Setting of Priorities

Yesterday, i was just checking my Inbox and i received a forwarded mail about a particular News incident. The news was that an Army Major had lost his life while fighting terrorists in Kashmir, but there was no mention of it in any of the News Channels. The mainstream Hindi and English News channels were busy covering events relating to Bollywood Marriages, Cricket Controversies as well as other Voyaurestic and Tabloid news scoops. All of this makes me wonder wether the concept of Ethics and Priorities is indeed something which the Media needs to look at.

To consider the concept of ethics and priorites would be a waste of time in today's Socio-Economic dynamics. The tendency in this case is to sell the news by which the Advertisers and other major businesses get a boost. News has indeed become a Commodity, and one which is devoid of any Seriousness. The scary part of all this is that the public have resigned to this fate and they are not speaking aloud on this issue called Desperate Journalism. Maybe, a very radical thought has to be tabled out to prevent Desperate Journalism. In one of the Communities on the Socializing site www.orkut.com, memebers there have called for the stopping of 24 hour News channel. Since all this kind of Desperate Journalism is due to the very nature of 24 hour television, this might not be a bad idea.

But, the competition has reached such unethical proportions that to say anything against banning 24 hour Television News would be equivalent to curbing freedom of speech and Expression. News Channels, more in particular the Hindi News channel, have taken obscure events and made them into BREAKING NEWS. All Trivial and personal issues have been bought out in the open and have been relayed in the form of the Soap Operas, which dominate the Indian Television Market. Rajdeep Sardesai, the Editor in Chief of the English News channel CNN-IBN, gives an account of this tabloidization in his blog updates on his website ww.ibnlive.com. The fact that a Criminal surrenders not in a Police Station, but in the studio of a News channel, indicates the extent to which the Tabloid Media can stoop to for airtime and Advertiser revenue.

In my posts, I have often being very critical of Advertising, and this is the reason why. Tabloid and Trivial events dominate the airtime, while serious and important issues which plague the nation are pushed into the background and given little airtime then they deserve. The news of the Army major killed in a terrorist encounter in Kashmir is overshadowed by Glitzy news emanating from Celebrity parties. The way that competition is brewing among the news channels gives out a clear signal: Those news channels which engage in Tabloidization and sensationalism will stay ahead in the competition and rake in more money. The news channels which do give out serious NEWS will stay behind, forcing some of them to go down the sensationalist path.

But, the silence of the Indian Public is indeed Deafening. This also exposes the pathetic mentality of the general public which takes pleasure and also encourages news channels to engage in sensationalist ventures. The Soap Operas in India has created such a fan base that certain news channels have adopted the Soap Opera style. The proof to this comes from a viewer who gave an interview to a prominent magazine, when she said that she watches Television News for Entertainment, for they are similar to Soap Operas. I guess this silence is bound to stay, because looking at how things are going about in the Indian Media market, the News Opera will continue.