The "Show" must go on!

Bhai log....

Am jumping into a well 100ft deep , please call the police and the media , I want to the next star on the Indian News channels.” Main Prince banana chahata hoon"

Doesn’t this seem as a mockery of the sentiments and an indifferent attitude towards that poor little boy who accidentally fell into that bore well last month? Yes it does. I agree to being indifferent, but not towards the boy and his family but towards the out of proportion telecast of the complete episode. The news channels were broadcasting the whole thing as if that was the only breaking news that day. Some of the news channels were even seen claiming to have compelled the military to come for the rescue operations. I guess some channel might have claimed that they saw boy slipping down the well or may be they were at the spot to cover the slipping scene of the poor boy. Well whatever be the case, this whole episode of melodrama and the recovery of the "Prince of India" was blown out of proportion by the media.The whole nation was praying as if Prince was the only ray of hope to fight against terrorism or may be he was designated the next Prime Minister of India.May be he was going to be the next SRK. Who knows what the future of Prince comes out to be,but on that very day he was the Prince of India.

Sometimes I feel the media plays a very crucial role in the political and the social life of the country but those instances have come down to handful of events. Most of the time its the so called mirch masala lagake making the whole stuff sensational and catchy or may be explosive. That’s what now looks to be the role of news channels. I hope most of the people reading this might agree to it. The news channels have mastered the art of sensationalizing the whole scene ,even if it is something like say SRK's dog ran off on the road and was no where to be found(no offences to SRK, he's my favorite).

I can recall many instances where the news channels have played an unethical, irresponsible role and have been doing that repeatedly. There can be number of instances which any news follower in India can recall. Just a few to quote will be below.

The one where Prof. from Patna was caught by his wife on camera for extramarital affairs - Before writing any thing I would like to put a disclaimer: I don’t approve of any extramarital affairs and neither do I support the Prof. who was caught. What I want to speak is about the role of the news channels. I remember the news channels were again putting up hour long shows on air just to show the wife beating up both the prof. and the other lady. This complete episode was again as hot as the breaking news in the whole country. Though it looked cheap and did not derive any heed from the general public, but it certainly did expose the channels themselves that they can fall down to any thing as far as it can find place in their 24X7 channel showcasing .Later in the day the news channels put up few shows where they asked few experts from the field of psychology and someone from the Women rights commission to comments on the whole matter along with our very own Mahesh Bhatt from Mumbai too spared his time to comment on the whole scene. Well my views on this are a little harsh. A straight forward comment on the news channels "Why the hell they enter into someone else’s life and family problems “Leave the prof. his wife and the other lady alone. Let them solve it. Don’t disgrace the sacred institution of marriage just for the sake of your TRP. Stop it at once!!!!

The one where Aish gains weight - I could see one of the news channels showcasing an hour long show on how Aishwarya Rai's weight increased and decreased in the last one year. What the heck!!!!Is Aishwarya Rai some kind of economy parameter that you start making bar charts showing that she was 50Kgs in June 05 and then lost some weight in July 05 and they put on 2 kgs in Dec 05 and then another 2 kgs in Feb 06 and then lost 3 kgs in March 06.Comeon...Aishwarya Rai is no public property that you are free to comment on her weight. Change in weight is a completely personal matter for her and please for God sake let it remain the same. Appreciate her work, criticize her performances if logical, but dont create a fuss about how her weight changes. The news channel had 30 minutes coverage on this with no authentic source which could comment on exactly what Aishwarya Rai's weight is. But it was the news channels who pose to have the right to rip apart anything that they feel like. They don’t care of the repercussion that will happen on the individual. Since they are the boss, they can make or break the image of anyone. Be it Sonia Gandhi or our Little Prince of the hole.......Its the News channels.....bach ke rahena re baba.

The one where Abhishek was set to marry Aishwarya:Well this was something that most of the bachelors might have been worried. Me too.....One of the news channel claimed that they have a copy of both Aishwarya and Abhishek and have got them matched. Some news channel hosted a show informing the viewers that they have contacted the priest at Tirupathi who gave green signal to the marriage with dates ASAP. The next day the news was no where to be found. Not even a single trace. No one from the Bachchan family and the Rai family was contacted to comment on that. What was this ...................... a sheer act of irresponsible media and journalism or may be a mockery of the freedom of press and media. Isn’t media accountable to anyone....is there no way to ask the media about the authenticity of the news they air?

The Jaswant Singh's biography/Kandhar Highjack issue: The IC 814 Highjack , the Foreign Minister then Mr.Jaswant Singh flew to Kandhar himself to hand over Sayed Sallaudin to the LET. It was the media at that time that said that the life of the passengers is more important than another militants being released. They went outrageous on the government when they decided not to heed to the hijackers threat but due to the pressure of the media and the public they had to free Syed Sallaudin and a few more militants. Now after six years when Jaswant Singh publishes his autobiography, which revealed some more facts about the hijack, the media is again creating an issue as to why the militants were released. The news anchors who were supporting the release of militants in for the passengers were openly contradicting their own statements given on record six years back. What sort of a stand is the Media taking? Is it some kind of child’s play, don’t they feel the responsibility to face the nation. Can’t they come out of the TRP trap? Do they do everything for the sake of money? Don’t they feel the sentiments of the public? What I feel, its just the art of making money thru the television.

The news channels today are following one simple track, something that HOT/CONTROVERSIAL will sell, no matter what consequences the victim has to face later on. The "Show" must go on. No responsibility, no ethics, no sentiments just TRP and money is what they want.

Disclaimer: These are purely my thoughts, you are free to have different opinion. Comments invited on both the topic and the way of writing. Since this was my first blog ever, am just a little too enthusiastic to receive comments.