Sensationalizing the
tiniest of the matters, and reporting crimes, rapes, murder, kidnappings and bankruptcy
with highest level of enthusiasm is by far the most striking features of Indian
media.
It is so disturbing
and insensitive when these people pop up questions like, “Apke saath kya kya
hua tha?”, “Kya aapne madat k liye, guhaar lagae thy?”, or even worse, “Aapko ab
kaisa lag raha hai?” to a rape victim!
I had stopped
watching news channels, and reading the front papers, only because of this
reason! The “news” is either about some party gone bankrupt, political blame
game, rapes, murders, honor killing, discussion over the new size zero chick in
town, kidnapping, bollywood tamasha, the who’s who, who wore what at a party
last night, who dreamt what, whether they sleep with or without their boxers
and as if all “this” is not enough, we have the whole multiple paged
advertisements to skim through. “Are you battling hair fall? We are the best in
town! “Are you 100, and still single? Sign up on our match making site and get
a gazillion options!” Wow! Really?
I mean do you
really want me to open my mouth and make you stand naked?
In & out, full
of negativity, unnecessary and senseless bombardment of shit. This repeated
onslaught is hurled on viewers, creating a hopeless feeling among the viewers.
Today afternoon,
there was this “Aaj ki chouka dene wali khabar!!” coming on a leading news
channel which said, “A mother committed suicide in front of her 5 year old son.
While he innocently looked at her and asked “Mummy kya kar rahe ho?”, she was
busy tying the knot with her dupatta in the ceiling fan.”
Now. I don’t have a
problem with the incident per se. Nor am I here to give my suggestion on
whether what she did was right or wrong. But what followed disturbed me.
There was these few
reporters, who caught hold of this poor 5 year old fellow and started
bombarding him with questions, which were out & out derogative. Here it
goes:
“Beta, aapne mummy
ko marte hue dekha?”
“Aapne mummy ko
kuch bola nahi?”
“Ghar me aur koi
nahi tha kya?”
“Apko kaisa lag
raha hai?”
“Apko pata hai
mummy ne kya kia hai?”
“Ab aap kya karoge?”
“Kya wo suicide
karte samay dukhi lag rahi thy?”
“Kya unhone apse
kuch kaha, jaate jaate?”
WHAT THE HELL?????
He is an innocent,
5 year old baby. He just saw, which no child would ever even dream of! He is
already disturbed enough. And more so, its not like you don’t know it’s after
effects! Is the reporter going to stay back and wipe his tears, when the vision
of his hanging mother comes to him?
And it was not like
there were no elders available for their Q&A sessions. This is what you call
being plagued by insensitivity and sensationalization. What could have been
wrapped up with maturity and decency was put on display with all the world’s
pomp and show!
Do we realize what
impression it may have left on the child’s mind? How can you expect people to babble
in front of cameras after getting molested by 10 people? Is simply blurring her
face enough? Is that going to bring her solace?
An industry that
could have used itself constructively, has clearly tangled itself in the number
game. Competition is so fierce, that the channel which gets to know “How
exactly the rape happened... (if you know what I mean) Wins!!! Woohooo..
Now that’s interesting.
Sometimes, in a
country where glamorizing crime is “the” in thing, I feel I am asking for too
much. Is it only I who feels things should be taken on a lower level? Or do you
also feel the same?
Tell me!
Social evils are treated slowly... Accihhe din aane wale hain
ReplyDeleteBefore writing any comment on the Shrishti Blog I need to Attend my 12th English class teacher......
ReplyDeleteBeautiful written........ No comment
Kuch bhi! :P
DeleteThank you papa :D
nice blog........
ReplyDeletereally feels bad while watching news........
Why is the media here so negative?
In India we only read about death, sickness, terrorism, crime.....etc
Why are we in India so embarrassed to recognize our own strengtnice, our achievements?.......
That's exactly my point Vasim Uncle.
DeleteIt is not like good things are not happening in the society. But a majority of these people don't cover such events/happenings. They only bombard the viewers with "Masala" news, which is fabricated in every possible way.
Highly disappointing.
The TV thing is seriously ridiculous !! Frankly, you are not in the minority group who has stopped watching news channels because these hideous reasons. There is a statistic which has shown than over 30% of the people between the age group of 20 to 40 don't watch news channels.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I still stand for the newspapers who are still doing their duty despite all odds. The best part about the newspaper is, its just news; Its upon the reader to make his own opinion about what he/she read.
Well, seeing that we have more and more rising writers like you in our country, there still lies a hope for the journalism industry !;)
I appreciate your efforts in going through the blog Mohit.Thanks a lot. :)
DeleteWith respect to newspapers, it is good point you made. We can skim and skip through it all. But it is high time media starts filterng itself. Murders and rapes is not what viewers want to see and listen to all the time.
Let me put it this way, if you were given a chance to publish articles in a news paper, what would you publish.
DeleteWhat I feel is, even a rape or a murder is a news. And it is required to be published, because in a way, its good, atleast its creating awareness. Atleast by reading the facts of certain issues, I learn what are the consequences,punishments...!