Media mania

With the advent of satellite communication and wider reach of TV attributed both to falling prices and rising income, no of news channels has increased manifolds in India.

Gone are the days when one had to wait to watch Mrinal Pandey reading news in Hindi at 8.30 pm on Doordarshan. Now all one needs to do is to switch on the TV set and some or the other “Breaking News” is flashing on.

Is it really for the good? Part of it, yes. The sting operations, the real time images, better quality, increased coverage, more opinions and the right to exercise a choice. But piggy back on all this is what is dished out to us, branded as INFOTAINMENT.

We have seen Amir Khan on prime time talking about his epic Mangal Pandey( was that!) when more important issues must have been given airtime, and the blood shown live when a minister was shot at in Bihar. It leaves me a bit puzzled as what is NEWS?

I saw a news piece on a prominent Hindi news channel about a reincarnation of a child, and that went on and on. I find both, the blood on the stage being shown as it was, and the story trying to show what there was not, equally appalling.

What have we done to deserve that is a question that needs to be answered. In the age where consumer is god, we are shown what we want. We have been indifferent towards these bigger issues for a long time and now that they have gone out of control we stand up and say we deserve better. Think again.

News is much more than facts and figures, images and interviews. Media has the responsibility of showing things in perspective, but in the times when TRP ratings decide what and how things are shown then their impact they can have, the fourth pillar of democracy have succumbed.

We are being materialistic in our attitude, and media has sensed it well. They tell what we want to hear, not what we should be hearing. After all, they are a part of society where being informed is a status symbol. We might feel sick in our stomach to hear it but it sells, and they are selling it well.

The worst part of it all is that this is here to stay. But like all natural cycles, after a boom there is a recession, and like the keen stock broker, one might have to wait for the bust to pick the best. It might take some time, but I believe that it will come. The sooner the better.