Did you know of Unnao till a fortnight back? I’m guessing, no. Thanks to the media reporting live from there for the last 11 days, everyone who follows the news now know of Dhaundia Kheda and Unnao. And if you’re one of those people who doesn’t follow the news, but reads Newslaundry for some reason, this is your opportunity to come up to speed. Dhaundia Kheda is the area in which Raja Rao Ram Bux Singh’s Unnao fort is located – since the 19^th century. This is also the spot where media has been reporting copiously about an Archeological Survey Of India gold hunt from – following a vision supposedly seen by a seer of 1000 tonnes of gold hidden under the temple. It’s a separate matter that till now many kilograms of rusted iron and glass bangles have been unearthed – and nothing more. Thanks to the media presence there though, Unnao has also been unearthed for India’s television-watching and newspaper-reading public.

This isn’t the first town or region which has found sudden fame thanks to the media presence there. Here’re some others which found their spot on the map because they turned into media camps.

Nithari – This urban village in Noida suddenly made headlines in 2005. There were reports of the mysterious disappearance of children, mainly girls, from Nithari. After botched-up investigations and dilly-dallying, domestic help Surender Singh Koli was identified as the main accused in the case and was detained for questioning. This is when the mystery behind Nithari’s missing children caught the media’s attention. The media reported daily on the investigations and Koli finally confessed that he would lure children to his employer, Moninder Singh Pandher’s bungalow and then kill and rape them. The bodies were disposed off in the backyard of the bungalow and in a drain near the house – after Koli cut them into small pieces.

The media had found its first serial killing case in decades, that too in urban India. What followed were live reports of investigators digging out of remains of dead children from the premises of the house. Almost all national media publications and channels reported “live from Nithari”. And, ever since the Nithari killing, any instance of mysterious mass disappearances of children is ominously headlined as “Another Nithari in the making?”

Padmanabhaswamy Temple – In July 2011, Padmanabhaswamy Temple in Kerala made headlines. Once again, it was owing to our love for gold and hidden treasure. Padmanabhaswamy Temple is touted to be the richest temple in the world and is is run by a trust headed by the royal family of Travancore. In July, the Supreme Court directed that the vaults be opened for evaluation of the temple’s total wealth and so an inventory could be taken of all the items that lay behind the closed doors. Only the sixth vault was not opened, which according to the owners of the temple could invite divine retribution. The SC order instantly grabbed media attention and the temple premises temporarily became a divine abode for reporters.

The audit revealed that the temple might have assets worth Rs 1 lakh crore.  As the details of the wealth in the temple started emerging, all news channels from India TV to NDTV showing unending news reports which were peppered with graphical representations of the vaults and the alleged wealth inside them. International media too displayed much interest in the evaluation process. Fox News termed the discovery of the wealth in the vaults, as the “most spectacular archaeological find of the 21st century”. The matter still continues to be in news.  Reports have been appearing till as recently as June this year with The Hindu still reporting on the riches. Stay tuned for Mackenna’s Gold Part Deux: Padmanabhaswamy Temple Run.

Bhatta Parsaul – This village in western Uttar Pradesh became a media hot spot after the May 7, 2011 clashes between agitating farmers who were protesting against the forceful acquisition of their land for the Noida Expressway by the UP administration. The clash led to the death of two protesters and two police personnel. The clampdown on the protesters by the Mayawati government brought hordes of media to the village. Then Rahul Gandhi sneaked into the village on a motorbike defying section 144. The media of course followed Rahul’s trail through Bhatta Parsaul and his interaction with the victims. Six months later, the village was back in the news when women who had been allegedly raped by Provincial Armed Constabulary during the agitation spoke up against the administration and FIRs were lodged against 16 PAC personnel. Now, Bhatta Parsaul has become the reference point for any development on land acquisition bill or anti-land acquisition agitation.

Lakhimpur Kheri – This district in Uttar Pradesh came into the spotlight after the parents of a 14-year-old Dalit girl from the area alleged that their daughter was raped and killed by cops in a police station in the district. Investigations showed that the girl was killed after a failed rape attempt and was hanged from a tree near the police station in Lakhimpur Kheri to pass the incident off as a case of suicide. The media coverage resulted in the National Human Rights Commission having to intervene. The Lakhimpur case got wide coverage not only because of the degree of brutality involved in the case but also because of the political ramifications and the strategic importance of the place vis-à-vis 2012 Assembly Elections in the state. Rahul Gandhi paid a surprise visit to the victim’s house, which resulted in even more media flocking to Lakhimpur Kheri. Within days of the murder of the teenager another girl was raped in the same area. The media reported on this case as well. Lakhimpur Kheri drew attention towards crimes against women in the Hindi heartland and paved the way for a whirlwind of reportage on a spate of rapes in Haryana in the following year, which earlier used to go unreported.

Shakti Mills – Before August 22, 2013, few cared or even wrote about the existence of an abandoned, decrepit mill near the Mahalaxmi Station in Mumbai. Following the gangrape of a female photojournalist in the compound of the deserted structure on August 22, 2013, the abandoned mills suddenly became as famous a site in Mumbai as Antilia. After the incident, reporters and photographers thronged the area and took readers and viewers on a tour of the abandoned mill. There were full page features on the history of the mill and how in a span of 30 years it turned from a place of employment for a lot of Mumbaikars into a breeding ground for criminals. The incident and the reportage that followed, led Shakti Mills to become symbolic with the gravity of sex crimes that take place in the city.

There are many other such places which reporters have gathered at and reported from, resulting in these places being given permanent spots in public memory. The Shopian rape and murder case of 2009, the Bhopal gas tragedy and the more recent firing in Keran sector are just a few more examples which can be added to the list. For everyone who says the media never steps out of the Capital, they do – and their urge to report from ground zero has resulted in a number of lesser known places gaining the same infamy as the international media granted to the Moors or to Ayer’s Rock. A fact which was predicted by our own seer from Bollywood in 2010. Take a look.