By Ashutosh Kumar:
The media is the eyes of the mango people of a democratic country like India. People form perspectives by believing what the media supplies to them. Journalists have such power that they are able to do anything if they want; even a superstar or a political leader dare not mess with them. They also play a role in forging the relationship of two communities, states or countries because they not only give news but present the people’s opinion (either positive or negative) as well.
Due to these traits they possess great respect and also have a lot of responsibilities. Yes, I agree that sometimes they do not disclose some news due to political pressure and some other critical reasons but what if it is only about TRP? These days every channel is busy trying to increase their TRPs; they just cater to the masses and show what the viewers want to see and not what reality is.
Some time back, there was the issue of the Jan Lokpal Bill raised in the parliament. All news channels became busy in capturing the issue word-by-word but what is interesting is that after a while there was a discussion in the parliament about farmer suicide and it never garnered the media support that a topic of this much importance should have.
Another story that gained much undue attention is about Pakistan cricket captain Shahid Afridi slamming the Indian media for its very negative approach. He said that the Pakistani media is a hundred times better than its Indian counterpart, “It is very difficult to live with Indians and have a long term relationship with them. We don’t want to fight but the third country is trying to spoil our relationship. And Indian media is helping them.”
All in all, these stories point out how media has the power but it comes with an even greater responsibility; they should work for reality and not for the people in power and celebrities, least of all, primarily for TRP. Pushed back by this race for TRPs – some news, some stories and much reality never sees the light of the day.
I ask, till when?