Walking the streets to prostitute
news is right up the alley of our degenerate visual
media, and, given a few relative exceptions, it is excelling at peddling filthy voyeurism in name of news, believing, where there’s muck there’s brass. Clairvoyance, superstition, hotchpotch tales are given credence and are aired to dazzle, to awe, to excite the dull viewers; while proper news fall by the wayside. Natural calamities and manmade tragedies in all its gory and ugly manifestations are shown without a thought for the adverse effect it may have on impressionable and sensitive minds. All it takes to catch its camera’s eye is to be brash, outrageous, abusive and making a thorough spectacle of yourself in public for some stupid reason. It is grossly indulging in blatant abuse of the freedom of the press, and is flagrantly inviting public censure and legislative gag ------ something which the maligned and desperate politician is waiting in the wings for, looking for a justifiably opportune moment to keep a lid on its trap! Should it happen, it would indeed be a black day for our democracy. A few nights back we were treated to a pathetic news item on a TV channel of two wayward girls squabbling over the amorous exploits of a lustful youth to gain his wavering affections. Sometime back the sexual adventures of a senior police officer and at another time that of a priest of a renowned temple were shown on TV, the channel portraying graphically each sickening detail of the incident over and over again, with the sole purpose of titillating and tantalising the viewers in order to fabricate higher viewership ratings. To add further flavour, floating and exhumed fetuses, blood drenched casualties and mouldering corpses, nocturnal spectres on the prowl, driverless cars etc. are a part of some of the highlights of its daily programming. If that was not enough, some foul crimes and mundane family disputes are recreated each day by different news
channels and telecast indiscriminately to cater to the baser instincts and instinctive inquisitiveness of viewers, without having scant concern for the newsworthiness, relevance or propriety of that particular tele-feature. One is simply left aghast at the audacity of such news channels to purvey cheap and objectionable news
content to national viewership, and all in the name of freedom of the press! Last, but foremost! The visual media must get out of the irritating habit of going into auto mode of breaking news at the drop of a hat, and restrain the asinine urge for assumptive reporting. They must realise anything and everything does not merit the tag of ‘breaking news’! Now would it be in vain to expect the visual media to expiate its wrongs and purge its telecast content of all ills? However, the mainstream print media is maintaining, by and large, certain reporting standards as per the widely accepted professional rules and ethics of newspaper reportage. Nevertheless, yellow
journalism creeps in at times to replace substance with colour for reasons of readership and commercial gains. This could partly be attributed to declining tastes of its readership, which may be more interested in superficial glitz rather than hard news. And then commercial considerations lead to advertisements gobbling up reams of legitimate news space, sullying the content of the paper by cutting across its columns in odd shapes and sizes. Even the front page is not sacred from such defilement. Some inconsequential events, unwarranted pictures, and overexposed personalities are accorded undue coverage on prime spaces, giving the newspapers the appearance of a tabloid. The supplements mainly portray the fashion trends and the lifestyles of the so-called celebrities as much as the exploits and foibles of the youth, along with a few columns of advisers and fate readers of sorts thrown in for good measure. Grand consumerism, dressed in its best bib and tucker, is given a royal treat. The media in any society or rule has invariablyagreater role to play then it has perhaps envisaged for itself at any given time. The fourth estate is the backbone of any democracy and no democracy could run effectively without its unstinted devotion to its cause. Therefore, it needs to be asserted, that the media, at each and every level, should be well aware of the enormity of its onerous task, which it must discharge dutifully and diligently for the good of the nation and its people, without fuss. As concerned and informed citizens it’s our
duty to condemn and to object to anything that offends the sensibilities of average viewers. Even though the media is doing a fair job of exposing and denouncing knaves amongst the legislature and the executive, yet its outrageous antics need to be castigated no less. Therefore, for eliciting meaningful response, it would be better if the heads of various forums and organisations wrote to such channels in particular and the print media selectively, expressing in explicit terms the legitimate concerns and expectations of the viewers and readers on their behalf.
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