Friday, December 5, 2008

Mediatricks


(Picture from Brisbane Times)






Serious and vilifying through tried and tested genres
Predictable and yet dramatic in presentation
Strong one day and fading away the next
Fighting for space and TRP ratings

Loves to fiddle in the muddle
Throwing muck on white mettle
Confusing and dividing right down the middle
Playing pied piper to all who are doodle

Tricking is indeed an art perfected
Used to arm twist the weak
And give a short in the arm to the strong
All the while making us cry wrong, wrong

8 comments:

vinny said...

very very true!

with such media, its better to not follow them n get lost!

nice poem:)

Fr. Jerry Kurian said...

For change in India we need a four tier approach of the legislature, bureaucracy, judiciary and the media coming into the process of change. The media can't appear like it is the ultimate saviour in a situation like this, which is simply not true.

HEART-BREAK KID said...

I have lost hope in "THE FOURTH ESTATE". As written in my post
"THE FOURTH ESTATE HAS DIED"

Hope there is a re-birth.....

Fr. Jerry Kurian said...

If there has to be any re-birth at all, it has to be for everyone. What we need is a segment by segment retrospection where each and every one looks at his/her field and pin points what is wrong and what can be done. Otherwise we will just continue to play the convenient blame game for eternity.

HEART-BREAK KID said...

The dominant media is ignorant of their role. That's the great danger.
It has just colluded with the powers that be in a culture of deception that subverts the thing most necessary to freedom, and that is the truth.

Fr. Jerry Kurian said...

It is true Josh. The media represent upper middle class aspirations and struggles and totally ignores people who are below this. Even the Mumbai attack has been portrayed as an attack on the Taj rather than the railway station.

The much hyped sms polls conducted on Indian English news channels are a case for study. The people who vote are only those who watch these channels whereas the majority of India is not in the scheme of things.

HEART-BREAK KID said...

I had chance to watch a talk show of Barkha...Below is the snippets of a Interaction between Barkha and an Israeli Journalist

Israeli Journalist : Why was the live coverage shown on TV?

Barkha: No one asked us not to relay.

Israeli Journalist : Journalist
should be responsible enough.

Barkha : She conveniently ignored the question and moved on.

Fr. Jerry Kurian said...

NDTV is also putting up a disclaimer saying that they telecasted the commando operation 25-45 minutes after it happened.

For me the point is also that journalists are not prepared for such eventualities. No one knows how to cover a terror or war situation. And therefore the coverage is made into a dramatic situation rather than giving it a sane coverage and analysis.