Media Mania

Hi Readers,

Media,...print media or TV or Radio or the internet, everything has got its own place in our daily lives. In fact, they became part n parcel of our lives. There r many people who cannot begin their day without reading a newspaper. Coffee and newspaper have a very strong bonding, both work out together at their best., in any part of the world. Nowadays, TV channels and FM Radio have taken the front seat. If Coffee has its own effects, n innumerable surveys revealed facts n figures about how good/bad coffee is....why not on a newspaper/TV/Radio/Internet. Though it is not consumed by mouth, its consumed by eyes, ears n brain. It is a fact that, it is not easy to get rid of stuff from the brain, ears and eyes as easy as those consumed by mouth. So now it’s obvious that we should believe, newspapers/TV/Radio/Internet also have side effects. Simply saying, anything interesting n glues us to it, will have an effect on us.

Public displays of any kind of news/announcements/talks/opinions/films etc; should always be in such a way that,

§ firstly- they must make it sure that they do not offend people’s feelings to the maximum extent,

§ secondly-should be socially responsible in creating a good environment,

§ thirdly-positive perception.

Any kind of media should have these basic idealogies before getting into the public business. But how far this is being implemented these days??? Not even 15%. There is a popular saying “News and the truth are not the same thing”. The people will obviously believe what the media tells them they believe. Ever since the newspapers began circulating from 17^th century, the manipulation of the truth was being published on paper. Manipulation is required at some point before publishing some news. This is the basic strategy followed by the news publishers from ages. But what kind of and what level of manipulation is necessary??? The question remains unanswered by most of the media folks. Because, it is their business strategy which more influences the strategical phenomena of presenting a news creating a kind of misconception to the people looking for the truth. Most of the media serve the interests of state and corporate power not actually the interests of the public. Impartiality is one of the major criteria which needs to be 100% justified by any media. But, they were all segregated and incline to their own interest these days. Decades ago, it used to be based on the interest of the owner of that particular media, whereas these days it all purely depends on their business profits. Well, every person who starts a business expects profits, but greed has outshined the wise principles of media.

Democracy is what all of us look for. In a democratic society, people elect leaders on their interest and the leaders are born out of the public opinion. This means, the leader is believed to be the best and made to sit on the throne. From where does the belief come from, word of mouth to some extent, and media to major extent. If manipulations majorly take place, where is the space for the truth to come out? Whatever is published, is believed. If one group follows one source, another follows another source. It is said that democracy is all about open debate and feedback from the citizenry. If the citizens doesn’t actually know what the truth is, where is democracy??? It has become kind of dictatorship. So, people are fortunate in dictatorship only, because they don’t really believe what is read or heard in the news knowing it is mere propaganda. They learn to look behind the propaganda and read between the lines. Democracy can shape out into dictatorship if truth is not brought into limelight. That's happenning too especially when leaders transfer power in between their family like an heirarchy. If media is responsible for such scenario, how well should it frame itself to contribute to the betterment of the society?

Going to the some examples, my own state’s media has become very cheap, inclining to support few big heads just based on caste and money. Especially the TV has much more impact on the society than any other media. Right from age 4 to 80, every individual finds it attractive. When so many people are being influenced, it is an obvious responsibility that the shows telecasted should be creating healthy impacts. I am not much aware about other states TV channels, but in my state, it is quite embarrassing to say that the News channels are the worst. Just creating some news, though it doesn’t really make any sense to the public and repeatedly telecasting it, has become a fashion. If u watch it for a while, I bet u get screwed up by the end. And the content telecasted sometimes is so obscene, seeming that the media has completely forgotten its range of viewers. For example, if u remember the news about the gal who died because of the acid attack, it was annoying when media has repeatedly shown the gal’s misery playing some pathetic background music bringing fear to the parents who send their daughters to college, and giving ideas to the guys who already have that kind of tendency, and thereby creating completely different opinion for the news. Another worst kind of news that popularly circulates is if any public figure/heroine gets caught on a secret webcam, that will be the end of that person’s freedom. Is it not brutal of that media to air such dirty flicks on the TV and that too ‘n’ number of times until people get fed up and turn off their TV sets? It is good to warn and caution women to be aware of their surroundings, but not something like the news channel itself defames the women. It is not just the case of women, but also political leaders/ film actors/ public personalities. They are also humans like us. Are all of so perfect with no scar??? It doesn’t mean because they have become public figures, they should not have their personal life. It is their right to have personal freedom. It is not stupid to capture their personal freedom??? Recently, most of the political leaders, aspirants were being targeted. Whatever they speak becomes a sensation, though it’s not a point to be mentioned, everything is broadcasted. Some of the public spokespersons started taking this as an advantage and trying to publicize themselves. It is only the media that makes them look like idiots. And the interviewers pose some dirty and filthy questions, such that the interviewee has to try their best resisting themselves not to slap him/her. Questions are always kind of provoking the leaders or aspirants to speak ill of their oppositions. If they wantedly do some criticism, the media fuels them to do more and more. In most of the cases, the leaders or spokespersons who are personally cool end up as fools unable to tackle the questions posed by the interviewers. It is always easy to question someone, but it is not at all easy to answer and satisfy the crowd. The newspaper people also started to follow the same mantra, writing in favor of their leader only based on caste/religion/money.

These days it seems like people are only born to criticize others and find faults of others. Be it a newspaper folks/TV folks/ political people/ film actors/ public figures, everybody wants to grow only by outshining the other person by criticism. Healthy criticism is always good for the ruling leaders to improve themselves and serve better. It is only the disputes that are prominently discussed among common people. Heated arguments are going on everywhere in forums, discussions etc. the internet has taken the worst position among all kinds of media. Now parents fear, that internet is something like a spoiler and believe kids should always be away from it. Whether it is social networking site or e-mail or any other informative site u find obscene content everywhere. Especially the ads and commercials which equally have an impact on today’s society, started publicizing their products more of with adult content. No matter which site u browse, u still find the dirty pop-ups. News on internet, when it comes filmy gossips has no limitations. Whatever u feel like can be posted, though there is no 1% truth in that, it circulates and people start believing and gossip about it. Arguments are endless based on caste/region on the internet.

So, don’t u think that Media is responsible to make/break a society??? From our side we can still contribute to the media’s betterment by posting feedbacks. The media should recognize the prominence of its role and act accordingly. They should make sure that their publications or programs should create no negative impacts.

Cheers

Vennela