An Idoit called Rajdeep Sardesai..and many more in the making...
As Blasts hit mumbai and hundereds died, thousands injured…all eyes turned to television sets….particularly this one….CNN-IBN, as the anchor Rajdeep claimed”We are the first ones to bring the news to your drawing rooms.”He went on to say that “"These pictures are now being beamed on all CNN networks all over the world. Indians all over the world watching CNN are now watching CNN-IBN. This is the power of CNN-IBN"…the most shocking part was the smirk on Rajdeep’s face..as if saying “here’s the oppurtunity which the other media channels couldn’t grab and I will have the highest eyeballs visting the channel…because we are the first one’s to bring this news over.”
The media, has surely become a business like any other.Where has the essence and the objective of media gone?What are they trying to achieve through all this…More disappointing was the fact they tried commenting on Reader’s Digest survey that Mumbai Is the Rudest city….and then making debates like”Mumbaiker Ko Gussa Kyun Aata hai”…they also aired some extremist comments like “Mr Prime Minister..you keep sitting in your air conditioned room and we will keep facing the brunt of such terrorist activities.” I was completely unable to comprehend what was the objective..did they want to fuel the fire, could these news channels not rise to the need of the hour…which a common slum dweller could, who rescued people, unrelated from the site,…The media on the other hand were asking questions like “Is there a feeling of anger,Despair….what do people think….cant media be put to greater use….could they not act as a source to help locate people…when telephone lines were jammed and television and radio were the only source of communication.
What contribution did these channels make to bring things in order,apart from informing people in different parts of the country of the blasts and trying to get the best debates on the topic.By virtue of showing the images that they did,both during the rains and now,they created panic within the country.Isn’t it a known fact Mumbai gets the maximum number of people from other states and people live alone in this city,where parents cant get in touch of the kids..…does the media not have a moral responsibilty.When common individuals are coming forward to help the ones in distress should the media not contribute.
It makes me wonder
1.Should the media not have a code of conduct.
2.Like every business has an objective,should the media BUSINESS not have an objective for its exsistence.
3.Should there not be a law under which such actions, like creating panic etc..be taken to task.
What kind of medium is the MEDIA…different papers report different figures and it seems like they all looking for a good punch line..which will appeal to the entire target segments…some are comparing it to 9/11 by calling it 7/11…some are using the digit 7 again and again..7 blasts in 7 minutes and 170 killed…It’s a time for a wake up call…where are we headed!!!
posted by shikha @ 3:17 PM
14 Comments:
commercial tv can suck at times. all it seems to care about is its viewing figures and not the fact that people lay bleeding, dying, dead, hurt, scared and in desperate need of help. this isn't just the fault of the media but also of the corporate world that runs the media.
hear hear!!!
Its really disgusting when ppl use such moments for their own benefit..
I did not see what you folks saw. There was some video on CNN here in the US, and it was a bit mroe graphic than the usual.
I would give it a different spin. We here get to see almost no graphic footage of the Iraq war, which I think we should to remind Americans that war is not a video game.
Maybe the footage you saw was needed to convey the nature of the massacre?
That being said, I agree that the anchor was completely wrong about using it as a way to promote the network, but welcome to our world, where the news is a business and it is all about ratings.
Most of the media(TV) in the US is controlled by a few corps. And they completely suck, no wonder a lot of Americans are ill informed if they watch just TV.
Code of conduct might help, so long as it is not censorship.
I agree with you completely Karmic...I know what manipulative is the US government..not only in the message it brings to the people of the country..but even otherwise...
Agreed that media is a business and one needs to make money to survive but there has to be a code of conduct..a basic ethic..and yes because someone in the world(read US of A) is being tolerated for its wrong..does not allow others to follow..and that should not also be treated as a precedent!
I guess this is where alternative social tools like blogs and wiki's come to help people in having a nautral and unbiased view on critical issues.
Not that I have anything to do with it, but bashing barkha dutt and rajdeep sardesai has become the flavour of the season post the blasts all across blogsphere…
just to play the devils advocate here, the norm of taking onus of being the one to break the news, is same across the world. rajdeep or barkha are no different than a bernard shaw or david hall...
just because we as a society are collectively helpless to do anything about the bomb blasts, but sit and watch the events unfold on tv, let's not get bitchy about the newsreaders... like a newspaper they too need to build credibility, network and yes, a market to keep the show running. because if they were not there, before the news of tragedy hits, rumours and ambiguity would have already mind fucked you.
You ask what do they do besides beaming the scenes of mayhem all across India? Well I tell you that in itself is the biggest thing they can give the country.
Truth.
Because till these guys came the government and doordarshan ensured that the public got to know only what the ruling regime wanted them to know. Thousands died but a few were reported.
So if they present to the masses the truth of the situation, I think they have every right to be proud of it.
much like the Aurangzeb regime this is. you don't like the message... behead the messenger... for whatever the reason.
by the way, ndtv initiated right to information act.
and barkha implores all and sundry day in and day out to join hands.
not so pr-ish and bitchy now is it?
good or bad, right or wrong, pr-ish or just practical, they are closer to ground zero than we are.
they are 'actually' doing something about it. in some way or the other sticking their necks out in this mayhem. standing and reporting from stations when you know another one could go off any minute takes guts.
it's a time of tragedy. let's not get judgmental.
leave that to gopinath munde, who was demanding resignations and sacking of government hours after the blast.
ajit...yes we can look at blogosphere etc as an alternative source of information,But what percentage of the indian population has access to this??What the television and radio can do..i dont think any other medium can,atleast for a while in India!!
Harjee:Just because the world over media is being misused does not make it correct!! I agree that media has to be independent of the government and needs to have autonomy and they help avoid rumours..but what pissed me off was not the information but the entire approach ..or the manner in which it was brought forward...somewhere business interests seem to have overtaken everthing else...and that is sad!!
and yes harjee..regarding us morons watching the television set and not demanding our basic rights from the government...While we are busy accumulating our lakhs than to ask for common protection rights..and bask our cowardice/selfishness under the pretext of the "so called"..MUMBAI SPIRIT..i am gulity of it and it sucks!!
Go work in a newspaper:D
NO...NEVER!!
:)
small world after all.. here i am sitting in deutschland watching cnn-ibn on see.tv and having same perverse thoughts about rajdeep's a.... (arrogance is closest in OED to what i had in mind)
fact that other's saw it (and some like harjee defended it) makes me completely normal (and disperses any claim to fame i had from my earlier comment on his a... er. arrogance).
if I have not confused u all on which side I am.. here's sth that VS (and not naipaul but seth) said years back:
ADVICE TO ORATORS
In speech it's best - thought not the only way -
Indeed the best, it's true, can be the worst -
Though often I... as I had meant to say:
Qualify later; state the premise first ;)
The way TV news has become driven by TRP in India is insane. You may find this interesting.
http://warfornews.blogspot.com/
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