Sometime last week, my facebook status was about how the Indian media thrives on the constant Hindu Vs Muslim angle. A day after the Ayodhya Verdict, a leading newspaper’s headlines were “Two parts to Hindus, One to Muslims”. Reading that boiled my blood. These are people with the best of qualifications and degrees, from the best institutions in the world, with decades of experience in this industry, but they sincerely lack basic common sense. The simple things we are taught back in school. Things like being polite and courteous, saying the right things at the right times, expressing only how much is required. Nope, doesn’t work that way for the Indians! They believe in “Sansani Khez khulaasey!”. Oh yeah! Things as hard hitting as the headlines mentioned above. Its like lighting a cracker slyly and then standing in the corner watching how people react from the sidelines. It’s that sick cheap trick they play. And all that for what? For that one exclusive piece of crap that’ll no longer be their exclusive twenty minutes later!
Last week I was watching an update on the CWG, when a reporter asked this panelist, “Do you think the media is ‘sensationalizing’ all this too much?”
You know what I think? I think these media people live in a world of their own. A world in which they make themselves believe that they’re doing a noble thing by ‘reporting’ real time information to the world – making the masses aware. They feel they’re doing the ‘right’ thing, a service to India. I think they need a reality check big time! They need to look into themselves and ask themselves if they’re actually doing justice to the power they posses – the power of the media. Are they really focusing on the right things? Or are they just contributing to the crap from under the table and making it look all rosy from the top! It’s all a bloody game of TRPs. These shallow thick-headed heartless maniacs.
I watched Peepli Live again recently. And sadly, it is true, that finding Natha meant more to those reporters than that farmer who was found dead in the hole!
Mind you, I am not against the profession. I have a few very close friends who are journalists – and great ones at that. All I’m saying is, these media houses are so busy competing against each other, that they forget their real reason of being in existence. What matters is not the issues at hand, the crude reality the world needs to know. What is important to them is who gets a ‘bite’ first!
I’m sorry to be sounding so harsh, to the point of being rude. I know I might upset more than a few people with this piece. But you know what? I write and it frees me – in every sense of the word. Writing is an outlet of all my emotions – from joy to frustration. And to see these people kill the power of words – kills me from within.
And this, my friends, is what saddens me.
No comments:
Post a Comment