Is The Mass Media Dumb or Making Us?

Since the last month, The Talking Pen has remained kinda dysfunctional but the world has been on a rollercoaster. Though saying, rollercoaster could not be apt as there were miseries and sorrows all over rather excitements. And yet again saying that miseries and sorrows were all over could also not be completely right. But if we go by media we can only recall bad things happening around us.

Sushant Singh Rajput's Death Mistry!

India-China Border Issues and.................... Exactly, Nothing else. We could not talk about anything else that media has been projecting to us in the last month. Though as Indian Citizens these things too matter to us. We want justice for SSR #justiceforssr and we want our Indian land to be safe and intact as well #IndiaChinaLandWar . But, apart from these issues there are so many other things that were happening and we all need to know about them.

Media is understood as the fourth pillar of Indian democracy: Being its motive to be informative and transparent. It has grown as a bridge between People and their awareness. But, is this bridge cracking? Is the fourth pillar of the Indian Democracy working right? Is it being biased? And top of that the question is- Is it doing all that it is bound to do? For all these questions the answers could be- Maybe, Yes and No, a big No, uncertain etc. but I am sure no one will answer- Sure or Absolutely Yes.

In past few months of Coronavirus Pandemic Situation, News about lockdown, pulling back the lockdown, patients and casualties due to the virus, recovery and other safety measures have remained a constant for the newsroom throughout the world and it seems justified as well because it could act as an awareness programme. But while the world is returning to its routine there are so many things happening that are carrying too much information, worth telecasting.

In India 30 decades past we welcomed a completely changed Indian Education System #Indianeducationsystem. This change is so vast and layered that could be discussed long and long and many times to know it from top to bottom. Also the significance of this change needs a lot of discussion, be it on the grounds of- Inclusion of the Psychometric model in education, Significance of Vocational training in the education, Switching the model from 10+2 to 5+3+3+4, Causes and effects of changes and many such front. But how many things did the media covered? How many times these multiple layered changes have been a subject in the newsroom? Did we come across all the factors contained in the policy? Obviously no.

And this is just one example that I quoted here, many more newsworthy incidents and subjects are there which remain untouched by the media. I will share a surprising incident with you all, When the miserable Beirut Blast happened, #BeriutBlast I saw that on facebook and to check if it is right or not I turned on the TV and shuffled from one to another news channels but nothing was on them. I waited for almost half an hour but nothing was being telecast through news. I turned off the TV and later that day when I returned to it, The horrifying Beirut Blast and losses occurred due it were being discussed. Here the claim of being fastest also fails.

If the news channels experience the rise in TRP by showing the drift between Mr.Ashok Gahlot and Sachin Pilot then they will make us to know only about it. If #SSR and his hurtful death story is earning them hefty gains then the media makes us the beholder of that news only. If we conquered in our fair will of Ram Mandir and it is with god grace founded now, then we become bound to know about its celebration for long 5 days, many times and all the times. If a good part of media is politically biased then it will project things and ideas in a way that we too become so.

Do we deserve this? Or media thinks we are the bunch of stupids who could manage with anything they serve us? In our country, we know that people may not be educated but they want to be aware. For this awareness if we depend upon news channels then are we doing something wrong? Or in this case we are left with no choice than being the puppet viewers? Are these things not play any role in making us Intolerant? And here arises a new thing- Being Intolerant! The word

"Intolerant" was just a word that could be used in times, searched in dictionary for its meaning and that's it. But media has the guts which could project a simple word into the brains of people, in a way that it finds its new chaotic meanings. The media could escalate a simple word in a way that even using it for the need of a sentence, could take people for searching its synonyms.

Really? I am sure this is not just my expression. Many of us could say that, "Media is serving us the crap". If not crap it is not serving us all that is newsworthy. In the fast growing and ever changing world we are becoming smarter, we need more and better awareness, we have to match with the pace of time; In such situations when the media is considered a great source of knowledge, we expect transparency from it. And we consider it playing the phenomenal role of a strong and fair link between the Public and Administration or the Government, I am doubtful if the Media and Newsrooms are doing justice with us.

#media #massmedia