Media is what?

- Priyanko Sarkar http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-XSqm3q0_dPf22BD4358GIKI-?cq=1&p=292 Media at its childish peak!! I wonder what has happened to our media these days. Either they don’t seem to find “news” or perhaps they think “tabloid” culture is more important than serious journalism. Today there was a news on IBN 7 showing footage of a girl hugging apna cricket star Mahendra Singh Dhoni. A channel like IBN 7, I thought would cover serious issues that we face in our country and not crazy fan tales. I mean CMON…….IS THAT A NEWS?? Now the channel would defend themselves by saying that they do show such news coz people want to see such sensational stuff. I would suggest them to make a different beat or timeslot to cover such news in a crispy and short way rather than showing their same footage again and again for hours. I wonder if they are running out of news items. WELL this is not the first time any channel has behaved in such a way. Recently our “Big Brother” winner Shilpa Shetty was targeted without reason. The whole Shilpa-Richard act caused rage among the public coz media covered it and showed it on their respective channels for almost a day or perhaps two. I think it is just cultural difference. PDA is quite common and acceptable in western countries. (Well….Richard bhaiyya should have known that “our” media just needs something spicy to make a news out of). PITY PITY… I agree that we Indians are not ready for public display, but harassing common man is something that’s getting too much. Political parties that portray themselves as the savers of Indian culture are simply Hippocratic. Vulgarity and cheapness are few terms that mean different for different people. There is no specific definition to it. Some things can be considered as cheap or vulgar by some people whereas others may think it is perfectly fine. Dumbness reached its peak when a magistrate from Jaipur filed a case against Richard. I hope our media will mature soon and educate people by showing “NEWS” and not stupid tales. Why cant they cover serious issues like Global Warming, Energy conservation etc and educate people GOD SAVE US FROM SUCH PATHETIC JOURNSLISM!! MY RESPONSE - 1) I agree with you on most issues you've diligently filed here. Being a journalist of some note (Amrita Arora's words, not mine) I think you failed to recognise the "commercial" aspect of news .. news has to covered but in a country of rapidly shrinking democracy .. it gets increasingly difficult to bring hard news. The print media (Indian Express and to some extent The Hindu) are still doing the best they can to stand as the fourth estate of the nation, but its going to be difficult to maintain it .. 2) You must also note the efficient handling of cases which would have got buried if the media had not taken it up .. not just jessica lal or manjunath .. even recent cases like alistair pereira and vanzara .. our judiciary seems hell bent on entertaining cases like gere-shetty than these heinous criminal cases .. its not all media's fault then, is it? 3) 24 hr "news" is a hoax .. even bbc admits it .. you cant hv news everyday which leads to trivial issues becoming newsy .. and it has to be done .. the channel bosses need the revenue now, dont they? ... and dont forget .. sometimes trivial issues tend to make great differences in people's life .. like prince who's getting free education thanks to a news channel! 4) The world over .. paparazzi journalism has taken over .. esp in the West .. you should be thankful we havent reached those pitiful levels yet .. although paparazzi is coming to town .. the recent launch of Hello magazine (covering the Liz-Nayyar wedding with 1$ mn rights) and the Abhi-Ash wedding are proofs of this culture .. 5) And lastly, journalists know they're dishing out trash most of the times .. but they're not in a position to "educate" that average middle-class person watching him .. it wouldnt make much sense .. there is a quick saturation point for hard news like rape.. murder .. unethical businesess..fake encounters .. etc etc. .. so he simply "entertains" him .. so that he feels better about his life ..I hope i dont stoop to such levels but if my boss tells me to cover the mad dhoni fan, i dont think i'd have a choice now, would i?