensational gold smuggling case.

Poor journos (including the author) are left with no option but to scan each of these. Some so-called intellectuals may term it silly. But for scribes, the ‘written word’ is what keeps the hearth warm back home. And, when revelations — or allegations — are made, the investigative journalist in some of us gets cracking. 

However, we do tend to be too excited at times. No wonder, as soon as the lady in the limelight announced more revelations were on the way, ‘war rooms’ were set up to deal with the ‘explosion’. But, alas, it didn’t turn out to be all that ‘explosive’! More chaos ensued. A din over what exactly the news was. A few of us had to undergo the ordeal of listening to the one-hour-long ‘bombshell’ audio clip. Journo WhatsApp groups got busy debating the ‘crux’ of the news and what could be left out. Visual journos had it worse.  

Next day, one reporter even went to the extent of decoding the words printed on the dress worn by the woman. He expounded on the hidden meaning behind each word, thereby lending more ominosity to the startling revelations. 

What might have been just a simple cloth design to many — me no exception — suddenly turned into a cavernous code! Just so that you know, the said presser ended with some senior journos, who could well be termed technologically challenged, trying a hand at downloading the Telegram app to access the lady’s audio-clip. Yours truly proved no exception. And thus, fizzed out the ‘breaking’ news, with a whimper.