Media and its different shadows

MEDIA AND ITS DIFFERENT SHADOWS 10/10/2011


Journalism is a discipline of collecting, verifying, reporting and analyzing information gathered regarding current events, including trends, issues and people. Those who practice journalism are known as journalists. It is the profession of reporting or photographing or editing news stories for one of the media such as newspapers or magazines. It is a style of writing for presenting bare facts to describe news events. Journalism plays a very important role in society.

Media should be the mirror of the society. Is the media to-day presenting the true reflection? For all the times Media tilt towards the big people. But in early days the tilt was for good cause. In present days the tilt is purely for deriving benefit. Media has not able to maintain it s status as a noble institution; but on the contrary is has turned into pure business.
In early days song, dance, drama and poetry etc. formed the media. It was more or less linked with religion. Its prime duty is to narrate greatness of the deities. But with that they propagate the good values in life and help to regulate the society with devotion & fear. Also it could create rebellion at the time of need. This form of media has not lost its relevancy.

Radio emerged during world war. It served the people and the government with dedication. It was a strong medium for cultural exchange worldwide. But its role was is limited as it remained under government control.
Emergence of print media provided scope for liberated and progressive views. It was the strong medium for spread of freedom, democracy and justice. It was given due importance in the liberated and democratic world. But misusing its status now a day it plays the role of power broker for rich & affluent people. Sometime before media people are struggling for batter pay and working condition etc. But now days they are able to generate all the benefits by any means.
Electronic media has emerged strong. Its audio visual effect has great impact. But its overdoses of information and focus on some particular class of people have a very demising effect. It sidelines the real issues and problems. The internet may break it barrier. It is immersing truly as peoples media. But it is an unruly brat.
In modern days Cinema is another strong media. Though it survives on the wealth of rich, even on criminally accumulated wealth; it would speak the problems of poor more effectively. It is able to raise the issues more sensitively and effectively. Perhaps it provides the closest reflection of the society and thoughts of its people. Even the Indian Cinema which is defamed for its unrealistic presentations is doing marvelous IN PRESENTING the reality of the society and people’s vies & thoughts in its own style.

LOTS HAS been written so far about the recent tragic serial bomb blast at Mumbai’s Opera House,Zaveri Bazaar and Dadar, which have once again shattered the financial capital of world’s largest democracy. No doubt, it’s the most barbaric act of cruelty, yet again witnessed by the people of Mumbai. In the last one decade, the city of dreams has been deteriorated by five tragic bomb blasts. Though, each blast pillaged the city, it was unable to discolour the spirits of Mumbai people even by a stroke. Recent blasts were an act of mousiness by some miscellaneous group who think that by doing such things they can break the spirits of Indians. What they don’t know is that with every such incident, we Indian will become stronger.

No doubt, being the most prosperous city of the country, Mumbai is the most vulnerable location for such acts, which helps the instigators to gain maximum publicity, which is the central aim behind such terrorist activities. It’s not hidden from anyone that atrocious acts in big cities get maximum media coverage and attract global attention. Had these blasts taken place in some remote location of Jharkhand state or let’s say a tribal region of Assam, they would have surely have been forgotten within a day and might have been confined to the state news only.
As said by America’s all time great entertainer Will Rogers, “We don’t give our criminals much punishment, but surely give them plenty of publicity.” So, does it imply that most of the terrorist activities have been executed for the sole purpose of gaining outside publicity? And if it is so than, undoubtedly, media helps such obnoxious terrorist acts by providing them the unwarranted attention. Malcom X said once, “Media is the most powerful entity on the earth? It has the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, because Media control the mind of masses.” He had pictured media as a powerful medium in the mindset of common people. No doubt, media has huge competence but as they say, “big power comes with big responsibilities”. So here a question arises, whether today’s media is really responsible towards its duty or is it a victim of showering unwarranted prejudices towards some culled news only, to gain TRP which ultimately helps it to allure more advertisers.

The way the devoted endeavour of Swami Nigamanand has been neglected by Indian media shows that it is attracted more towards hot cake type of salleable news and doesn’t bother a bit about news that's related to life of common man. Not to forget that Swami Nigamanand died after fasting for nearly four months against illegal mining and stone crushing near the river Ganga in Haridwar in the same hospital of Dehradun where Baba Ram Dev was admitted. It’s an irony that the chivalrous effort of Swami Nigamanand could not attract the attention of India media whereas an uneventful hunger strike of Baba Ramdev, which was full of all sort of melo-drama, was covered by almost every media channel of the country.

