"So how do you feel?",asked a hungry,mumbling reporter.
"Um mm,bad.Horrible.Disgusting.Angry",said a bemused,harried and obviously distraught voice.
'The average Mumbaikar is angry",concluded the reporter,and the latest gem just unearthed is emblazoned across television screens.Breaking news.
Elsewhere on national television,the debate rages on,covering simultaneously the 'anger' of the 'average Mumbaikar' and the efficiency and relevance of R&AW,IB, NIA and so forth.On some other channel,another overzealous evangelist of breaking news syndrome was heard asking this novelty,"So what did you see through smoke and blood? Were there any injured? What was your reaction?How do you feel?" I'll tell you what I feel:appalled,disgusted and ashamed of your journalistic ethos and efficacy Mr Reporter.By the way, we aren't talking about the famed 'spirit' and 'resilience' of the 'average, angry, Mumbaikar' yet,nor are we discussing,for now, the reality TV,cum astrology, cum daily soaps, cum treasure hunts, cum extra terrestrial obsessed Hindi news channels.
A few days back when the Kalka Express derailed,the deranged media smacked their parched lips in narcissistic glee and shot off insane reporters with their insane questionnaire at the site of the mishap.Empathy?Sympathy?Grief sharing?Move on.One of the many clueless young things,masquerading as a journalist and ostensibly indoctrinated by the numerous pros of the breaking news syndrome,found a grievously injured victim of the gory accident in a murky,rickety hospital ward,and claimed victoriously, "Here's the last passenger to be saved alive!". Breaking News.Once through with the self congratulatory rant,he asked the poor,mangled fellow with utmost insensitivity,"How do you feel?".Having given a good account of his journalistic wisdom,he proceeded to ask this classic,"What were your first thoughts when the train derailed?",and the questionnaire-an in your face insensitive bye-product of breaking news syndrome went berserk.The injured,writhing in pain,managed to mumble something ,as the cameras recorded every inch of his bleeding flesh and charred skin.If soulless,heartless,directionless,purposeless,zero dignity meets zero credibility voyeuristic reportage needed a case study,this one, by far was a thesis.
One wonders if the charter of corporate sponsored mercenary media anywhere mentions the oft abused and forgotten pariah called 'national interest'.One wonders in times of 'dheela' character celebrated by a pelvic punishing notorious Munni and personified by a seductive young Sheila, Laila, Razia, Jalebi et el, does media find succor in readily relegating itself to mere movie promotions and flashing the not so path breaking 'breaking news'?In times when an expletive laden rant, feigning as the voice of youth qualifies to be called cinema and goes on to become a runaway hit,one expects the media to bring in the increasingly uncommon entity called common sense to the masses.Far from its duties of helping to build an inclusive ,secular,egalitarian,democratic republic,broadcast media today represents a diabolic ,mercenary merchant out to wallop anything and everything,at the behest of its corporate sponsorship that has armed it with filthy,bestial powers of manipulation and sensationalism.So while their celebrated editors might debate every night on prime time TV over national policies and apparently national interest,the driving force of these self congratulatory media houses continue to be sensationalism,manipulation,voyeurism and insensitivity ; the very foundation on which the neoliberal edifice of this popular profit making syndicate rests itself.
PS: The Supreme Court of India in March 2011 said of the lethargic investigations in Hasan Ali money laundering case,"What the hell is going on in this country?".Ah!If only the 'average,angry' people of this country knew.
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