Dear Media, What's With You?

The media is considered to be the fourth pillar of the society and a mirror of what’s brewing around us. Being a media student myself, we were taught that the media is the most powerful medium in today’s world that not only informs people but also helps them form opinions and come up with views of their own on matters that affect their life. But, seeing the current situation of the media and news reporting, I can only wonder what’s with the media these days!

The last time I wrote, I already talked about how sensational the media of today has become. The entire media is flooded with news reports and development stories of the Sheena Bora case. Since the past week, every time I read some news online or switch to a news channel on the TV, all I see is what Indrani Mukherjea said during her interrogation or what her ex husbands and present husband have commented on the case. Like there is nothing else happening in the country that the people would like to know or what is affecting our lives in some or the other way.

Sensationalism taking over like never before

Okay, every organization works with the sole purpose of amassing profits and there is nothing wrong with it. But, for an institution such as the media, it is really a question that what separates real news from sensationalism. There is a fine line between moral reporting and sensational reporting and it seems our media barons have really made profit their sole goal, forgetting the original purpose of news and reporting.

I have recently seen multiple posts on social media about people claiming that the Sheena Bora murder case has been given too much attention by the media. Or, I can say, the media is literally bombarding us with this only case and even the slightest of developments occurring in this. Okay, the entire world knows now who killed Sheena and plotted the murder of her brother. But, do we need to know what Ms. Indrani said to police in her interrogation or whether the police beat her up or whether she hated her daughter or not? The case has been undoubtedly getting huge space in newspapers, a huge time slot on the TV and great publicity in the digital media. Why? Because the people involved in the case are high-profile people (the so-called profile people I must say) who, the media wrongly thinks, affect our lives in certain ways. Since the people involved in the case are media barons, the news is receiving undue attention from the media.

And our media loves cooking too….

Yes, our media loves cooking…cooking stories and creating gossips by barging into the lives of celebrities and influential people, breaking their privacy. Recently, there have also been reports in the media about Arjun Rampal and his wife Mehr getting divorced since they were spotted at a court in Mumbai. Of course, I don’t need to tell you how stupid that sounds! The rumours were later rubbished off by the couple.

But, the question still persists…Is this what the media is meant for? Is earning profit so important to us that we forget our values and morals and cook up stories just for the sake of getting more TRPs and readers? Shouldn’t our media reconsider the norms of ethical reporting now?

Go Home Terrorists...We Can Destroy Our Country Ourselves!

Since the last two days, every time I check the news for latest headlines, I can see stories of the Sheena Bora case and the latest developments in it. In fact, there hasn’t been any news as crucial as the Sheena Bora case in the media since yesterday and every media, right from the print, electronic and the digital has been talking about it. Of course, being a murder case, it is of importance and its investigation and coverage must be given adequate footage. But, the case has largely overshadowed an important news that was barely reported in comparison to this high profile murder conspiracy.

It was yesterday when I logged on to the website of NDTV that I read this news that instantly went to the bottom of the website today as the Sheena Bora case witnessed developments. Another terrorist has been caught by the police in Jammu and Kashmir yesterday after the arrest of Naveed earlier this month. The arrest of Naveed was a big news in the media but the arrest of the second terrorist yesterday failed to create the spark. Of course, because there is a case that is far more sensational than this one which needs to be given abundant footage rather than making people aware and alert about a possible attack or its planning by terrorists coming to India from Pakistan.

The arrest of this second terrorist has made it very clear that some terrorist organization in Pakistan had plotted attacks in India that were to be executed by the caught terrorists. And, we are still unsure how many terrorists actually came to India or whether there are more, other than these two, to execute their plotted attacks.

Anyway, we, the ‘brave’ people of India do not care about terrorists entering our country because we are capable of destroying out motherland on our own. Where our own people in Gujarat killed 8 people, burnt public property and scared the shit out of people by imposing curfews, do we need terrorists to plant bombs, destroy our cities, kill innocent people and break our unity? We are not united in the first place because we want special privileges as compared to the other castes and categories in our own state and country. And, in a country where a mother is killing her own daughter in such as brutal way for a motive that is still unclear, do we need terrorists to kill our loved ones?

Dear media, of course it doesn’t matter whether terrorists enter our country or angels do. Of course, it doesn’t matter if some innocent people are killed in the firing that took place in Jammu or if our police and soldiers were injured. All we bother about is why Mrs. Indrani Mukherjea killed her daughter along with her ex husband. Because that is what we are interested in! Because that is what is sensational! And because that is what generates revenue, isn’t it?