Posts Tagged ‘toi’
Fast-Track Talwar Case Campaign: A case of Rotten Journalism by Times of India
As if “Times of India” group was not content of unleashing that shouting headache on us, now they want to sway public opinion to achieve social injustice. Their latest gimmick is “Campaign to Fast-Track The Talwar Trial”. They are asking people to Join Times Campaign.
What a load! Do they even know what fast-tracking means? If these pretentious and arrogant people don’t know, let me explain in simplest of words. Fast-Tracking this case means, delaying justice to someone else. Someone else who might be as eagerly waiting for justice to be delivered. Maybe more. Someone else who was waiting so eagerly for his hearing date, but would be delayed. Someone else who do not have money to such fanciful and expensive lawyers.
Just because ToI thinks, we should delay justice to some unknown, poor man, whose case hasn’t got traction to get ToI readership and TRP’s, and fast track the case for Talwar’s why? So that their shouting headache should go on air and ride on his high horse of righteousness.
I mean media get a grip. It’s okay raising issues. It’s okay reporting news. It’s okay highlighting corruption and demanding justice. But to delay justice to some poor man that hasn’t graced your newsroom or been a part of the mainstream news is not good.
I am not against Talwar’s right to justice. They are entitled to it. But it should be equitable. Media has no right to make some case more important than others. I understand in crimes of rape, it is necessary to get justice faster than others, and hence we as a society support jumping the queue. But latest ToI campaign smacks of rotten journalism. Not unlike their cheap news on Deepika Padukone not long ago.
Fight for more courts, speedier justice for all. But if you start to cherry pick readership and TRP worthy cases and start campaigns in their support. You tend to lose public confidence. Already a number of surveys have cited media as the main reason behind all that ails our society.
We don’t want good media to fall prey to the deeds of such bad media. People from good media stand up, be counted and raise their voice against such bad media.
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.
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