Orissa violence, a threat to secularism

Christens have been targeted by communal forces in the State of Orissa like never before. One fails to understand how fundamentalists can stoop to such animalistic levels of barbarism perpetrating so much violence on innocent civilians – mostly tribals and poor villagers. Has humanity lost all its sense of judgement and discretion, one wonders. Fundamentalists in Orissa are just proving to be what famous political philosopher Thomas Hobbes termed the human being as: savage, barbaric and cruel.
For the media, of course, these are hay days. There is so much to cover and so little time and space. Jammu and Kashmir is burning, Bihar is flooded and now Orissa is communally divided. But ‘plenty’ can upset the balance at times. That is exactly what has happened if one closely follows the media coverage.
One might claim that the communal violence in Orissa is an attack on a minority community. Such a feeling is true to a certain extent. But I think it is much more than that. It is an assault on the secular and plural constitutional values of India. The violence is a symbolic of the intolerant and sinister designs of communal forces to perpetuate communal hatred among gullible people, thus seriously tarnishing the identity of a democratic country. In no way can such attacks be justified and perpetrators’ actions condoned. There is an agonising sense of insecurity and fear among minorities across States and one really wonders if the State is bearing any responsibility.
The Orissa developments have received quite a bit of coverage across media – both print and electronic. While some newspapers highlighted the violence on front pages, others treated it in the inner pages. Several dailies carried editorials condemning the attack on minorities. Such a stand of the print media was heartening.
Across electronic media, though, there was palpable lack of priority amply displayed. One news channel gave it a third priority in its prime-time news bulletin. JK hostage crisis received as much as 10-minute coverage, while Orissa violence less than three minutes. (Perhaps there was greater ‘news value’ in JK). In terms of importance and urgency, Orissa communal clashes should have received better coverage, as secularism was at stake.
Moreover, electronic media reporters looked cynical in their approach. There was this anchor who asked Fr Babu Joseph, CBCI spokesperson, whether closing down of educational institutions would not incite further violence. He called the closing of institutions as ‘unfortunate’. What is so unfortunate about a silent protest is indeed a mystery. Further, can mindless violence for any reason justified is for anyone to decide.
Priority, sadly, does not appear as a news value in Journalism books on news values. It is high time that we included it, so that the future media professionals learn to prioritise issues and send right messages among readers and viewers.

Abhinav strikes gold and media glitters

So finally India has won a gold medal in Olympics. The whole country is in such a jubilant mood that hardly anyone noticed India’s series loss to Sri Lanka in cricket. The gold that Abhinav Bindra has won has not only created history but has turned the mood of the country. At least for the time being, people, including Abhinav’s parents are not complaining about India’s dismal training facilities and politics in sports. All are celebrating India’s first ever individual gold in Olympics.
As expected, media went berserk giving more than due importance to the event. There were copious reports and photographs dotting the front pages of most newspapers with dramatic layouts and designs. Most news channels covered the event the whole day and more. Most part of the prime time news was devoted to Abhinav, with reports of his hard training, state-of-the-art facilities provided to him by his father, the unassuming nature of the gold medalist himself and so on.
Why not? Media were doing the right thing. Even if they were going overboard, for the time being, at least, they could definitely be excused. No one is really complaining about the media this time, as every one wants to know about Abhinav.
Granted that media normally are falls in love with winners. Losers have very little space and time devoted to them. Even that can be accepted as well. But it is sad and a difficult matter to accept that media do not have space and time even for the fighters. It is only now, after he has won the gold that the whole country has come to know who Bindra is. It is only now that we know the efforts that he has put in. Media had no time or space to tell us the fighting sprit in such people.
Winning or losing is part of the game. But what makes the difference is the fighting sprit of the athletes, the hard work that they put in and the amount of sacrifices they make. Such efforts sure have to be given their due place by the media. It is only through such ways that the younger generation can be inspired and motivated. Sadly, media do this only for the winners. Losers and fighters are rarely noticed by them. No wonder, India Today magazine once made a rather ‘candid’ acknowledgement as regards its inability to put Vishwanathan Anand on their covers when he failed to win the World Chess Championship. The editor said, “Only winners make covers”. Perhaps Anand took serious notice of that statement. The very next year he won the same championship in style and he was on India Today’s covers. When fighters also make covers India can expect more medals in the years to come.

Bombs and media blast

Last week was a week of panic and terror for the whole country. There seemed to be bombs everywhere. Suddenly people felt they were not safe anywhere. Bombs exploded in buses, bus-shelters, near shopping malls, in parks and, sadly, even in hospitals. So which was the safe place? No place was safe, no one was safe. That was the message picked up by the people after the bomb blasts occurred in Bangalore and Ahmedabad.
Media were, as usual, agog with wide coverage of the twin blasts. News channels had no other news, except the terror news in two states, for several days. Further, they were also quick to make equations and draw conclusions on the pattern of terror – that it happened only in BJP-ruled states. So a high alert was sounded by the Media, to start with. Accordingly, other BJP-ruled states went dizzy beefing up security measures.
Such equations seemed far too pre-matured. In fact, the two blasts that happened may not have had any immediate connection with each other. When all attention is concentrated somewhere else, terrorists have their job easy. That is how the strategy may have worked.
But there was another issue; that was media’s carelessness exposed abundantly those days. On the first day most channels were in a way responsible in creating panic among people by airing all the while only the blasts in Bangalore. They had no other news. Though the blasts were of low intensity, the channels made them look really serious and enormous. Because they aired only that news, the whole city was in panic. Everything came to a standstill, at least for sometime, when terror struck Bangalore.
The next day, however, when there were blasts in Ahmedabad, Bangalore was totally forgotten, left to fend for itself. Channels spared not even a few minutes doing a follow up. That was not their concern, at least on that day, as they had a bigger pie to savour. It is unfortunate; but it is a fact that media always look for stories to ‘appease’ their audience and keep themselves afloat in the market of cutthroat competition. In the bargain, of course, audience is left to wonder at the media dynamics that are at work.
A couple of days later, however, channels came up showing the resilience of the people of both cities. They had high praise for these people. They said that in general people in all metros were highly resilient. What else can those people do? Can they lock themselves inside their houses for days? Life in a metro is tough for common people. Unless they work hard everyday they have to worry about their next meal. Media may call it resilience; but people would rather term it their fate; their daily struggle.

