Any eye for an eye

As per latest reports, a certain so called cultural organization will go on a rampage on Valentines Day. They will either forcibly marry off couples or ask them to wear rakhi. Come on!! Are people allowed to make such threats publicly in India? I know the various political implication of taking strong action and how it’s hard to crack down on cultural groups in a country like India. But come on! This is getting out of hand. Any organization with more than 20 members can threaten to create havoc or create havoc and get away with it. Its happening in the congress ruled states as well as the BJP ruled states. After a while it’s really frustrating. Any Tom, Dick and Harry can do anything if he does it in the name of Indian culture.

The problem lies in the fact that as a nation we are not that courageous. I feel that if 50 odd people come and start enforcing their own law, the rest of the citizens should mob up and trash the living day lights out of them. That is the only solution to the problem. Even though doing so is also taking law into ones own hands, what this does is that it will act as a deterrent for people who want to make a name for themselves through hooliganism. I strongly believe that this is the way forward. If 10 “sena’s “come and attack you, 20 of you should gang up and beat them up. Even though this is a highly uncivilized way of going about things, I feel that we are running out of options.

Another thing that I have noticed is that, the media will go all hammer and tongs about leaders committing crimes and let off on bail and allowed to speak to the public freely. The absurdity of their concern is that the same channel, who cries foul about the accused allowed to talk to the media, is the media to which the accused is talking to. Such incidents make you believe in a lot of conspiracy theories. Another thing that I have noticed is that how media gets to all the place well before the police gets there. And if the accused is hiding, the media is able to contact them from an undisclosed location! Is there a tie up between the police and the media? Is there a tie up between the culprits and the media? Are all the 3 parties in it together? Or is it just coincidents? Now I understand why the Americans come up with various conspiracy theories.

What ever may be the truth, I feel that people are getting more and more frustrated. If such incidents are not controlled by the authorities, the unrest will increase and it could turn real nasty

Innocent until proven guilty?

Better to let 100 guilty men go free than to convict one innocent man, Innocent until proven guilty. These principles epitomize Indian democracy. The freedom that all of us enjoy, the sense of security that we feel, is because of this principle. Unfortunately today, I feel that some parts of the media have made a complete mockery of this. I do agree that all news channels to certain extend support the alleged victims to a certain extend, but certain other channels find it their duty to play the role of judiciary. I don’t watch all the news channels in India, but from the few I watch I found that, the news channel "Times Now"" is ridiculously amateur, completely unethical and out right stupid. Most of the murder cases that get covered by the media, they decided to come to a judgment just on the basis of what the alleged victim says.  

Recently a goa minister’s son was accused of committing a rape of a German minor girl. The son might very well have done it. From him looks and his fathers track record its very likely that the son was guilty. An average person on the street can come to such a conclusion and may be tell every one but news channels need to be more responsible. Media has a huge impact on the public. It shapes their views. To blindly come to a judgment is ridiculous. To move ahead without even considering the fact that the allegation could be false is utterly dumb. It could well be a political propaganda.  

I have a problem with this news channel. My parents seem to love it. They say they get politically unbiased views from this channel. They might get a politically unbiased view, but the views that they get are utterly stupid. Its one thing to have your own opinion on issues, but to spread ridiculously stupid views to the entire country and there by misleading the entire nation is unacceptable. Watching this channel made me realize what the term "evils of the media" really meant. They blow things completely out of proportion. Sensationalize things to the core. Take what people said completely out of context and put the worst possible meaning into it. There have been instances where their reports have been found to be false. They like to play with the emotions of the public.  

I do agree that we got a few good news channels here and if this channel follows the same path with its amateur reporters they would go bankrupt. I can understand spicing up the news but taking the soul out of the news, i.e. the truth, is showing disrespect to their profession. Don’t get me started with the way in which their editor talks. He takes ages to come to the point, stutters like anything and his questions are so dumb.  

Any way coming back to the topic, the role of the judiciary should be left to the judiciary. The medias role is to ensure that justice is done and not to give out judgments. They should look into the hindrances in the justice system and not play the role of a judge. They should always respect the fact that there could be a 1% chance that the accused could be innocent and keeping that in mind should refrain from defaming the person. I believe the role of the media is to report objectively. They can show passion in their reporting but should have a sense of reality with that. News channels influence a lot of people and they should always keep that in mind

The declining state of Indian media

Yesterday I was surfing through the news channels; saw a report on headlines today about a man in an accident. A rod had passed through the man and he was still alive and breathing. I have seen a similar story in Replies believe it or not. Even though I d not have much of an impression about headlines today, I thought that showing it was not such a bad idea. Most of the other channels did not feature this report and to an extend it was an interesting piece of news. Then on every time when I stopped at headlines today while I was surfing the channels I found that they were showing this report. At night they even went to the extend of reenacting the whole incident.

You could forgive the fact that this particular news channel has amateur reporters if they at least tried to report something sensible. A main stream news channel should be clear about its purpose of being a news channel. Its job is to keep the public informed about important matters that affects the public. It should bring to light issues that require the attention of the government and the general public. Other than the main stream news channels we have sports news channels, entertainment news channels, various entertainment channels and the job of these channels is to entertain the general public. News channels should not try and take the place of these channels. I remember Cyrus Broacha's comment when he was asked about the various innovations that cricket channels are bringing in during its match analysis, the idea of adding spic into cricket. What he said was when he watches the analysis he wants to know about the technical details about the match said by some cricketer, not what a beautiful 20 year old woman has to say. Channels like MTV are there to give the viewers beautiful women and spice. Cricket channels shouldn’t try and do that. I agree with every word that he says.

Similarly news channels try and dilute its content. The content that headlines today present is appalling. The 50 odd days in which Mr Rajesh Talwar was in jail, each day they used to enact the murder and do all kinds of non sense. Rakhi Savent is another of their favorites. Every day when you switch the channel one ridiculous thing or the other will be there. The madness is endless, breaking news about Saif and Kareena fighting, controversy about Bipasha and Ronaldo kissing, the ridiculous stunts that they pulled when Harry Potter was released. The list goes on and on. Not to mention their ridiculous "sting" operations. One could argue that if I have that much problem with a channel I should stop watching it. But that’s not the point here. I do agree that news channels should do what it takes to get more TRP, but to steep to this level is not acceptable. Showing such news reports once in a while is nice, but to over do it and make that the only thing that is shown in the channel is quite a waste.

I am quite sad that channels like headlines today are forgetting why they came into the news business on the first place. Each channel will have a set of audience and the channel should ensure that it keeps its viewers well informed about relevant matters. Channels like headlines today are failing to do the duties of a news channel. Labeling them as news channels is a disgrace. I really hope that the channel goes bankrupt. Their reporters are worse than teenagers amateur reporters, the content nothing but distasteful and their ad which takes a hit on most news channels is quite unethical and immoral. All journalists belong to the same group and should have mutual respect. I really pray to god that it goes off air sooner rather than later. I do admit that it has many viewers; even my parents sit and watch it. The question you go to ask yourself is that, are they really showing the news?