I have
stopped reading newspapers in as much detail as I used to earlier and I have
completely stopped watching news channels on TV. What is reported is not news –
in the print media what you read is sensationalism in the garb of ‘news’ – on TV
it is more about TRP and advertising revenue – with 3-4 day old news still
being shown as ‘breaking new’!! You open any newspaper it will have news of
some scam or the other, rape, murder, land grab, corruption in the local body,
suicide, police high handedness, etc – day in day out it is the same with a
different set of characters! Good news is hardly ever published. There is
plenty of good work being done by unknown local people in the interiors of the
country, selflessly and without expectation, but this is not newsworthy as it
does not SELL!
Take a case
In point – the current news being flogged to death – MS Dhoni and conflict of
interest via his business connections. He is a director in 12 companies shout
the headlines! Most of these companies were formed last year and he or his
relatives are directors in them. So what?!? Has anyone gone on to investigate
and find out whether these companies have actually done any business! Such
headlines hint at ‘how much money Dhoni is making through these businesses!’ by
leaving things left unsaid. It is so easy to slander by putting a question mark
at the end of a headline – this is so because the law on civil damages is
useless in this country. Do you see such disgusting reporting in the US or
elsewhere in the West? No! Why? Because the law is respected and the justice
system works with justice being seen to be delivered almost always and that too
in time. In India a case can go on forever till kingdom come. Witnesses will
die, there will be blatant perjury but all this is done because we have no
respect for the law. Has anyone asked our ex-President what happened to the
money her company borrowed from banks –why it has not been repaid. What about
politicians owning all these engineering colleges which command high fees and
below the table money for securing seats. What about big industrialists who owe
thousands of crores to banks but still walking free. An ordinary man is hounded
for Rs. 1000 not being paid on time to a credit card company – but for dues of 1000
crores these guys don’t have the balls to go after the defaulters.
Please read
Arvind Kejrivals open letter to Mukesh Ambani:
Why do we
not respect the law? This is in our national psyche – do our so called law
makers respect the law? They think that being elected representatives the law
is their servant and hence flagrant violations of law take place with next to
no consequences. How many politicians, bureaucrats, government officials have
actually been taken to task, let alone being prosecuted. Permissions to launch
such prosecutions are invariably denied. This is across political parties – as the
philosophy at work is you scratch mine and I’ll scratch yours and let the
nation go to hell. Loot while there is enough to loot – we have enough middle
class tax payers to pay for political profligacy.
I am
waiting for the day when our journalists will start publishing balanced news
and showing news honestly on TV – the news should be newsworthy. Our newspapers
and TV News channels are depressing because nothing good is ever published –
and I am too much of an optimist to believe that there is no good which is
happening in the world. Maybe some day the media magnates will realise that
there is good too which is happening and which needs to be highlighted, even if
it means less advertising revenue.
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