Very frankly, in one sentence, the indian media is one of the most corrupt and irresponsible organisations in the already very corrupt framework of our country; that relishes on funds form politicians; has an extreme obsession with romanticising and talking about local murders and thefts; calling religious pundits to perform rituals on various occassions; discussing average everyday saas-bahu sagas; loves people who disrepute the media and even those who praise it because in the end, the viewers dont really mind a few opinions, and finally represents the pseudo-secularist cosmos that stems form governmental policies that ofocurse fund them to brainwash our minds.
Or in precise words of my alter ego... a fucking pain in the ass.
Take for instance, the recent issue of one Mrs. Sunita Williams, an American astronaut of Indian origin, an American thoroughbred with an Indian father and a Slovakian mother. The media has been going bonkers over her arrival back to earth, citing her as the Indian pride, calling pundits to do puja for her safe arrival, such a farce. All this, to make some viewing time, and disregarding the fact that it is undoubtedly wrong to make India take credits for she has done when she hasnt even smelt this Indian earth. Kalpana Chawla, was truely a product of India, and made us proud.
Also, this media runs along the lines of our government that has taken an unprecedented taste for the old English ways of divide and rule to keep the vote bank. This nation is burning in caste issues. Not only that, there is a pseudo-secularist angle to this formula. Anything said in favour of a Hindu that is the majority of the population is being communalist, and that said to support a minority is precisely termed secular. Politicians asking for muslim vote is not an issue. But, if they even dare to ask for Hindu vote, its an act that defies the secular nature of the country; pseudo -secularism at its best.
Comments welcome, thats all for now.
12 comments:
Hmm okay, so you wanted me to comment. Lets see.
I have no problem with religious pundits doing what they want to. I understand thats a prayer service for the astronauts.
I have a serious objection to the media hype however (I think TOI carried out a survey about this recently). First of all, as you have pointed out, we should get rid of this kiddish obsession that people with Indian sounding names have a direct Indian connection. In this case, I do not see any real reason to shout out "astronaut of Indian origin". We are being thoroughly idiotic in proclaiming this. There is no "Indian origin". Hell, we're probably descendants of the Aryans or the Indus valley folks (or whatever else was taught to you in middle school). We're really being very immature.
Thirdly, I think its the Media who have to grow up. Some Hindi channels suck bigtime. I have seen stuff like "Crime news sponsored by ____ Paints" or even better "Murder news brought to you by ______". It is so kiddish. In fact, they are just sensation mongers. They have nothing else to do but lure people to watch their silly news, which often has nothing to do with the bigger picture.
But thats just how are mate. You can only smile and have the last laugh too ;-)
lol... agreed... we even have a news show called Breaking News ( its a common affair apparently). Another thing, this is not just limited to the Hindi news channels, its very much a property of the English news channels too...
Yeah and one of the Hindi news channels called Star News has a show called Sansani (Hindi for sensation), where some bloke with really long hair comes and shouts about crimes while taking calculated paces from left to right and then from right to left. This follows until his neck gets sufficiently sprained and then "...vaapis aayenge is shadyantra ke peeche, lekin ek break ke baad".
Pathetic, but typical.
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So you think that the Indian Media sucks.
Do you have any idea about the immense about of pressure that the media exists and functions in? LOADS. Ours is the 'do you know whom you are talking to?' kind of a country. Every second person is related to some MLA, some SHO or some bloody IAS officer. You can't talk against any body.
Yes, there are funny stories everywhere. But try running a news channel 24*7. You can't keep showing serious, human interest stories all the time. People are not THA Tnice. They will get bored. They won't want to watch more such stuff. Imagine a channel like that. They'll have to close down in less than a week. (!)
Do you have any idea that the biggest of stories and new itmes are NOT allowed to be published/telecasted? Most of the serious and vital sting operations are bought off mid way.
And you guys have easily forgetten a thing called 'judicial activism' that the media has recently helped to bring to our country.
Agreed, there are flaws. There are crappy (SERIOUSLY CRAPPY) shows on television. But temme, aren't there always two sides of a coin. If you choose to see the bad one, it's not really our fault.
If there is Sansani and Breaking news (?)
Believe me, nothing can survive till it finds an audience for itself. There are people who watch it. Demand leads to supply.
Advice:
Watch better channels. Read better Newspapers.
You can't ignore the good stuff just becasue bad exists.
P.S: If Sunita Williams is hyped, well so is Football and Rock!
hmmh.. Neha, u might be correct regarding some of the issues regarding the "pressure". I agree with that. But more than that, imagine a documentary coming on Star News dealing with illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and their struggles.. atleast something other than local murders... surely Indian media could work on that..?
and ur demand vs. supply thingy is spot on... ppl do love this stuff... maybe they could use some better television, and will also change their perspeactives in life... media is a big influence.. u said it yourself.
Star News and The Times of India are the MOSt popular of News Media.
It's a different story all together, that from the journalistic point of view, they are the WORST!
Kartiek, a common Indian person is intellectually average. He/ She doesn't really care about the world.
Try reading The Hindu, The Asian Age, The Tribune.
As for the docuentaries you mention... It's only the active citizens who demand such stuff. Even the educated classes are least bothered.
I wanted to add something to my previous comment. Richard Gere on Koffee with Karan : "India's uniqueness lies in the amount of freedom it gives to it's citizens."
Believe me, our press let's people talk a lot. They let them speak their mind. That is what the average Indian mind understands.
Duh, what did I miss [:D]
It is quite true sometimes media talks a lot and covers useless stuff like Page3 parties.You cant blame media for any communal comment.All they want is TRPs and revenue.Try to see it as a business and industry.As well as pressure from government and influential is concerned it can be seen everywhere from civil services to schools.
I have enjoyed reading your views on media and the views of your friends too.Its good to note the Indian youth wants to see our nation do well in all fields and feels disheartened by corruption in the Indian way of life.If each one of you refrains from doing what you dislike in the present system and strive to be good upright citizens then i feel the future of our nation is in secure hands.absorb the good and positive things from from you experiences & surroundings and delete the negatives.Our media is still growing and will take a long time before it matures and developed refinement in its reporting.But you guys must send your views on what you like and dislike about them only then the change will come.Nita
This is a known fact that a product is only sucessful when it is liked by genral public not by a niche as it is not a luxury
Similar stagegy is used by so called our active media to get revenuesometimes even creating false news and spreading rumours.Thats why TOI and HT are on TOP because thats for common man and so called Asian,Hindu and the Tribune too serious for genral public so there popularity is less.
Catching eye of the genral public watches news is necessary only then we would have a Oprah Winfrey in Indian media.
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