We Indians have learnt to forget real miseries in our lives but are over reactive on hypothetical issues. Remember some of the recent controversies. Be it the debate over existence of Rama, debate over 123 nuclear deal, rocketing share market, or some older issues like Adavani's remarks over Jinnah, Shankaracharya's prosecution, etc, all are the controversies made out from trivial issues; mundane issues blown out of proportion. While the real issues are hardly discussed; e.g. farmer suicides, rapes in Delhi, mob justice, corruption in judiciary, perils of political alliances and misuse of governors by centre. In fact, there are some journo who have made a brand of themselves by highlighting such issues which are left in the dark by the mainline media; but they are few. The lures of coming back in the main stream are strong; justifications of being politically correct are many.
Everyone loves conspiracies. So came the scoops and "caught on camera" scandals. Each TV news channel was put on the field with hidden cameras and team of sacrifices; casting couch was the buzz word then. We laughed at Shakti Kapoor's perversions; some felt sorry for him, some enjoyed. Everyone was happy, the viewers, the journo, the TV anchors, the editors; except the humans inside the celebrities. We also witnessed the (self proclaimed) breaking news oftener than ever! Even the terrorists became media savvy and started bringing themselves to news studios to surrender, with clean suits and just-made beards.
Also came the highly self-celebrated attempt of media to show off themselves as saviour of civil rights. Everything was fine, but one incident shook my faith. Somewhere in Punjab, women activists were carrying out protests. The police came to disperse them. And police are generally male, we all know. Four policemen reached out to two girls and in the name of escorting them out, one policeman inserted his hand inside the shirt of one of the girl. The two girls cried and wept. Now, the TOI cameraman snapped a great picture; the next day paper came out with the picture and a great story. The irony; the picture clearly showed the faces of the two horrified girls, but the turban-sporting policeman's face was hidden. TOI followed up the case for some days, and informed that a case has been registered against the molesting policemen. And then, everything became normal. The paper had hotter issues to discuss. I kept waiting for a follow-up, but the day never came. Every time I remember that incident, and I feel the same anger and hatred equally at the corrupt police and the corrupt media men.
Our media keeps discovering that Indians adore celebrities. See the manner in which Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's visit to India, or the marriage of Abhishek and Aishwarya was covered by the media. It also brings some glamour back to the media men; they get to discuss Angelina's T-shirts and AB's sideburns.
Now we are witnessing a new trend: media won't cover unattractive news, no matter how grave are the consequences. And government makes sure that it makes its wrong doings unattractive enough; let the conspirators starve… The term "murder of democracy" has lost its charm a long ago. When governors act as puppets and everything starts being dictated by "the" family, no one raises a brow. Our media hardly debated, forget protesting, the way Goa state government was thrown out. Many issues are branded humdrums and reduced to three liners on the 28th page.
But one clan seem to enjoy it all: the advocates and the judiciary. Public hate politicians like plague, and the administrative machinery have long ago lost trust. Therefore, all eyes look up to the judiciary only hope of justice! And they seem to enjoy the limelight. I hope you read about the manner in which the Mid Day journo was punished. And the way SC still doesn't agree to bring in checks and balances within the judiciary. An overall fallout, finally.
Another trend: virtual world is becoming a reality. There is a completely new world out there. They challenge the unchallenged. They are over reactive on the issues which deserve the treatment. They prosecute the culpable everyday, in their writings. They debate, argue, throw out, tell stories, sing, groan, console, boost, or spread the word. They are "Citizen Journalists". And hence I say:
Silence of the lambs is challenged
on the
blogosphere.
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