Does Our Media Tell Us The Complete Truth?

There have been numerous debates among people on social platforms lately on diverse issues. Whether it is a fatal crime or rape case, violence in the country and across the world or the comments made on it by prominent people, everyone nowadays has an opinion to share and express with the world. But, how do we form our opinions? Ever thought of it seriously?

I am a Journalism graduate and we had a subject known as ‘Journalism and Public Opinion’ during our course. This is where I first thought about my own opinions seriously and realized the truth behind it. Yes, our opinions are largely based on our media, the content that it shows us. Referred to as the fourth pillar of the society, the media has a huge relevance to play in our day to day life and influence and shape our opinions on diverse issues. In fact, all our opinions of different subjects and matters happening across the world originate from the media or from the content that the media puts in front of us, in particular.

If the media reports a man to have molested a woman, the man is cursed by every single person in the country. No one ever tries to understand the man’s point of view or even find out the truth behind the news. Immediately posts go viral on social media and criticism starts pouring him. But, none of us, even for a second, considers the other side of the story. Does anyone think that he might not be a molester or a rapist and the media must have mistaken him to be one? No!

A classic example for this is the Jasleen Kaur case that took place in August. The young girl had alleged a man named Sarvjeet Singh to have eve-teased her at a traffic signal in Delhi and immediately the social media was brimming with posts criticizing the young man and shouting insults for him. Not for a single moment did anyone consider him to be innocent or find out the truth. Even people who did not know Jasleen and Sarvjeet in person made an opinion about them based on what the media showed them. The media accused Sarvjeet of eve-teasing and so did the entire country. Only later was it found out that Sarvjeet was innocent and Jasleen had created the entire fuss to gain popularity.

As our opinions are influenced to a great extent by the media, we now have this subject called ‘Journalism and Public Opinion’ introduced in the academic curriculum for media students. And, to my surprise, I discovered facts that made me lose my faith in media. The media, whether print, electronic or digital, does not give you complete facts in reality! And, when we are living in an era of sensationalism where topics such as crime, violence and sex sell, the media ultimately focuses on making money by publishing news that can get them more readers and viewers. Moral journalism has become far from being a myth and ethics have taken a secondary position.

I had written an article on media earlier (Read: Dear Media, What’s With You?) focusing on how sensational the media of today is! However, let me tell you a fact here, apart from reporting sensational news, the media, in reality, only lets people know half the information. Of course, there are reasons, some good and some bad. Sometimes, the media conceals information such as facts and figures in order to prevent the spread of panic among people. However, sometimes, or many a times I can say, the media conceals information, facts and figures because they are related to the rich and dominant class of people who have a huge role to play in their development and growth.

To quote an example, Akash Ambani, the son of the famous business tycoon Mukesh Ambani, had killed two people with his Aston Martin car about two years ago. But, did any news channel or newspaper report it? No! In fact, the case was covered as much as possible by the media. Most of the time, media covers unpleasant information and facts pertaining to people such as business tycoons and politicians who fund these organizations and help them grow. When Tarun Tejpal was accused of sexually assaulting a female journalist working at his own office, the case was reported by rival media agencies so as to bring Tehelka down. However, what happened to the case later? No one knows! Only when I searched for information on Google did I understand that Tarun Tejpal had been granted bail by the Supreme Court in 2014.

It is a matter of fact that the rich businessmen, media tycoons and politicians in India have been providing funds to the media and, in return, concealing important facts and information about themselves or their own organizations that can spoil their image in the society. So, the news that we see on TV or read in magazines and newspapers today is highly influenced and scrutinized; where there are facts that can destruct the images of these rich barons, the news is altered so that people know only what they are supposed to know. And, we then make an opinion based on this half information that the media gives us.

Of course, the only source of information for a common man is media. But, before making an opinion about someone of judging them, know that the media alters news and does not reveal the complete truth. Think rationally before you make an opinion!

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?

Media: The worst place to work?

Every child, every teenager and simply every person in the world has big dreams in life and each one of us craves for fame! And that is exactly what a career in the media industry offers you! Or rather, pretends to offer! Just like many other people in this world and the students of my batch when I was pursuing the Bachelors of Mass Media course, I had dreams in mind to become a journalist and contribute to the well being of society. Till then, the impression in my mind was that media is a pillar of the society that helps strengthen it and stands up in support of common people and against crimes and injustice in the world. Or rather, that is what we were taught throughout our course! But, the picture was entirely different in reality, I realized that when I first interned with a local news channel in Navi Mumbai. Although I have given up the dream of working for a news channel or even in the print media, and have already embarked on a career in the digital world, I can feel the cruelty of the field from articles published on the web, from blogs of some prominent journalists, innumerable cases of injustice, social and sexual abuse of journalists, murders and a lot more.

As far as I have read, heard and experienced about life in the field of media so far, I am truly disgusted with the kind of life media people are required to live. Media people here not only involves journalists but a number of people, editors, technicians, stringers, bureau people, newsroom in-charge, supervisors, artists and many others who had, once in their life, dreamt of having an accomplished career by entering the industry. Media, on date, is one of the worst fields to work in and I recently came to realize this when a friend sent me a link of a note written by a journalist that was published to the web. The letter was written by a female journalist to all the editors in the world, requesting humanity in assigning work and setting goals, targets and deadlines and also dealing with cases of abuse and assaults on women journalists these days!

It is a matter of fact that journalists these days are a victim of cut throat competition in the field of media; each news channel and newspaper wants to get a news first, conduct and present research, take follow ups and what not! In all the mess, does anyone ever consider that a journalist has a personal life too, he or she has a family too and that someone somewhere waits for this person to get back home, take rest and live a normal life? It is okay to be professional, it is okay be career oriented and it is also fine to be dedicated to one's job! But to what extent! Journalists and all the media guys in the country, barely get a holiday! You would find these guys working even on weekends, and most of the times, at a truly less salary than what they actually deserve! These guys also have to work on the New Year's Eve, on Diwali and all the other festivals when the world enjoys with their family and friends! Isn't that unfair?

And when you ask your employees to work so hard for long hours, in odd shifts and even on public holidays, isn't it the moral duty of any media organisation to ensure complete security and create an environment where a female employee feels secure and comfortable to work in? A large number of female journalists have committed and attempted suicides till date, many others are fighting cases in the court, many of them have been suppressed by their own bosses and colleagues and many have simply locked away terrible memories and moved on in life! A career is an aspiration and a dream of people, an office is where today's generation spends most of their time! And how secure it is for a media person who spends more time at office than normal employees do? We have countless cases of sexual assault and harassment of female journalist and employees (who can forget the sophisticated and high profile Tarun Tejpal case recently)! Media is, in fact, one of the cheapest and most disrespected fields to work in, where employees not only lack security and well-being but are also often deprived of respect and a good compensation for their hard work.

It is my request to all those reading this, since many of my friends are journalists or work in media organisations, please strive to claim your rights and help make media a better workplace!