(An Opinion on Media Propagation and Prejudice)
By- Diksha Grover
When the nature calls and what you have in your hand is a newspaper, you use it either for your education or for wiping. However, when Rakhi Sawant Showz on Zoom flash their way into supplements, you clearly know which paper will serve you with what. But if you are stung with an operation, you will have the blame game to play- “What can we do? This is what they write!” And ‘they’ on the other hand say “This is what sells!” Unfortunately this helps neither of the two. It is simply like a chocolate wrapped in the yellow foiled news and served to be eaten fresh and frozen!
Coming back to theories, when I see that the world is flat, I also see that it is not the same. And so, journalism too takes up various forms. To exemplify- The Indian media became ‘cultural’ when Richard Gere kissed Shilpa Shetty, the media became ‘judgmental’ when it came to Hemraj or The Talwars, the media became ‘developmental’ during Tsumani etc. Here, my point is not what the media does, but how is does and what does it inject.
The time when one of the worst communal riots was raging in the Old city of Hyderabad, there was footage of the present MIM MP Asaduddin Owaisi being taken to a secluded place by the Police and roughed up mercilessly with the MP screaming for help and writhing in excruciating pain. It was a deliberate decision not to telecast this footage. But hold on, maybe tehelka has a similar story for its latest issue- The story of Dr. Binayak Sen from Raipur, Chattisgarh. Sen, who has been languishing in jails since May 2007 after being repeatedly denied bail from courts all the way up to the Supreme Court on charges of aiding Maoist Terrorists. But here again, when both stories focus on denied democracy and fundamental rights, why does Price in the pit and the leopard who ate the man become bigger and broader issues? At this juncture should I favor commercialism or should I agree with the Arabs to curb satellite news television?
TOI,Ahmedabad was most enjoyable to read for the last couple of days. It was alleged to unnecessarily tune the connection between the newly appointed Police Commissioner and Dawood. And the paper’s SMS campaign took the so called action beyond the realm of straight, investigative journalism into unwarranted activism. Also, isn’t it surprising to see that Mayawati does not waste much time personally on the media. She does not give interviews, never attends too many press conferences. But her bureaucrats make sure that the media falls in line if they show signs of getting too critical of the state government or the chief minister. Though Lucknow has six major dailies coming out of there, with Amar Ujala also set to launch soon, the Hindustan Times too has almost bowed to government pressure. In both the cases what is media really doing? Though both the examples contradict the freedom of the Indian media, the role is still the same- to sell ads to the masses.
When Star Voice Of India becomes a part of “The breaking news” channel, there is only one thing to break- the television set. Apart from ‘covering’ competitions like these, there are soaps and comedy serials that are ‘covered’. Ethics of reality shows also take a front foot forward when a breaking news has to be broken. Bias toward infotainment? “No, well, still it’s selling!”
Diplomacy is a tradition in the Indian blood. In the last week, there has been speculation over an alleged ‘sting’ operation conducted by CNN-IBN to expose allegations of bribery in the run-up to the trust vote in Parliament. The Hoot had reported a conjecture that one reason the channel did not telecast the tapes is because Anil Ambani who held a stake in the parent company through one of his mutual funds had put pressure on the owners of Network 18. While Noam Chomsky again wins the argument here about the bewildered herd, the specialized class and the Agenda setters; my problem is if we are so capitalist, why behave like socialist in our approach? Ohhh…or maybe that is why we are the mixed economy, for it is a convenient lie and an inconvenient truth.
But it’s not like there are no solutions. And it’s not like these are problems. The problems are the perceptions. When words like ‘moral’ and ‘ethical’ exist in the dictionary, I do not doubt that there should be reasons to apply them as well. Maybe a journalist’s stamp is always subjective in a story and can never be objective, but it does not mean that both the sides cannot be expressed. We study and get educated to become humans from species and not the other way around. Media’s activism lies not just in the photograph and in the pen but also in the mind. When the fourth pillar of the constitution is media, then why to play a bigger and better role in elitism? Why not in development and upliftment? Why does every news need to be bad in nature to be ‘good news’? It’s not like I’m talking revolutions and evolutions, to quote some examples- radio stations are trying to combat AIDS through commercial ads and programmes, stings are used to revisit some truths in the Radhabhai Chawl case, spreading awareness through literacy programmes an initiative taken by TOI etc . With power comes a great responsibility, with responsibility comes unity and with unity a nation tied together.
“I took the road less travelled by,
And that made all the difference…”
-Robert Frost (The Road Not Taken )
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Written for Communique 2008-2009
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