Few days back, I happened to stumble upon a New Delhi based news channel which was covering a fatal train accident scene. The news was heart-breaking but what was more conspicuous was the reporter's continual rant about his channel being the first news channel to reach the spot and cover the story.
The newsreader sitting in the office asks: "If you believe the accident was due to the human error, sms "A", if you think the accident was due to technical failure, sms "B" to so and so number".
The media is called a fourth estate and is given unquestionable rights for bringing the news to the masses and keeping them abreast of the events and happenings. But what the intelligentsia, who wrote the constitution, didn't realize was that the very MEDIA could one day become a MAFIA.
Recounting the deadly attack on Mumbai by Kasab and co, their bosses hiding somewhere planned the whole massacre meticulously considering media's role and quite expectedly for them, media played an unpaid accomplice to their evil acts. When the security and Mumbai police tried to scatter the journalists, then started a debate on national television as whether those journalists have "rights" to cover the "event" or not. Sick.
I remember another funny incident when Arthi Agarwal got married in Hyderabad, jokers from TV9 barged into their private celebrations and when stopped by the actress' dad and brother, they were slammed an FIR and dragged behind the bars (oh yeah, on the very memorable day) and later got released on "humanitarian grounds"; and that was boasted on the TV as breaking news for the next few days.
News agencies which, during their inception, garnered popularity through their "hidden camera sting operations" started publishing the news selectively because not all sting-victims could offer lucrative packages to the big bosses of media houses, rather interesting, huh.
National, regional or vernacular print or electronic media house; politicians have friends everywhere. In some cases, owned by them too. Come election season, we can't really distinguish between a newspaper or a political party manifesto. Hawala cases, sting operations, horse trading videos would be published by one channel and the other channel vehemently tries to refute or defend the accused.
In the whole circus, viewers and readers are taken for a ride, and an optimistic lot will derive entertainment out of the nastiest, crudest and most biased news presentations too :)
Moving out the political affiliations and twisted reports, the other section of news media which is even worse is the gossip tabloid kind of sources. The only end objective would be bagging as many eye-balls as possible, even at the cost of the most insane and ambiguous headlines and the most senseless stories. For any such crude and down-market news, "great andhra", "mid day" are always there.
Movie reviewers fascinate me. Its a white secret that every well-known reviewer has his/her own set of "favorite" stars or directors and here favorite can be creatively or financially :)
There are some exclusive tv channels which take pride in being "gossip" channels. The more intelligent news channels broadcast obscene mms clips and scandals of people in compromising positions with an intent of "social welfare". And everything is strictly to present "news" to the viewers. TRPs, huh !!!!
Stupid debates, frivolous shows and stories instead of news - Thats a new era mafia, err....media. Those who watched "Rann" and "Peepli Live" would not take long to agree with me.
My brush with media:
I was professionally involved in some media related activities when I was working as a marketing face of my respective companies back home in India and here in Canada too.
Before my stint with press releases, press conferences for my companies, I assumed that the way to get into news is through excellence or success in the field. But later realized its not per sē. Excellence is good for us, not the media - This is the basic tenet I failed to grasp initially.
An industry defining alliance, debut of a new generation product, multi-million deal - nothing is a better news than a silly plagiarized and unimpressive press note which can rake in the moolah for the publication in form of cash or kind.
More diplomatic publications ask for donations or advertisements to publish our press release or arrange a press conference. If we don't oblige and if they need stories, they will publish our story and edit it to the core to make sure the gist is lost or the person who didn't succumb to their demands is eclipsed. After-all its their call :)
So next time when you watch a news channel or read a news paper, have a pinch of salt in your hands and if you want your own story to be broadcasted or published, have a fat paycheck in your hands. Know that you are dealing with MAFIA.
The newsreader sitting in the office asks: "If you believe the accident was due to the human error, sms "A", if you think the accident was due to technical failure, sms "B" to so and so number".
The media is called a fourth estate and is given unquestionable rights for bringing the news to the masses and keeping them abreast of the events and happenings. But what the intelligentsia, who wrote the constitution, didn't realize was that the very MEDIA could one day become a MAFIA.
Recounting the deadly attack on Mumbai by Kasab and co, their bosses hiding somewhere planned the whole massacre meticulously considering media's role and quite expectedly for them, media played an unpaid accomplice to their evil acts. When the security and Mumbai police tried to scatter the journalists, then started a debate on national television as whether those journalists have "rights" to cover the "event" or not. Sick.
I remember another funny incident when Arthi Agarwal got married in Hyderabad, jokers from TV9 barged into their private celebrations and when stopped by the actress' dad and brother, they were slammed an FIR and dragged behind the bars (oh yeah, on the very memorable day) and later got released on "humanitarian grounds"; and that was boasted on the TV as breaking news for the next few days.
News agencies which, during their inception, garnered popularity through their "hidden camera sting operations" started publishing the news selectively because not all sting-victims could offer lucrative packages to the big bosses of media houses, rather interesting, huh.
National, regional or vernacular print or electronic media house; politicians have friends everywhere. In some cases, owned by them too. Come election season, we can't really distinguish between a newspaper or a political party manifesto. Hawala cases, sting operations, horse trading videos would be published by one channel and the other channel vehemently tries to refute or defend the accused.
In the whole circus, viewers and readers are taken for a ride, and an optimistic lot will derive entertainment out of the nastiest, crudest and most biased news presentations too :)
Moving out the political affiliations and twisted reports, the other section of news media which is even worse is the gossip tabloid kind of sources. The only end objective would be bagging as many eye-balls as possible, even at the cost of the most insane and ambiguous headlines and the most senseless stories. For any such crude and down-market news, "great andhra", "mid day" are always there.
Movie reviewers fascinate me. Its a white secret that every well-known reviewer has his/her own set of "favorite" stars or directors and here favorite can be creatively or financially :)
There are some exclusive tv channels which take pride in being "gossip" channels. The more intelligent news channels broadcast obscene mms clips and scandals of people in compromising positions with an intent of "social welfare". And everything is strictly to present "news" to the viewers. TRPs, huh !!!!
Stupid debates, frivolous shows and stories instead of news - Thats a new era mafia, err....media. Those who watched "Rann" and "Peepli Live" would not take long to agree with me.
My brush with media:
I was professionally involved in some media related activities when I was working as a marketing face of my respective companies back home in India and here in Canada too.
Before my stint with press releases, press conferences for my companies, I assumed that the way to get into news is through excellence or success in the field. But later realized its not per sē. Excellence is good for us, not the media - This is the basic tenet I failed to grasp initially.
An industry defining alliance, debut of a new generation product, multi-million deal - nothing is a better news than a silly plagiarized and unimpressive press note which can rake in the moolah for the publication in form of cash or kind.
More diplomatic publications ask for donations or advertisements to publish our press release or arrange a press conference. If we don't oblige and if they need stories, they will publish our story and edit it to the core to make sure the gist is lost or the person who didn't succumb to their demands is eclipsed. After-all its their call :)
So next time when you watch a news channel or read a news paper, have a pinch of salt in your hands and if you want your own story to be broadcasted or published, have a fat paycheck in your hands. Know that you are dealing with MAFIA.
1 comment:
dont even get me started on them Chandu.. half my rants are about media menace :((.. sometimes I even boycott them completely and then get back after well, I realize I need to keep in touch with the rest of the world after all no matter how much filtered layered the news are :(
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