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The end of Osama story

Media still has a lot to unfold in this episode. The story is not going to die as easy as Osama died.

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The end of Osama story

The end of Osama story

Media still has a lot to unfold in this episode. The story is not going to die as easy as Osama died.

Rajat Arora | Delhi | May 10, 2011

publive-imageThe name 'Abbotabad' sounded odd to the western media initially but within a few minutes it became a trending topic. No one in Abbotabad would have ever thought that one day this sleepy cantonment city will be known across the globe. Something similar happened to Tora Bora almost a decade back. The hilly region caught the attention of the world when it was reported in 2002 that the world's most dreaded terrorist is hiding there. Unfortunately, it couldn't become a trending topic as there was no twitter at that time. Abbotabad has been lucky in this matter.

The cantonment has given a lot to the subcontinent. The area didn't only give safe shelter to Osama for five years but it also gave India something which we are still celebrating. Our very own patriotic hero Manoj Kumar was born there and his cinema is still celebrated in our country.

The coverage of Osama's assassination was unusual in world media and was quite different from the coverage of Saddam Hussain case. Osama was lucky that he had a good mansion and company of his wives and kids for five years before he was killed by US Navy SEALs. The mansion had DTH connection and a TV set plus Osama got his quota of Coca Cola regularly. Sadam Hussain was unlucky in this case. The poor guy, who once lived the most lavish life, was hiding in a barrack and when he was caught by US army he was looking filthy and was in poor health.

The Osama news broke out early in the morning was enough to wake the news channels up as hardly such events occur. It was big news across the globe and within minutes our very own news channels got on it.  Calls were made to Pakistani journalists and soon Najam Seth, Hamid Mir and Resul Husan Laskar were all over the TV channels. The Pakistani journalists were being retweeted by their Indian counterparts. Forty minutes of live tweeting of operation earned Suhaib Athar, an Abbotabad resident, more than a lakh follower and soon he was flashed on TV screens and the guy appeared on almost every channel via Skype.

Indian journalists Barkha Dutt and Suhasini Haider took three days to reach Islamabad but it wasn't too late. The English channels were vivaciously reporting from Pakistan. The newspapers also left no stone unturned and the insightful news reports from the Washington post, The NewYork Times and the Guardian were published. The picture of Obama watching the full operation live with his team became the most viewed picture on the internet.

At last, the whole Osama episode reminds of 'Tere Bin Laden'. The Hindi satire made on Osama and the US hunt described a lot in comic way. Media still has a lot to unfold in the Osama story and in coming days there's a lot to come. The story is not going to die as easy as Osama died.

Rajat.Arora@BestMediaInfo.com

Info@BestMediaInfo.com

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