The deal and the ‘deal’

The nuclear deal is not only causing tremors in government circles, it is also having its aftereffects on the media as well. Expectedly, most media organisations have stopped discussing anything else except the ‘deal’. Hence channel after channel is inviting the same leaders to discus, debate and fight it out (literally).
We sometimes fail to understand as to why several channels are fond only a few politicians. Abhishek Singhvi (Congress), Rajiv Pratap Rudy (BJP), Ravi Shankar Prasad (BJP), A. Raja (CPI), Jayanti Natarajan (Congress), Shahid Siddiqui (formerly SP, now BSP) are all favourite of many a channel. But there is no guessing. Their oratory and argumentative skills apart, these leaders can argue their cases well, even against their convictions. A classical case was that of Shahid Siddiqui. He defended the deal tooth and nail in several news channels, only to oppose it a few days later. He thus went to the extent of deserting the party by joining hands with BSP.
Channels like NDTV and Times Now know very well that whenever there is Pratap Rudy, the debate heats up. Rudy is known for his abrasive acumen, where he lacks immensely the decency to allow others to speak. He can argue his case only with certain concocted ‘facts’ which he can present with utmost rhetoric. He further has the uncanny knack to silence the opponent with his curt but illogical remarks. His very presence can stimulate heated discussions, simply because he speaks more from the pigment of his imagination. And with another argumentative Indian like Abhishek Singhvi around the place, there is assurance of sensational debates – whether they are worth all the time and money is a further debatable issue.
So here are media institutions, falling head over heels to urge leaders to come to their studios to discuss the deal. No one, of course, is introspecting as to the ultimate usefulness of such an important debate. That the media, in general, are in favour of the deal is a fact well known. But brining in leaders with vitriolic oratory can add up rich dividends in terms of advertisements and TRP ratings. So no channel wants to forego the ‘deal’ with politicians.
Meantime audience, of course, is fed up seeing the same faces time and again, listening to same arguments from more or less the same people. The issue is the same; unfortunately, those debating the issue also are the same. What does the common man feel about the whole debate, we hardly know. I think to know that we need to wait for the next elections, which may be just round the corner.

Reality show is not so real

Sometimes it is indeed a wonder and a mystery as to how these kids are able to withstand so much pressure of this modern cruel world of reality shows. Children are made to behave like adults. They are asked to perform like adults by the show-men (and women, of course). In the bargain precious childhood which is supposed to be so much fun is lost for good.

The 16-year old Shinjini Sengupta is just one of such many teenagers who today are lured by their parents and relatives into becoming celebrities. She was allegedly reprimanded for poor dance by one of the judges of a reality show hosted by a Bengali channel for . Consequently she fell ill, taking the remarks seriously. They have affected her psychologically.
Shinjini may not even have had any freedom to say a firm ‘No’ to the demands. Perhaps, she was made to believe that becoming a celebrity at her age was the best thing that could have happened to her. So she was caught in the trap of illusions and over-ambitions even before she could realise. Now it is a bit too late to introspect as she is battling for her life in the NIMHANS hospital, Bangalore.
There is nothing real about reality shows that every channel is airing at will these days. Reality show is another name for making life miserable. We know what had happened to Shipla Shetty in UK. Some might call it racism; but it is much more than that. Reality shows, in general, demand that you be a superhuman, possessing extra thick skin and a strong heart to be free of any emotions and feelings. To be more precise, I do not think the demands of reality shows are fair enough for ordinary mortals, especially children.
Indian channels are famous for doing a copy-cat of Western channels, especially of USA and UK. There seems to be very little original in terms of programming and creativity. Any show that gains popularity in the West is immediately re-made in Indian channels. ‘Who wants to be a millionaire’ ‘Are you smarter than a 5th grader’ are some of the many reality shows that have been ‘lifted’ into Indian channels. In the last few years there have been sporadic increase in the number of dancing and music reality shows on many entertainment channels. Many of them are children-centred and have become popular, but at a very costly price.
It is a big question whether children have the wherewithal to withstand the demands of their studies on the one hand and the reality show on the other. Shinjini’s case has grabbed media attention because she has been affected psychologically and physically; but media do not report anything about all those scores of children who are silently suffering the demands and over-ambitions of their parents who cajole them to become ‘famous’. We also do not get to know what happens to their studies and their childhood owing to reality shows. Media are too busy with trivial things that they have little time to address these issues. The ‘shows’ will continue unhindered until another Shinjini falls prey and then media will wake up, at least for a while.