Posts Tagged ‘news’
IndianExpress and the Mockery of News
Just looking at the headlines in Newpapers these days makes me cringe. The sheer shamelessness and biasness leaves me aghast. These ‘relics of the past’ as I always call them, still have ideological hold over a lot of news that circulates in regular media and it worries me. Read the below two headlines from Indian Express website on the same day,
Rohith Vemula is not alone, this is happening in every university, says Rahul Gandhi
V/S
Muzaffarnagar: Rape video goes public, BJP leader jumps in
My simple question to the editor of the “self certified awesome” paper is, why not approach it the other way round.
Hyderabad: Student commits suicide, Rahul Gandhi jumps in
V/S
BJP leader calls for justice to Hindu women who committed suicide post rape video going public
I have no love lost for BJP, Congress of for that matter any of these thugs who wants votes just to make merry. But reading such headlines appalls me. Why couldn’t it simply have been below? Or some other headline without bias to either issue.
Rohith Vemula suicide case: Rahul Gandhi alleges casteism happening in every university
V/S
Muzaffarnagar rape and suicide case: Justice for the Hindu women, demands Virendra Singh.
We have no respect for our politicians but these newspaper editors still hold some respect in society and I wish they are stripped of this respect. Social media is breaking their citadel brick by brick. Hope it happens sooner than later.
Few New Blogs
I have started few new blogs. Hope they are helpful.
1. Java Interview Questions (http://javaonjava.blogspot.in/)
2. Admission Related Stuff (http://topadmissions.blogspot.in/)
3. Headlines of the Day (http://headlinesnext.blogspot.in/)
Maggi: Misguided Finger Pointing
Okay, so Maggi is in the eye of the storm these days. My Maggi. Let me first do some prediction. Maggi will keep on being sold. Nothing will happen to it. The tide will stem, just like it happened with Cola’s. People will be paid and sweetened, and tests will pass.
The issue I want to discuss is News Channels questioning celebrities’ culpability in all this. The celebrities who endorsed the product. I agree, they should be to some extent, as they aided in fooling people to buy the product. But what these news channels conveniently forget is they too aired the same advt. And hence are equally culpable in fooling us.
If celebrities are made a party, then all the TV channels, news papers, each and every one involved in promotion and marketing should be made a party. Limit of absurdness, right? Well so is making celebrities a party. If they are endorsing an illegal product, I can understand the blame. But when Govt. agencies themselves certified it earlier, how does anyone, including celebrities, News Channels know? We all were fooled not by Maggi, but by our own system.
Why haven’t we created a system yet, which catches such crimes sooner. Everyone who earlier signed off on the clearances to Maggie should be the first one to be taken to task. Nestle is a Swiss company, What better to be expected of them than to leach on gullible foreigners?
Most important is to create a system which is not fooled ever again. Not so easily.
What Times are Now?
An unfortunate controversy erupted when a leading English Newsgroup published a not so subtle article about a leading actress. Without getting into the details of the write up, silence of the associated news channel amuses me. On all other issues, this TV channel is always here and Now.
Had it been a politician who would have made some unsavory speech; had it been a police head who would have issued a demeaning guideline; had it been some actor who would have made some politically incorrect observation, the channel would have raised hue and cry on primetime and rightly so. The primetime which it boasts have garnered highest TRP’s in the last 5 years.
But today all silence. It’s not an isolated incident. If you go to their website, you would see more of such obnoxious articles. Skimpy clad images of female models collated from across the globe. Explicit stuff posted at the very top, just to grab eyeballs.
Some of the headings with equally raunchy pics one finds there are, “Babes flaunt assets online”, “Bollywood babes unbuttoned”, “Hotties’ peek-a-boo moments”, “Celebs caught pantyless” and “Celebs’ oops moment!” I feel ashamed even typing them, but not the newsgroup which can do anything for money.
What I am afraid is that such acts leave the fourth pillar vulnerable to attack. In their lust for readership to plunder advertising revenue, they are ready to sell the very essence of news. I agree that these pics are collated from public domain but why plaster them on the news website?
I urge Press Council of India to take suo moto cognizance and issue appropriate guidelines. Now is the Time to put an end.
Best Hindi News Anchor
In this era of 24×7 media, the number of news channels is increasing day by day. Most look clones of each other though. For those who doubt, here are some names, India News, News India, India TV, News Nation, News 24 and News Express.
The fight is on for the prime-time with each channel lining up its own set of debate moderators. I claim to be one of the avid viewers of these debates. Even then if you ask me who the best Hindi debate anchor is, I will struggle.
Each one has his/her own style. There are likes of Gentle Shweta Singh Aajtak, Probing Neha Pant Abp News, On the money Saurav Sharma India TV, No nonsense Abhigyan Prakash NDTV, Luxuriously lazy Deepak Chaurasia India News among others.
But one Gentleman that stands out for me is Ravish Kumar NDTV. Hailing from the Hindi heartland, Mr. Kumar is one person who holds debates in the true sense. He eases the participants into such a comfort zone where there are no high pitch voices, no headaches. He passes such canny silent remarks which rattle even the toughest. He gives everyone so much time that the real nuances of the debate come to the fore.
He take no side, lose no temper and raise no voice; still is able to bring out the story. He laughs; he seems lazy; he jokes; he uses vintage proverbs and brings in a mystic touch. He proves that to make your voice heard, you need not be loud. He believes that all views need to be heard, however absurd they may be.
He speaks the least, still is able to steer the debate with his wit and wisdom. He shows that true value of a smile is not lost as yet.
Well done Mr. Ravish Kumar.
