I tried this exercise , and may be each one reading should try and do what this is worth.
Collect first page and editorial reports of 3 months in anynews paper. After 3 months try glancing through the pages , what you will find shocks you beyond doubts. No headline lasts for more than 1 week , no investigation is reported to its logical conclusion. I am not too sure if this is a rule of the media houses (print,television and otherwise) worldwide, but going by the basic premise of why media , I think it defeats the purpose of existence.
Agreed, media is not an investigating agency.But it is surely a reporting agency , affecting and shaping the opinion of millions reading/watching/hearing to it. Ask yourself , do you have answers to these -
What happened to the Bihar plane crash?
What happened to the crores of Rupees collected during Tsunami relief fund ? Are we satisfied in seeing the names of the donors with amounts in descending order .. or do we need to see what went to the receipient?
Music and video of tsunami dominated regional political televisions in TN , but has anyone bothered to consolidate and send a report to each of the donors saying where their money was used ?
Much has been written about the controversy surrounding actors comments on something which people have no background to , but not a single line mentioned about Manjunath, the young man who was murdered for reporting the truth. Where is the fourth estate heading ?
Why doesnt the media have guts to stand up , print a letter from a reader complaining about its pathetic content or reply to him/her? I am a customer of your paper , I deserve to be heard , if that means replying to lakhs of letters streaming in , so be it.
Why sensationalise every issue , but not try and see through the depth of the case. If the journalists are indeed running behind headlines , their days are numbered . What they should be seeing is to create an unifying opinion , and an uprising against what is considered universally as not acceptable. To enrich each reader with a fair and an unbiased view of an event - any event not necessarily a national calamity or an emergency.
Where are the days when a copy of "Sudesa Mitran" could ignite the spirits of people reading it . Do we need another invasion for the fourth estate to wake up .
If I were a deciding authority .. I would say ...
BE sensitive in what you write and how you write (photograph of Shoba De , skimping in White skirt can be a supplement , not next to a report on rape of a 7 year old girl)
If you do report on a national tragedy , see it through the logical end , We want to know what was wrong in the plane that crashed in BIhar in 1997 , more than we are interested in following Karishma's marriage woes through the years. If someone has indeed reported on the same , I am sorry it was not as prominent as the actor's marriage.
Avoid instances like distracting saree /jewellary advts next to a state flooding report
Avoid TV scrollers like " to know more on the suffering, pain , tears in Cuddalore and govts response , read the eveninger " ... Tragedy should not be a selling point .. if it is- Shame on the paper which is owned by the biggest writer of our times.
I dont know if these opinions are shared by you, but I am a writer and you are a reader .You have the right to object , and my duty is to listen/ address them ... not defend them. If you are a journalist , I definitely need a response on this .
