While the media demands special privileges because they claim that the press is the fourth pillar of Indian democracy and serves a national purpose, the sad reality, especially over the last two decades is, social conscience and pursuit of public good have been replaced by total commercialization of media. “As Rekha takes oath, the camera kept focussing on Jaya Bachchan’s priceless expressions”... Thus went the first few lines of articles on the first pages of all national dailies the day after Rekha took her oath in Rajya Sabha, and that is exactly what TV channels had done the day before! Add to that the shameless gossip about Amitabh and Rekha.What national purpose does this story serve? And that too as headlines in the front pages of respectable dailies? Or even as the key stories of TV channels? Yes, Rekha is a big star, and her swearing in makes news. But is this the way to cover the event? Aren’t there enough Bollywood shows on TV and entertainment pages in newspapers where such news could have been easily showcased? For that matter, a few days before this incident, the biggest stories were to do with the ‘hurt’ of our so called respectable MPs due to some cartoons in NCERT textbooks. Or for that matter the front page outcry over SRK’s detention in the US airport or Salman Rushdie not being allowed to attend the Jaipur Literature Festival or whom Oprah Winfrey met during her India visit or Robert Vadra saying he wants to join politics or the entire Sunny Leone saga or the scores of lines on who killed Aarushi Talwar or the two kids taken away by welfare authorities in Norway or for that matter even the entire big deal made out of Rahul Gandhi’s UP campaign!
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Posted By: Shyam Bhandari | Kathmandu, Nepal | May 25th 2012 | 11:05 True, and it is true for the media in Nepal, in Pakistan, in Sri Lanka, in America...perhaps the idea of sensationalism has gripped the whole mankind and we need to get out of this mindset asap so that we can focus on issues that really matter to the society.
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Posted By: Anil | Mumbai | May 21st 2012 | 18:05 Very well said. A very appropriate showcasing of the media weakness. Some one said 'true' but what we can do. The media focuses on what it thinks interests the public. Such article and others will be a good feedback for course correction to the Media.
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Posted By: Narendra Parundiya | Mandsaur, MP | May 21st 2012 | 17:05 Today Indian media is busy in highlighting only those cases where they can earn high TRPs. They had no means of serving the nation. They show the news & photos of celebrities by making them more spicy but they don't concentrate on the bad condition of farmers, dalits & poor people. Fresh example was yesterday when Maneka Gandhi fell down while entering into Parliament, one of the Hindi newspapers showed the three different photos of her. But other side if a person or a soldier dies then they don't show even on the last page because they dont find such type of cases help in increasing their TRPs.
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Posted By: Swarup Kumar Basuri | Bangalore | May 18th 2012 | 16:05 Great article, but the problem is that no one care about this. For me now media is the biggest threat to our country running behind some shameless story but again what to do. They are only concerned about earning money by showing some crap news but the real question is whom to blame. The general public who watches those programs is left with no other choice.
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Posted By: Sanjay Negi | Gurgaon | May 18th 2012 | 11:05 Media will do whatever gets them TRPs and what is wrong with that. It is far better than Doordarshan running on public money running surrogate advertisement programs masquerading as news for the ruling party 24X7. I for one would prefer self financed titillation any day to public funded surrogate advertisement. If Indian media feels that their markets are voyeuristic and designs its product offering accordingly, so be it as long as laws are not being flouted. Media reflects society and there is no point blaming society unless we wish to relapse into a moralizing autarchy. Let us not forget, we as a society are a few centuries behind the west in our value systems and no amount of pretensions will obviate that. If we put controls on the media as most politicians are itching to do all the time, we will quickly destroy all the small islands of free thought that exist in small pockets of society. So I would strongly urge opinion leaders to handle media freedom with kids gloves as there are wolves waiting on the sidelines looking for any excuse that will help them clamp down on freedom of expression. I would prefer to see film stars on the news channels any day.
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Posted By: pushpa chauhan | New delhi | May 18th 2012 | 11:05 By the commercialization of media,the media has forgotten their genuine duty towards the nation. I hope it will take some lesson from this article.
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Posted By: Shalini nair | Chandigarh | May 18th 2012 | 10:05 I totally agree that our media has fallen to an all time low as far as gossip mongering is concerned. Watch any talk show shown on news channel, and you can see that the selection of panelists is totally skewed to adhere to the channel's view point. Also any news coverage is selective and not complete.
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