A – list stars falling ill and getting admitted in hospitals are enough to send the media into a frenzy. Many camp outside the hospital till the star remains admitted doling out live regular updates about the actor’s health. Given the high security cordon arranged whenever a VVIP is admitted in the hospital, the media finds it difficult to get fresh news and often ends up resorting to something more bold and enterprising in the bid to stay ahead of other channels.
Amitabh Bachchan too was once a victim of the breaking news syndrome when he was hoodwinked by a female journalist who disguised herself as doctor to extract information about Amitabh’s health right from the horse’s mouth.
Sharing this interesting anecdote was Amitabh Bachchan himself at a book launch yesterday. Recalled Amitabh, “I encountered a surprising incident when I was in hospital once. I was in the ICU and Jaya too had taken a room in the hospital for the family. One day she suddenly walked into the ICU and asked me, ‘Why are you doing interviews from the ICU?’ I was surprised and told her that I had not been doing any interviews at all. ‘How is it that the entire media is writing about what you are wearing, what you are doing and saying,’ asked Jaya. I told her that I hadn’t done anything of that sort. I later learnt that it was actually the work of a very enterprising journalist. She had dressed up as a doctor with a stethoscope around her neck and came into my room and said hello to me. I responded with a hello too. She then asked me how I am feeling to which I responded saying I’m fine and asked her if she was a doctor to which she said yes. That was the entire conversation. She then walked out and reported it.”
Amitabh who today sees the incident in a lighter vein also added, “Sometimes it is a little intrusive but also it doesn’t speak very well of the security of the hospital. I would look upon it as light heartedness. The management of the media company who had sent her in was quite proud of her.”
The legend however expressed the need to be sensitivity and respect the privacy of the patient in such cases. “I just feel that it is a very sensitive moment when someone is ill. Whereas I shall respect the right of the journalist in the freedom of expression that he has but sometimes the sensitivity of the moment and the emotions that run with people who are involved need to be understood. There have been many occasions when it’s taken almost 20 minutes for me to come out of the ambulance to be taken to ICU purely because gates of the ambulance couldn't be opened because the photographers and the journalists were blocking it. If there are emotions expressed by the members of the family at that moment then that needs to be understood.”
Amitabh did however have a word of praise for the Indian media. “Most of the times our media has been very sensitive at such occasions.”
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