Friday, November 20, 2009

Not 'New'spapers anymore! Only Sadpapers.....

I have boycotted newspapers and most of the television news channels.

I do get two newspapers at home. Yet do not feel like reading them.Off late, I have come to believe what one reads or sees affects the thought process. What you are constantly exposed to... what you read, what you see affects your approach to life and its events.

I have seen how headlines have progressed to throw up negative news in daily news papers. I am not including the business newspapers. Most of the regional newspapers vie for publishing a tragedy or scam in 60 font size. The darker, the terrifying headline is, the more is circulation for that day. Newspaper advertising hoardings scream about increased circulation. Most read, most bought!

Have you analyzed the headlines of most of the newspapers in recent past? They shift from scams, to horse trading to family drama in politics to train tragedies, major fires, Maoist killing and beheading, to terror episodes to road accidents to increase in price, to goonda glorification.
There are the positive news about a seminar in organic farming, space technology, education for all etc.

Yet what grabs attention of human beings is tragedies and negative news.

Is this confined to only words? No.

If you look at the way newspapers splash photographs of accidents, terror attacks, road mishaps, civilian unrest.... Anything that is tragic, it is evident there is hardly any censorship on behalf of the newspapers. Neither on behalf of the Government. Nor from us, the public.

We encourage the newspapers to display misery by picking the copies from the stands and reading them, absorbing every word and picture they publish about misery or grief of fellow human beings.

Come November 26, 2009... Or even from today, television channels are busy replaying and replaying the footage from November 26, 2008. They forget its humans they are showing running like headless chicken. The victims had families. They are being reminded and shown this footage, again and again. Why? What for?

These very TV crew coverage helped boost the terror group's morale of getting all the publicity they were looking for. The coverage also assisted them to navigate the terrorists to safer places and guide their actions.

Did the government act on Day 2 or Day 3 to ensure no private channels will give any live coverage? Did they confine the coverage to only Doordarshan News to ensure no panic-stricken, haggard-looking TV journo do not give half baked, repeated news about what is happening inside the Taj or Nariman house or the Trident, without knowing what is EXACTLY happening? NO!
The government let the TV channels cover, day and night ... all the journo's could tell you was "I just heard another blast from the Taj. That must be a bomb". Sick!

Did we ASK any private channels to put their employees' life in danger and give us day and night coverage? Can any of the private channels claim they did not compare the TAM rating for the three days? But some scant ethics still left in them would have prevented them from advertising their ratings! Thank you for small mercies!

When compared to the paper and TV media, the online newspaper is a big relief. We can choose to browse the pages we want. No terrifying headlines and no terrifying on-your-face grueling images. They webpage size in itself is the limitation to publish medium size images. The need to make the page light enough to download at any bandwidth. And the very access to online newspapers is through your PC and laptop makes it selective reading option.

Whatever be the media, it will be good for humanity if media observes less of glorification of human misery, less scramble for TAM ratings at the cost of publishing or covering a weeping, terrified human face, less of jury by having a panel of just four people giving their opinion on national issues, less of court of justice by questioning their guests, less of opinion makers, less of glamour house and more of credible, simple, positive, growth promoting, healthy reporting houses.

We are waiting for a change of course from the media. Till then, I confine myself to online newspapers. Things will change is you also take an oath to boycott any newspaper or TV channel that would publish any glorifying images of human suffering. We CAN make a difference by turning a blind eye and deaf ear to mindless media coverage of human terror.

We CAN make the media CHANGE!