2012: The year that wasn’t
Topmost could have been headlines of year 2012.
1. India demolishes Eng 3-0 in the home Test Match Series. Tendulkar hit his first triple ton. Gambhir is vindicated of “see you at home” remark. BCCI decides to scrap away Tests from ICC Future Tours Program. BCCI chief Srinivasan said and I quote “All Tests played in Chennai will be Home Tests and those played elsewhere in the country will be Away Tests”.
2. World not able to witness 21st Dec 2012. Just as predicted by the great “Ronald Emmerich” in his movie 2012, owing to Earth Crust Displacement and massive Earthquakes, 90% of human civilization is wiped off. This news is telecasted from US Space Station. John Cusack is among the survivors.
3. London Olympics 2012, turned out to be a disaster, overshadowing Delhi Common Wealth Games. Kalmadi was grinning from ear to ear with, “I told ya sa” expression. Anacondas and Godzilla’s were cited around athletes’ village. Organizers are blaming it on different perceptions of security standards across the world.
4. US Presidential elections were marred by an act of shooting when a heated argument between Obama and Romney got out of hand. Both took out their M16’s and started shooting at each other and the audience. The audience were already dead of boredom so no harm done.
5. 2012 was landmark year in India as far as women safety was concerned. Women Safety Bill 2012 was passed in the parliament, which led to Women only Police stations and death penalty for rapists. Country saw ZERO rape cases and only handful of eve-teasing incidents this year.
6. AK series phone have made Nokia the market leader in Smart Phones. Foldable screens and Phones which could shoot better than AK47 have done the trick. “We don’t need to buy a gun for Mass Shootings, We buy Nokia instead”, said a consumer. Apple will be filing for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy during March next year. Samsung is in talk with Yahoo for a possible sellout.
7. United Nations Security Council intervens in the Julian Assange’s case. US/UK could face UN sanctions owing to gross human right violations. Wikileaks brings to light more facts that no one was aware of. “Sun rises in the East”, “Earth is round” and “Blueberry cheese cake is awesome”.
Among other news.
Chuck Norris was not able to kill two birds with one stone. Rajnikant was cited asleep. Superman wore underwear under his pants. Batman finally played cricket. Vivek Oberoi became superstar. Chacha Choudhary got beaten by new Ipad in chess. Manmohan Singh saw movie of his choice.
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?
India Australia Series: Is the hype real?
Of Late, India-Australia Cricket has become a huge affair. No stone remains unturned towards a memorable and saleable experience. Same goes for the current Test series. While Players are busy churning out high quality of cricket, Media is busy churning out equally sensational stuff. Let me put down a few from both print and visual media.
Why did Ganguly announce sudden retirement?
The Holy Grail! The news channel famous for its sting ops claimed to have laid its hands on the “real” truth. Whole affair was portrayed as some Watergate scandal waiting to be unearthed. The news went, “Ganguly ki beizzati ki thi tyaari. Dada ko nahin chahiye thi yeh beizzati. Dada ne kiya kinare hone ka faisla”. According to the channel, Kumble had plans to leave out Ganguly from the first test match squad. He wanted to avenge the insult that Ganguly laid on him by not playing him during the 2003 World Cup despite his constant pleads. According to the “well placed” sources it would not be possible for Kumble to keep Ganguly out now.
Kumble and the 2 CD’s
The same channel claimed that Kumble-the captain have played 2 VCD’s to the team. First one contained clippings from the farcical Sydney test, Australia claiming dropped catches and the Monkeygate scandal. The second one relived Kolkata 2001. It got players pumped up. CD may or may not have pumped up the players but this news would for sure have left viewers boiling and hungry for revenge against the Australians.
Oz media slam Ganguly for delaying tactics in ‘farcical draw’
This was a heading from the PTI. I searched online for related articles by the Australian media. I checked Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and others but couldn’t find any such report. What I found was a single article titled “Farcical draw like kissing mother-in-law” by some Andrew McKinlay. PTI claimed as if the entire Oz media was after Ganguly.
Recently, according to a report BCCI advised a sports channel not to advertise this as revenge and hatred filled series. Whatever be the case, sometimes such reporting do help in keeping up the popularity of the sport. I for one enjoyed run-in’s between Zaheer and Haddin, Shane Watson’s antics and Brett Lee’s glare a lot among other things. In fact I might not have enjoyed the match so much but for the media backed controversies.
Media: right or WRONG
Last week a leading news channel was seen patting its back. It carried out an operation in Delhi. A female reporter walked on the road alone during the night to catch the person/persons who tried to take advantage of her.
One must say that this was a clear master stoke. However there seems to be a flaw. It served no positive purpose other than to add to the TRP of the news channel. On the hindsight it did some harm.
Firstly, let me go into as to why nothing positive came out of it. “Are the women safe at night?” is one such question as, “Is cigarette smoking not injurious to health”. Come’ on all of us know that answer to both the questions is a stern NO. What the channel tried to do by proving a well known fact, is far from my understanding. In fact a few days ago, even the Delhi CM agreed that roads are not safe for the females at night. Had the issue been “how this should be resolved”, channel should have been patted. It would have helped creating a better environment. But I guess, it’s easier to be a part of the problem than to be of the solution.
Secondly, why it did some harm? Consider the scenario that the car of a lady broke down at night. Now would anyone stop to help her? I think not. He would be more worried that if the lady turns out to be a reporter in disguise, he would be shown on television as a beast trying to take advantage of a stranded girl. This number would be much higher than the number of real criminals who would turn away due to the fear of being exposed. So in effect it would do more harm than good.
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