Random - 3

I had not planned to post anything other than questions and fundaes here. Looks like that plan is out for a toss today, because I want to lash out at some people. The first are those who generalise the ‘media’, and the second are those very people who are within this ‘media’ and give it a bad name.

Of course, this diatribe is entirely in an individual capacity, and no ‘media’ should be held responsible for anything that I, Arkadev Ghoshal, have written as a matter of personal opinion.

To those who generalise the media, some points:

• Do you even know that the word ‘media’ is a plural, and the singular form is ‘medium’?
• The next time you blame the ‘media’ for something, make sure you mention the exact newspaper, television channel or film that is ‘guilty’ of offending you! I bring up this point because as a newspaper journalist, I have more than once been asked to comment about if we have feel any remorse when showing ‘objectionable’ things on television. My friend, should I hold you responsible if your neighbour, or someone in your neighbourhood, does something ‘objectionable’?
• My point here is this: ‘media’ consists of different constituents. Newspapers, magazines, periodicals, television channels, internet, paintings, theatre, songs, films: they all are media! Hell, even oil-paint, crayons, acrylic colours and water colours are different ‘media’ for painting!
• If you are so riled about what you see, why don’t you file a public interest litigation (PIL) against it?
• And here’s another piece of advice: please do not try to put in UNINFORMED OPINIONS about things, just because you want to go one up in a group of peers! There have been lots of times when the media has tried to put forward informative and really helpful topics, but who’s listening?! It is EXACTLY this kind of mentality amongst viewers that gives a handful of television channels the right to say “we show what the people want to see”, and then go ahead and air all sorts of crap, like “swarg ka dwaar mil gaya (the door to heaven has been found)!”
• The next time you say ‘media’, try to specify which media. And which publication or broadcast medium. Think of what you, the ‘common man’, will feel like if someone groups you along with the worst of criminals in the world. Please, SPECIFY!

To those who are in the ‘media’ and give it a bad name:

• Please be more specific when airing a show or printing a report. Can’t we have a separate adults’ section and a children’s section? and time slots for that matter? Of course, this will mean that we are keeping the children away from news in the name of ‘shielding’ them, bit isn’t that necessary if we do not want them to be exposed to daily news about rapes and murders?
• Please introduce and make more use of phrases like ‘developing news’, ‘initial report’ and ‘top story’ in your news channels. This goes specifically for the vernacular channels.
• Please do not load us with crap like “kya duniya 2012 mein khatam ho jayega (will the world end in 2012)?” For heaven’s sake, we have had dozens of other disaster and catastrophe films from Hollywood, and many of them have been far more successful than our current subject!
• Please use terms like ‘alleged’ and ‘accused’ more often, rather than conducting a media trial of your own and branding a person as a culprit and a convict even before he is tried in court! You can indeed attract unwanted legal hassles if someone, who has been on the receiving end of this, takes serious offence to your deeds! This caveat is for the vernacular channels too. Most English channels are much more careful in this matter.

Happy reading, and have a nice life, folks!