Saturday, April 01, 2006

Yellow Journalism and India....

I have always been fond of reading news papers/magazines such as the TimesofIndia, The Hindu, Indian Express etc. and perhaps, that is why I am very sensitive to the radical change these newspapers have gone through during the last few years.
The website of the Times of India, now resembles a tabloid, usually containing gossip columns on bollywood stars, their sex-lives and routinely posting on it half-naked pictures of models - both, men and women. The HindustanTimes, on it's website, now proudly publishes a special section called 'HTTabloid'. Just today (04/04), the web edition of the 'Times of India', has posted a picture of three women in bikinis entitled 'Girls wanna have fun'.
What has journalism in India been reduced to? Over-sensationalizing trivial stories and giving those more importance that real news worthy items. Disgusting, is the only word I can sum those up with. India-today, a respected news magazine, has fallen into the same category regulary publishing populist stories - tap into the public mood, write what they want to see/read/hear in order to sell the news paper.
I was reading just the other day that over the last few years a dozen or so new publications have sprung up in Mumbai. The aim is not journalism but yellow journalism. Perhaps, the target audience is not the educated but targeting the vast mediocre audience that has suddenly become cash rich due to the the outsourcing boom. It is true that money cannot raise the intellectual IQ of people. The King of England was once asked by a man to make him a gentleman, the king replied, 'Sir, I can make you a Lord or an Earl, but a gentleman, I cannot'. The gentleman is a metaphor for someone who appreciates intelligent content and not mindless drivel that is what seems to be demanded by the public. We should stop complaining about America and it's press and take a look at our own house. We aren't much different from the American press. But, hey if this is what we demand, then this what we deserve.
After as the REVERED 'Times of India' proclaims, 'Girls just wanna have fun'.

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