Last Wednesday as I was returning home from a friends place, I was witness to a heated argument between two of my fellow passengers regarding a particular political issue..It was fascinating to see a public bus getting transformed to a debate arena and then gradually almost getting transformed into a boxing ring..both the passengers provided with facts so varied regarding the same issue that it was indeed quite hard to pick a side and decide on who is right among the two..both of them were adamant that the information he had was absolutely correct and authentic, refering to the respective newspapers they read, and news channels they follow...but how is this possible, I thought...how can there be conflicting facts regarding the same incident reported by newspapers??
The truth is that in todays world the Media shapes our lifes in every aspect..from how we should think to what we should believe, from what we should wear to what we should eat, from what is 'in' to what is 'out'...just about everything..
Media has its different forms-from newspapers to television, from the internet to the advertising hoardings...everywhere these guys are telling us what to do and how to do..it has become like this that we should behave and react in the particular way they want us to..
But the question I'm asking is should we go on beliving just about everything that is given to us.. without even judging the matter with our conscience..should we behave and react to a particular incident as someone else wants us to without analysing the entire incident, before knowing the different aspects of that particular incident..??
We, the educated people feel whatever opinion we have on a particular issue is well thought out,is logical and reasonable but we often fail to realise that those very opinions that we have are prejudiced, influenced by the kind of newspapers we read, the kind of television channels we follow..if this is the situation of the educated..then spare a thought for those who are not educated and lucky like us...
The truth is, running of the entire media, be it of any form, is similar to the running of a business..every media enterprise is a business conglomerate on their own and needless to say for the sake of their business they cater to the interest of themselves and to the interest of people who look after them,their 'well-wishers'...
If I take the example of newspapers, regarding national or international politics there are only two ways for them...you are either for a certain camp where you absolutely agree to the policies and decisions made by your camp,even if the policies are faulty and some times preposterous, or you are against a certain camp when, no matter even if their policies and decisions are good you have to oppose them...
I guess my co-passengers from the bus are victims of this for and against policy of the media..
It is indeed confusing that if none of them are telling the truth..then whom to beleive in and how to know the truth...but regarding this I feel that to make an idea about the truth one must not have a prejudiced opinion regarding an issue...one must keep an open mind such that your thought is not single-tracked..best way is to know about both sides of the story...the one you like as well as the one you don't...only then i guess you can have a clearer picture..and you will be much nearer the truth...
IT'S TRUE..IT'S DAMN TRUE...
ReplyDeletei mean our admin's experience in the bus is so commom in our daily life..last night i ws watching a debate regarding the attack of indians in australia..some congress spokesperson,on being countered as to why the government isn't taking strong actions against the discrimination,simply put frwrd the claim that that some news channels r unnecessarily hyping the issue....he simply argued in favour of those channel that showed the "true" picture...that only "some" indians were attacked(far less than the unofficial figure of 450).
i guess that clearly sums up the picture..
politicising any damn event has become a culture of our country and specially of our state.the problem is that in this era of "breaking news" you hve to literally break something to b in the headline...a normal session in the loksabha is hardly flashed in the news-bt u break a table,a chair, throw shoes at each other,shw ur dreaded finger-u r in the newz...well in the "breaking newz".
someone has said its hard to remain unbiased in politics..when u r commenting on a political issue you r automatically being biased on one party and unbiased on the other..
bt distorting the newz,adding potitical colours and flavours to it is a crious offence..i guess this is the basic lesson that a journalist or a reporter is taught-to deliver raw fresh information intact..bt unfortunately this is nt the case..
news media has a larger responsibility towards the society and its high tym that they realize this..india is going through a political turmoil of some sort-b it the maoists issue,or the gorkhaland or telengana..everywhere there is huge bloodshed and loss of life..a mere show of patrioism on the republic day or an yearly debate on wheteher netaji is alive or not wont help much...so friends its tym to see the flip side of the coin..a true picture of what's going around us...and nt be spoon fed by the newz that is delivered to us..