Sunday, June 17, 2007

Sensational overdose

If you ever have difficulty in explaining to your young son on what the word "sensational" means just allow him to watch news in any television news channels for 10 minutes!!! I cant believe that the media can stoop to such lower levels. I see a very disturbing trend in the media where quality is going down day-by-day for the sake of high TRPs or readership.

Not only is the content repeated infinite times, it is also overly sensationalised and hyped to suit the mass' apetite for emotional content. A Sunita Williams who probably recalls that she is of Indian origin is remembered by every household in India. Thanks to Kalpana Chawla and the high attention that media is providing for her!! I definitely dont mind this news being covered but i hate the fact that we dont care about the rest of the crew who are not originally from India.


Why are we always short of good news? Why is it not simple for folks in the media to understand that they have a much larger responsibility than cover the opening of the movie "Sivaji" in such a grandeur manner? I have been a big fan of the daily 'The Hindu' for the fact that they do a great job in playing down unwanted hype.

Freedom of expression is misunderstood as lack of responsibility. There are either skewed interpretations from the political mouthpieces or just attractive sizzle for the eyes and ears. The best one can do is to limit the viewing and take a nap or enjoy an activity with the family!

2 comments:

Rama said...

That is quite right. You always see the television channels breaking new however trivial the "news" might be. I was surprised by the latest hype "Harry Potter"..well I too was sucked into Pottermania having children who lap up all the trivia which was exaggerated by the media beyond proportions.

First time visit. Nice blog.

... said...

Dear Rama Iyer,

Thanks for your comments - i cant agree with you more. Infact i walked up to the bookstore just to see huge piles of latest Potter vanish. I felt, that like in any case there were genuine Potter enthusiasts and some there just not to be called left behind...

Thanks,
Joe