Friday, April 08, 2011

Letter to the Indian media


Dear Indian media,

I woke up today morning,got the newspaper and a full page advert of the Indian Premier League jumped out at me.The front page converted to a full page advert.This was the case with both the newspapers I read.Same thing happened when I open the TV.Regarding this I have some points for not just the print media but the entire Indian media.

I am not a politically inclined person.I keep track of the  political happenings of the country but I am not much interested in politics.However as living in this country you can’t help knowing some things like India winning the cricket World Cup or an Aamir Khan movie is releasing,Similarly you can’t help knowing about certain things-Like the IPL scam,the Adarsh society scam.Like the 2G scam.Like all the other scams.So I happen to know as any ordinary Indian would that there is something wrong.There is corruption in this country.Now that we have established the fact that corruption does exist,We come to our next point-Anna Hazare.I happened to hear that a man called Anna Hazare has started a fast-unto-death protest against corruption.I came to know from a Facebook note even more about this man and this bill he is proposing.And even to a non-political person like me it seemed to be a very important news story.Much much more important than the Indian Premier League-which is no doubt a showcase event for the country but in all fairness that’s what the sports pages at the end are for.So I want to make certain points.

1)What made you think that the IPL’s advert is more important than not alone the Anna Hazare story but than any other story happening in the country.Can you explain?

2)There has been a tendency to highlight even the most trivial issues related to showbiz and cricket.Like how a certain model promises to bare all if the team wins the cricket world cup.Like how  a starlet experienced a wardrobe malfunction,like how an Indian cricketer may get married,like how a certain actor is experiencing bad luck due to the stars.WHY ARE YOU SELLING NEWS AND NOT REPORTING IT?

3)I notice certain news channels-in fact almost all-try to portray certain political parties in a good light.All the while either taking potshots at the other party if not directly blaming them for so and so incident.Why is that?WHY ARE YOU ACTING LIKE SPIN DOCTORS?

You may think that since the TRPs keep coming the so the viewers must really like it,but you have no idea.Certain late night news channel anchors have become a mockery on certain social networking sites.Certain regional language news channels are the butt of jokes.That’s what you guys are turning yourselves into.A circus.Of course there are exceptions but they are far and few.If people watch news now that’s  because it amuses them.The same way they love watching TV soaps and Reality shows.Speaking of which some of you actually have programmes to analyze the happenings of the teleserials and bring people the latest inside scoop.You are putting the idiot in the idiot box have no illusions about that.Maybe it’s high time you should stop worrying about earning TRPs and sponsorship money and started worrying about earning respect.

Yours truly,
An annoyed ordinary Indian.

6 comments:

mrinal dutta said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
mrinal dutta said...

very well put!! these are the reason why netizens like us don't give a shit to popular media like TV or newspapers(specially indian ones)!! but 99% people do take them seriously and take their word as gold..indian media should act more reasonably otherwise they will lose whatever faith socially aware people have left in them !!

Samadrita said...

Ah the media and their principles have gone down the drains. Journalism is extinct. News is only about cooking up wild stories now, selling advertisements and basically being lame. If only these channels and papers would read letters like yours and see some sense.

KarunaP said...

Television is not the truth. Television is a goddamned amusement park.-Howard Beale

Anish said...

@mrinal and samadrita-I'm glad you concur too.

@karuna-where have you been?Long time no see!!

Santanu said...

Awesome awesome awesome... You may consider sending it to the 3 biggies < The Telegraph, The Times of India and the Statesman. Seriously.