MediaF e r r a r i on 29 Jan 2007 04:45 pm
Make someone watch a Hindi News Channel, especially Zee News, for 30 minutes.
Its a torture I tell you. I happened to watch this channel last Saturday whilst having dinner. It seems Big B’s family were in Uttar Pradesh to attend Amar Singh’s birthday party or whatever. This channel went mad. They were showing pictures right from the moment, Big B entered out of the airport till he got back. Add to it, Aishwarya has been christened as Uttar Pradesh ki Bahu. Thank god they weren’t in Haridwar or Rishikesh!
As days goes by, I really wonder how media will cover any news concerning A & A. We all are in for a nightmare, I feel. Is there no end to this breaking news craze?
on 29 Jan 2007 at 4:57 pm # Indian
Shame on Indian News Media.
By the time you read this news, the body of Major Manish Pitambare, who was shot dead at Anantnag, would have been cremated with full military honors.
On Tuesday, this news swept across all the news channels ‘Sanjay Dutt relieved by court’. ‘Sirf Munna not a bhai’ ‘13 saal ka vanvaas khatam’ ‘although found guilty for possession of armory, Sanjay can breath sigh of relief as all the TADA charges against him are withdrawn’ Then many personalities like Salman Khan said ‘He is a good person. We knew he will come out clean’. Mr Big B said “Dutt’s family and our family have relations for years he’s a good kid. He is like elder brother to Abhishek”. His sister Priya Dutt said “we can sleep well tonight. It ’s a great relief”
In other news, Parliament was mad at Indian team for performing bad; Greg Chappell said something; Shah Rukh Khan replaces Amitabh in KBC and other such stuff. But most of the emphasis was given on Sanjay Dutt’s “phoenix like” comeback from the ashes of terrorist charges. Surfing through the channels, one news on BBC startled me. It read “Hisbul Mujahidin’s most wanted terrorist ‘Sohel Faisal’ killed in Anantnag, India. Indian Major leading the operation lost his life in the process. Four others are injured.
It was past midnight, I started visiting the stupid Indian channels, but Sanjay Dutt was still ruling. They were telling how Sanjay pleaded to the court saying ‘I’m the sole bread earner for my family’, ‘I have a daughter who is studying in US’ and so on. Then they showed how Sanjay was not wearing his lucky blue shirt while he was hearing the verdict and also how he went to every temple and prayed for the last few months. A suspect in Mumbai bomb blasts, convicted under armory actwas being transformed into a hero.
Sure Sanjay Dutt has a daughter; Sure he did not do any terrorist activity. Possessing an AK47 is considered too elementary in terrorist community and also one who possesses an AK47 has a right to possess a pistol so that again is not such a big crime; Sure Sanjay Dutt went to all the temples; Sure he did a lot of Gandhigiri but then..
Major Manish H Pitambare got the information from his sources about the terrorists’ whereabouts. Wasting no time he attacked the camp, killed Hisbul Mujahidin’s supremo and in the process lost his life to the bullets fired from an AK47. He is survived by a wife and daughter (just like Sanjay Dutt) who’s only 18 months old.
Major Manish never said ‘I have a daughter’ before he took the decision to attack the terrorists in the darkest of nights. He never thought about having a family and he being the bread earner. No news channel covered this since they were too busy hyping a former drug addict, a suspect who’s linked to bomb blasts which killed hundreds. Their aim was to show how he defied the TADA charges and they were so successful that his conviction in possession of armory had no meaning. They also concluded that his parents in heaven must be happy and proud of him.
Parents of Major Manish are still living and they have to live rest of their lives without their beloved son. His daughter won’t ever see her daddy again. Finally Major Manish, to my generation is a greater hero, someone who laid his life in the name of this great nation.
So guys/gals, please forward this message around so that the media knows which news to give importance, as it is a shame for us since this Army Major’s death news was given by a foreign TV channel!!!
on 29 Jan 2007 at 5:11 pm # Prabhu
Indian,
Be happy that Arundhati Roy and all human right activists, didn’t demand that the terrorist must also be buried with full state honors!
on 29 Jan 2007 at 5:21 pm # Hell's Angel
I think it would be better if they setup a separate news channel to cover up all Big B’s & his families activities round the clock.. I was just thinking the same when i saw tht news on the channel
on 29 Jan 2007 at 8:23 pm # Purni
Hi Prabu,
I have been reading your blog for a while now and I enjoy reading your posts. I absolutely loved every He-She post.
This post rings so true. It is so sad that any bit of “info” about celebrities becomes headlines and the true heroes who make the news are pushed to the back seat and sometimes are not even mentioned in any of the leading newspapers or news websites.
I have nothing against stars or celebrities. They are after all public figures. It is just this crazy media. It is not the state just in India. Thats how it is in the US too. I watch CNN news every morning and majority of the headlines is about either Hilton or Lohan or Brangelina!!! Wish someone would report actual news.
on 29 Jan 2007 at 10:40 pm # Maverick
The heights of this is CNN-IBN running a debate on ‘Shilpa winning Big Brother- Is Page 3 becoming Page 1 these days? And the new anchor goes on like this … ‘News items like Shilpa’s win, Abhi-Ash engagement, Mika-Rakhi kissing episode…’ have been hogging the headlines in front page of newspapers and getting a lot of time in some news channels’
It was unbelievable the way CNN-IBN did this topic as if they were not covering any of these page 3 newsitems. They do all the coverage and make headlines news out of a silly gossip and then they themselves debate about Page 3 getting onto Page 1. LOL!!!! Needless to say, all the viewers SMS on this topic were trashing the media on the way they cover these newsitems.
on 30 Jan 2007 at 3:42 pm # madrasfella
it has been the trend since the media industry boomed. india today promptly issued an article with the heading TAMASHA NEWS.They were outrightly running a campaign to save sanjay dutt or sidhu(who were criminals in their own right), will they do the same to any ordinary guy. they are now seasoned politicians.now, they want to wear the secular mask, as congress, they went to the affected portions of gujarat. will they go to kashmir and campaign for the 2 lakh pundit families who were driven away by militants from their motherland.dd news doesnt have glamour but has the thing to deliver standaard news without any emotions or gimmiks. hope these channels take a leaf out of bbc or dd news. u cant run this mockery all the way. it will reach a level of saturation. its sad that prominent people like prannoy roy is also in the loop of attaining crazy TRP ratings.
on 30 Jan 2007 at 4:03 pm # geetha
Ya there was an interview with Amitabh in CNN IBN on sunday and the reporter was asking him how difficult or easy was it to have an international model as Daughter in law…
romba mukkiyam naatukku…
tooooooooooo many news channels and all that ive seen in the last two days is “shilpa shetty”… “salame ishq” reviews and “abhishek - aish to get married”
paduthuranga…… god!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
on 30 Jan 2007 at 7:18 pm # ...
For once, i agree with you..
wrote this one, in a fit of despair.
http://media-watchers.blogspot.com/2007/01/news-and-views.html
on 31 Jan 2007 at 11:36 am # Prabhu
Hell’s Angel,
Good idea
Purni,
Well, somehow these type of news seems to be popular with the times of indians!
Thank you
Maverick,
I have never seen a cheaper person than Rajdeep Sardesai in media!
Madrasfella,
Hmmm. You ask them and they will tell, thats what the current generation likes that. Guess we are a minority!
geetha,
….,
Your post makes a lot of sense!
on 02 Feb 2007 at 4:21 pm # madrasfella
the bjp-ss combine has sweeped mumbai, a perfect slap for those so called secularists. hope this trend continues all over india.