“Because what the media does not acknowledge, does not exist”
Growing up as a news addict, and the internet only worsening the addiction – I’ve seen news outlets, especially television in India change from good to bad worse and further down. The “shock value” that needs to be associated with each news article grows stronger and stronger while sub-consciously people are being desensitized to outrageous visuals and graphically violent images.
Regional television channels, going after the much sought after ’shock value’, have plunged into new depths of a stinking cess pool. How does it matter, when they have already bathed and partied while being submerged in filth – and the audience have lapped up whatever is being offered.
No action has been or will be taken, when media covers live interview with potentially prized targets of a terrorist attack while the attack is going on, a celebrity politician’s daughter runs away from home to get married to her boyfriend, and the visuals run for the next 24 hrs with film music playing in the background as if there’s no other news to cover. You want shock value? Look at your channel’s stupidity in the items that are featured, that should provide you enough shock value. Do the news channels ever cover hundreds of NGOs working tirelessly for improving the lives of the impoverished, other than a 20 sec news brief – why aren’t they given enough publicity that they are truly worthy of? Beats me.
What people need to be made aware of, by the news media, and their accompanying shock & awe skills, is the problems of common man. How nothing can be done without a bribe, how a common middle-class woman traveling in bus is stared at, and groped at. How common it is, for us to ignore all these things. While we offer condolences for the actor or stop in our tracks to see visuals of a twisted dead body shown in the television. A few months back, lower depths were achieved(?) , when two women (Andhra Pradesh, politics) – both in the political field, accused each other of sleeping around for favors and for successes in personal life. You don’t need idiotic men to insult and objectify you, something that will lead to more atrocities and violence, you do a good job of that groundwork yourself. And probably, if you win an election, you can be the woman’s welfare minister, where you spout nonsense about what you can do for the upliftment of the women (no, pun not intended).
I don’t have a research degree on how this will affect general population, people get desensitized easily, the shock value of today is PG/PG-13 for tomorrow, the higher the shock value is now, the more dangerous it is for the society. The media is on the path towards blocking any collective corrective action by people, and that encourages crime. With the complexity of the population and a far too long history of government’s limited ability to impact the society, this could encourage crime in many ways. The criminal is saturated with the violence he/she is seen around, nothing that the criminal is about to do now, will surprise himself (or herself).
Here is an excerpt from NDTV.com:
The cameras would not allow her dignity even in death. Even before she could be covered with a white cloth, the lensmen were in a hurry. They had to get the ‘first’ shots and put it out on air before anyone else. The more raw, the more shocking, the better the visuals. The minister concerned was quite willing to pose around the room, so all the channels could get adequate footage and no one would be left complaining.
Those who had managed the ‘first’ shots were directing those who arrived later in loud tones. ‘Body upar hai, jaldi se shot le lo, nahin to cover kar denge aur mortuary le jayenge’. This within earshot of family members. I don’t know if it has to do with the frequency of being faced with situations that makes us in the media sound so insensitive, or should I say terrible. This is not to point fingers but more for us to introspect as a clan. Link
…
Amaravathi was a headline for a day. The death of media ethics doesn’t ever make it to the headlines. Because what the media does not acknowledge, does not exist. Or so we like to think. It’s like the cat who closes its eyes while drinking the milk, so no one will see. How long will we refuse to see? Link.
This entry was posted on November 13, 2009 at 6:22 pm and is filed under Irony, Personal, news. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments.
Tags: India, Telugu, media stupidity, Amaravathi, Tv9, suicide, NDTV, Society, social consciousness
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