Media matters? By Sharada Balasubramanian, Chennai, India
My blood boils when I look at the news channel everyday. Working for the news desk, I have to keep watching these channels to look for news with a “human” angle but I am deceived every time I watch the news. It is either Shahrukh Khan or Dard-e-disco, MTV style awards or Chiranjeevi’s daughter eloping with her boyfriend and secretly getting married. Most of the news has lost the news angle itself! Shame on the Indian Television media.
On talk shows, I see shows on Chiranjeevi’s daughter’s eloping. What do we gain on discussing some celebrity’s personal life? How is it benefiting the nation? The concept of breaking news has vanished, changed, trampled over the years. The time when Indira Gandhi would announce emergency is a breaking news. The assassination of the late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi is a breaking news. But, today, an actor signing in a movie is a breaking news, a child stuck in a pothole for hours together is a breaking news and journalists as if they have no other business keep following that story till the boy is rescued.
Where there are 13 journalists to cover Lakme India fashion Week, there are no reporters to cover famine in rural areas. Journalism has gone to rots! The whole idea of media ethics, law almost seems non-existent these days.
India is a place where issues happen, in the traditional sectors, which almost remain untouched by today’s media. Social issues, environmental issues and developmental journalism is nowhere seen. These issues are barely covered. It is time we grow mature and do something about this!
I have time and again wondered why we watch these rotten news
See how poor Dhoni and Deepika cant be left alone? Its almost as if Padukone himself is less bothered....I just switch off when these items come on, and go and read the newspaper...Well said Shar!
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they will make them get married if they have their way --- hahahha
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I almost wish Sanjay Dutt had been acquitted, the way each of his odysseys through various courts is covered by the media...I hope the channels take note that people do switch off when they reach the saturation point wrt a new item
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You've raised a very pertinent matter. Yes, I too get mad when I see how TV channels dish out only sensationalist news.
I recall the fax I'd rcd from a pvt broadacster when I was handling broadcast news clips section way back, it said "don't give us dull stuff like 'pet library', give us current news...something sensational that will increase TRP ratings."
That says it all I guess. TV channels pick up one such current news item(= juicy news)and will keep telecasting the same for days, blanking out all other news. They should go by some code, as print media - as in allotment of space(time) for segments.
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yeah sangeeta, its really horrible these days..a media analyst said, we cover fashion news where in India evenless than 1% of people can actually afford to wear such clothes..so r we targeting the masses at large using media? the whole perception is becoming a disgrace!
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It is so funny really, or shud I say pathetic, while Indian media gives so much space to fashion & Holly-Bollywood celebrities .... Foreign media concentrates upon female foeticide, child marriages or the latest, 'the big indian wedding' ... as tho this is all we have to represent in India!
As u say, "the whole perception is becoming a disgrace!"
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Well put Sharada!
Everything is sensationalized. We are a stage when social and environmental issues need not only to be highlighted but also discussed in depth. Some solutions and ideas can emerge from here. Stupid arguments that go on with the participants engaging in one upmanship are a poor means of tackling the issue.
There are many good things happening in our country which need to be highlighted besides scams and crime. Health (preventive) should also be given due space.
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Very relevant, especially in the context of what a news channel was gloating over today-how the Bachchans went to the airport to receive their "bahu," back from a Hollywood stint. What is news about it when half the country is up in arms over the Tehelka sting about Gujrat? There is no substance left to the hunt for TRP ratings. Does the public really want or watch all this crap?
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Hi Sharada,
That's a very well-written blog! I've been into journalism for 2 years or something. It's absolutely true that these days events are reported in the order of sensationalism they can fetch. The moment a particular story loses its spice, it suddenly vanishes. Remember Janhnavi Kapoor who created a menace during Ash-Abhi's marriage. No one knows where she is now and what eventually happened to her! Truly, journalism has also become a money-making business today, devoid of any sort of human element!
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Well said Sharada! As you have said any kind of ethical code seems to be non-existent in current day broadcasters. And how will they possibly have? Each of them are backed up by one or the other political party and work solely as a propaganda vehicle for them. Each channel will telecast biased information, justify their contention through bought-out public opinion and generally mudsling on the opponent party with the so called 'sting operations'etc. During election times one has to change from channel to channel and make one's own deductions based of the contradicting informations given by them. If not biased politics it is cheap sensational news about film personalities,sportsmen and businessmen that take the large chunk of the time slot. No one seems to be bothered about what the viewers feel or whether they watch the news at all. Sensible people can just switch off the TV. But imagine the damage these channels can do to the gullible younger generation!
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