Posts Tagged ‘IBN’
Brutal Lust for TRP’s and Downfall of Arnab Goswami
Half the time I turn on news channels, I am witness to an advert as to how that channel is No. 1. How it beats others in a given time slot, event or what not. It is not about News anymore. News has taken a backseat. It’s about money, money, money.
As I wrote sometime back, Arnab Goswami’s triumph as per the advert rates backed by TRP’s, gave rise to an army of imitators. Each following his footsteps in shouting match, disrespecting panelists, twisting facts for making interesting story.
It was the day journalism kinda lost. Journalism is the business of News not Views, was a thing of the past. What it gave birth to was motivated news. And the worst kind of, “pick and choose” which story to run based on TRP it can generate.
But days of such yellow journalism are only few. Change has already started happening. Recent viewership of CNN IBN has left Times Now behind and it has come as a fresh whiff of fresh air. A new breed of news readers and anchors headed by Zakka Jacob, have brought a welcome change. Gone are the days of mudslinging and shouting slugfests.
I commend Zakka Jacob and team and would urge them to remain as they are. There will be temptations and pressure to go rogue and initiate a shouting match. But please don’t. Ethics and honor in journalism are hanging by a thread. Hold it together.
Racism: Reverse and Progressive
A lot has kept us busy as a nation last couple of weeks. CWG, Mohali win and most recently some serious allegations of racism against a few officials from down under.
If I am right, Ministry of External Affairs, India summoned High Commissioners of respective countries and lodged protests. Last I heard the said individuals either resigned or were ousted and rightly so. Such behavior has no place in civilized societies.
Okay, tell me one thing. Has racism sprung up all of a sudden during recent times? The answer would be a no. Racism is a perception which a society or a race developes about contemporary society or race overtime. It’s just that with the advent of Globalization, these days we get to know of it real time. Earlier Lord Ganesha on Chappals was mere fashion for a society that doesn’t know anything about him, Today it is offensive.
Tell me frankly, how many of us think Bhajji did indeed utter “Maa Ki” and not the racist slur. Why then were we as a nation hell bent on seeing Bhajji free of the allegations? Now come ‘on, it had nothing to do with lack of evidence or anything thereof. If such had been the case then all our politicians were saints.
To be frank it’s about who is leveling the allegations. Had the opposite team been Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, West Indies or for that matter South Africa, we as a nation might not have backed our player to that extent. Why? Coz we have seen long periods of unabashed Aussie sledging as a reminder of the days of the Raj perhaps.
When a society which has perception of being shamelessly racist, throws up allegations of such sort, it seems rubbing salt in the wound. You gotta handle what you dish out. Right?
But what worries me more is a developing phenomenon, Reverse Racism. In our part of world racism is generally related to prejudice that developed white nations have against us about them being superior. The aspect of racism under which emerging societies like us berate, taunt or create a certain perception about developed nations is what I call Reverse Racism.
When white girls are considered nothing but free meat. Whole society is said to lack values. If it’s not racism, what is it? I was shocked to see in a recent episode of Bigg Boss, a dozen white models in skimpy dresses made to dance with the ousted contestant. Just as his inaam. When the whole crowd enjoys it, it’s not just racism, it’s sadness.
Equally frightening is Progressive Racism. Progressive racism is when slightly more developed race is prejudiced against slightly lesser developed race.
When an African student in Delhi University is called Kaalu. A person from the same region is called Habshi on national TV. When CWG teams from African countries are given step motherly treatment. On daily basis do we see jokes being made on color of skin on TV. “Abey door hat, tu rang chodta hai”. “Sab log fair and lovely lagate hain, yeh cherry blossom lagata hai”. “Abe langoor ke bhai”.
I am not trying to be apologetic here, I hate that frankly. But if such progressive and reverse racism continues in our society, we too would lose our moral right to complain. We would just be another hypocrite in the bunch. Do we really want that? It’s bit scary to answer, isn’t it?
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