The Boston Globe’s Spotlight investigation into child abuse by Christian pastors remains a defining lesson in journalism: truth must be revealed, not wielded. It showed that real reporting relies on facts, patience, and evidence, not warnings, countdowns, or theatrical suspense. Truth, when reported honestly, needs no background music. It simply stands.
Which makes the recent drama between a social media portal and the SDH Kupwara administration feel less like journalism and more like a poorly scripted reality show. The portal claimed BUMS doctors were allegedly prescribing medicine and conducting consultations in the gynaecology department. This is a serious charge, one that demands careful verification and clear presentation of facts. Instead, the audience was served repeated “warnings,” “requests,” and public declarations that evidence exists and a “last chance” is being offered to the administration. Journalism, it seems, was replaced with the tone of a landlord threatening to cut electricity.
One is left wondering which school of journalism teaches reporters to issue ultimatums instead of publishing facts. A journalist is not a referee, a judge, or a district magistrate. A journalist is a messenger, sometimes an inconvenient one, who places facts before the public and lets institutions respond. The moment reporting turns into negotiation, the story collapses under its own self importance.
But the farce did not end there. The in charge BMO responded not with documents, explanations, or medical protocols, but with a recorded clip allegedly capturing the portal owner abusing him. This may be condemnable, but it is also irrelevant to the core issue. When facts are questioned, the answer cannot be a character assassination side show. That is not a rebuttal. That is a tantrum.
Then came the final act, the kind that would make Bollywood PR managers proud. A photograph surfaced of the same portal owner and the in charge BMO smiling together, declaring that “miscreants” had caused a misunderstanding and now all was well. Suddenly, the allegations evaporated. The warnings dissolved. The evidence went missing. The public was left staring at a happy reunion poster wondering whether the original story was true, the rebuttal was true, or whether this was simply a low budget publicity campaign masquerading as public interest.
This is how institutions lose credibility and journalism loses dignity. When professionalism is replaced with theatrics, and facts are treated as bargaining chips, the only casualty is the public. The tragedy is not that a story was mishandled. It is that everyone involved forgot the basic rule. Journalism is not about who wins. It is about what is true.
