These days I’m extremely pissed with the attitude of Indian press in general and news channels in particular. Their capitalistic tendencies are on a roll and moral responsibilities are going down the drain. The urge to be different and fast is so high that sometimes that at times facts are deformed and truth is compromised. The condition so arrived is due to moronic internal competition between media. Every senseless piece of news is covered by every channel and no one has any resources and means to find out the reliability and authenticity of it.

The competition is so huge between them that they will not hesitate even for a moment to pull a live-wire, not giving a damn about the emotions and sentiments attached with it. The sensitivity of any issue is cashed to attract more viewership and rules are bend to spice up the story.

They say, people are more aware these days because all these news channels. And it’s due to channels like these; people who are looking for instant fame do not mind doing something otherwise stupid. Public here is idiot and jobless, and certainly not shy of wasting time on streets holding placards saying “hai hai” and murdabaad”. Rationality is alien to them.

And a lot of times I feel that most of these processions and burning effigies by mob, is more of a drama in front of lens where everything from script to screenplay to sets are provided by these TRP pimps. Because my senses do not allow me to chew the fact that people enraged by dismal performances of Indian cricket team or Rakhi Sawant kiss while taking out procession will be intimidated by the fact that they are on TV and so they’ll put their laughing face forward. Yes, I have seen people in mob laughing and getting thrilled to be on TV. But then that’s my view.

1) Prince scenario: about a year back, this little kid named prince fell into a dig hole near Ghaziabad. Now instantly it became“breaking news” for the entire media industry and in a flash that whole place was packed millions of cameras and reporters. Almost every thing was given a major hype and the kid was already a national hero, even before he came out of the pit. And since then I have seen more than ten similar instances in different part of the country. Are kids in this country all of a sudden become so self-involved that they have stopped seeing the pits on the street? Or is it a shortcut to instant stardom to a lot people? May be it is!!

2) Cricket Reviews: zee news takes the crown in worst review. I believe my knowledge in cricket is damn good and I can analyze the game. It just takes one match to monkey flip the image of the entire cricket team. Being hero to zero is matter of just eight hours. All the comments on TV seem to be rigged and highly manipulated. And if sometimes some sense is being talked, they will do their best to go off air with some ad and eventually put “breaking news” forward. This is one conversation I saw on Headlines Today with Kapil Dev about retirement of Sachin.

Rep: Kapil da, don’t you think Sachin is performing exceptionally bad in recent times and it is high time that he should pack his bags.
Kapil: Sachin is the greatest player this country has ever produced and I feel, better than you and me he knows his game. And he certainly is not the kind of player who will put his personal interests above team’s interest. So I feel it is best for him to decide whether he should or should not retire. If he feels he is not good anymore then he will voluntarily take retirement.
Rep: So you agree that even Sachin knows that is not good any more and he should take retirement.
Kapil: no, that’s not what I said. I said if he feels….
Rep: So now you guys have seen even legendary Kapil Dev thinks Sachin should retire.
Kapil: you are getting it all wrong…..
Rep: We will continue this discussion with Kapil Dev after the break. Please do not touch the remote.

And in split second, in font size 24, appears “Breaking News: Kapil thinks Sachin should retire.”

3) Shilpa – Gere Kiss: This is the latest one. In an AIDS awareness program for the truck drivers, organizers were cashing the new found global fame of Shilpa Shetty and Richard Gere, whose love for India is pretty well-known. Now Shilpa gave a beautiful introduction of Richard and overwhelmed (I’m not sure what took him overboard, either looks of her or the introduction) Mr. Gere expressed his gratitude with a bit excess of PDA. Now people were stunned and so was Shilpa, but she made it clear that she was neither offended not appalled. Even her mom was ok.

But this little mis-adventure was a hot story for the Indian media and they were moved by their love for Indian culture and how a “firang” is flirting with it. Images were shown on all the news channels as “breaking news” and all the “vella junta” in the country was given a reason to take another procession. Entire country was opposing the “move” of Mr. Gere, so said the news channel. They say, he has no right to misbehave and un-dignify an Indian actress and he should apologize pronto.

What I fail to understand is why are these news channels are trying to be the keeper of Indian culture. I’m sure that Shilpa is mature enough to know how to maintain her dignity and with the type of publicity she is getting these days throughout, she would be well aware of the image she is projecting. Media is trying to make a fool out of themselves, and certainly portraying as a stupid bunch of dorks trying to raise TRP by making an entire half an hour of program on this shit.

4) DPS mms: This incident takes the last piece of the brownie. This is the height of irresponsibility and utter non-sense. I guess everyone know about the incident. Two kids of RK-puram were having “fun” and the guy made a video clip of it on his cell. And in sometime this clip was floating on the internet and was one of most searched voyeur clip globally.

Eventually media came to know about it and suddenly it was the hottest topic and of course “breaking news”. People were infuriated and parents worried. But that’s not the point. The point here is crassness of the media. By the time news leaked to all these channels, the clip was seen by a lot of people, but it still was less than 0.01% of Indian population (I guess). Now these intellectually challenged news channels and their “country-should-know” philosophy compelled them to show the entire clip on TV, saying that this is what was in the clip (they blurred the images of course). So what was seen by a minority is now seen by the entire nation.

I really was pissed with this bullshit. Height of stupidity. I really can’t understand what they have achieved out of this, except for sensationalizing the issue. But they made the life of that girl and that guy living hell.

But whatever, media is eating up the democracy. In wake of fundamental rights they are mocking the entire system. Sometimes I feel these people do not deserve to have freedom of speech, and it should be revoked until they get some sense. Such an irresponsible media should be banned forever. If not a ban, some filter has to be installed or sense has to be instilled.

Labels: Bitching, Sentiments, Wandering Thoughts