In another outrageous event, when the Indian media was engaged in covering absconding Baba Ramdev in the capital city of the country, a small hamlet in remote Bihar was witnessing the brutal act of policy fiendishness, where almost 8 innocent villagers were killed from point blank. Two days prior, when Delhi was witnessing the hullabaloo of Baba Ramdev, in Forbesganj (small village of Bihar), around 200 people were protesting against the unjustified blockade of a connecting road between two villages, which has been blocked by a factory partially owned by a local MP. Instead of supporting the destitute villagers, police not only opened fire on the protestors and chased them to their homes, but also killed women and infants. Surprisingly, not a single media house covered this incident in its prime time news. It was only after a conscious team of an awaken society covered the news on their website that the local governing bodies came into action. But unfortunately, until now, this particular news of Bihar Police’s villainous act has not been able to gather the attention of nationalmedia.Quitesad!

The way the Indian media covered the recent bomb blasts in Mumbai in a lukewarm manner has raised so many question about its modus oprendi. It was the same media that had avidly covered 26/11 attack on Hotel Taj in Mumbai but neglected the recent incident of three bomb blasts. Could it be because of the involvement of elite groups, like diplomats, ministers and high profile guests of hotel TAJ, which is coincidentally owned by India’s multi-billionaireMr.RataTata?

The way media has celebrated the works of Jarnal Singh, Pavas Agarwal and Hitesh Chouhan, it deserves serious denouncement. You must be guessing what is common between these three men? All these people have been made popular by our media. They threw shoes at some of the most respected and designated figures of the country, like prime minister and home minister.

Similarly, at a point where media doesn’t leave any chance to cover live interviews of newbie cricketers like Virat Kohli or Ishant Sharma or telecast a full coverage of marriage ceremony of an athlete like boxer Vijender Singh, it’s painful to find that the coverage of National Games is not on their agenda. I am not questioning the contributions of Virat, Ishant or Vijendra. They have indeed brought huge laurels to the country and have received due acknowledgment from the society for it. But why always events like National Games suffer weird biasness. Aren’t national games importance? Despondently, it’s only the national doordarshan channel that covered the recently held National Games in Jharkhand (might be because they were impelled by the government to do so) whereas all private news channels disaffiliate themselves from the games.


It’s not that live coverage always proves to be path breaking, sometime it does cause problems as happened in case of 26/11. Terrorists had been continuously monitoring the police movement through live telecast on television and hence kept on changing their tactics against the police. It was only after the police cut the electricity supply of Hotel Taj that the terrorists were nabbed.

Interestingly, in the recent blasts, within a period of half an hour after the incident occurred, media started flashing news about the involvement of “Indian Muhajjidin” in the blast. For god sake, will anyone tell me how could media gather this piece of information? And if they did then they should have first informed the authorities.

Today television channels and newspapers are making fast money by cashing on the news in wrong sense and wrong way. In the race to become more popular and to make money they have broken all the limits media must follow while serving to build a healthy and progressive society. They have no respect for the sentiments and ethics of the people and land whom they serve to, with their immense power to influence the masses they just make judgment like a true dictator rather than a good advice of a true friend as they previously used to do. If it will be going in the future then we people have to think about the role of media in our life.

I think media plays a very powerful role in bringing awareness in the society. And it has increased a lot off-the-late. The main reason is that common people rely on media to know all happenings. And the reach of media to common people has increased a lot nowadays. So the role of media is undismissable.

Lastly, according to me media is one of the most enlivening features of our life with fresh ideas and innovative use of technology. Admittedly, there has been a flood of wrong notions; medias are expression of creativity that need space and liberty to flourish. It is also the role of the media is to show the ugly picture of the society whatever may be the mirror reflects. Let not anybody play big brother and cripple the creative potential of the media.

All successful newspapers are ceaselessly querulous and bellicose. They never defend anyone or anything if they can help it; if the job is forced on them, they tackle it by denouncing someone or something else.



Societies have always been shaped more by the nature of the media by which men communicate than by the content of the communication. Jim Morrison says “Whoever controls the media, controls the mind.”

I would earnestly suggest to them for their good to order this paper to be punctually served up, and to be looked upon as a part of the tea equipage.


Let ethical and conscientious media prevail.

SIDDHARTHA SHANKAR MISHRA,
BUREAU CHIEF,
THESE DAYS, TASVEER E HIND,
ORISSA, SAMBALPUR.
PH - +919937965779