Now that we have seen the bloated bodies, heard tales of deaths and destruction, and listened to experts on television talk about tectonic plates, earthquakes and tsunamis, and how they differ from tidal waves, it may be time to reflect on the conduct of the media during the past few days.

There are two separate points briefly discussed here. One deals with the media's action immediately after something has occurred and the other with its actions a month later.

But before getting into that it will be best to make a couple of suppositions.

a. That when a calamity of this scale occurs, the least that is expected of the media -- whatever their political affiliations -- is an unbiased coverage. For a few days at least the media should remove the colour filters from its lenses.

b.That political parties across the spectrum come together and, however diverse in their stands, work together in bringing relief to the victims.

Now chew on this: The day the waves struck, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa was in Nagapattinam, with the victims, taking stock of the situation.

The Karunanidhi-Maran family-owned Sun TV [Get Quote], however, chose to look north. It more or less blanked out the news, and concentrated on Dayanidhi Maran, the DMK's minister at the Centre and SUN CEO Kalanidhi Maran's brother.

There is no doubt that Maran was doing his best to alleviate the sufferings of the people. But that little bit of news happening in Nagapattinam was equally important. Perhaps more because Jayalalithaa is the representative of the people of the whole state, unlike Maran.

At the central level, our national broadcaster, Doordarshan, focussed on United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi [Images], Prime Minister Manmohan Singh [Images] and other Congress leaders.

This is not a comment on Jayalalithaa nor am I ever likely to vote for her All India Anna DMK. The AIADMK-owned Jaya TV, in fact, was no better.

This is just one example. To be fair, all media organisations lean towards one side or the other, and it is normal, something to be expected.

But it is beyond me why any self-respecting media, which professes undying concern for the people and never fails to remind everybody about its devotion to truth, would do something like this at such periods.

The point is not that 'A' leader scored more brownie points than 'B' leader, but just that the knowledge that the CM, and those at the Centre, were doing their best would have brought hope to the people.

At times like these, killing a piece of news outright, or not giving it the prominence it deserves, is as good as lying to the people.

To use the media as a tool for furtherance of political agenda is fair and legitimate. It is something that is being going on for ages. There are very few other more effective ways of taking the message to the people and mobilising them. But filtering news when thousands are dying is akin to living off them.

Some sections of the media, in this respect, did a great disservice to the people.