Friends, I am going to state something which might hurt the feelings and ego of many powerful and important persons and some of them might even try to question my credentials and personal capacity. I make it clear that it is not me but my thoughts that are important and that I am of the firm believe that today or tomorrow they will be widely accepted by the people to whom they are intended. Today in the morning at 7.45 AM (on 26th April 2010) I scanned through the web-site a few of the TV News channels. NDTV INdia had the headlines as "IPL: Lalit Modi out, Chirayu Amin takes over". There were ten associated news with this. There was also a photograph each of both the previous and new IPL Chairman. Well, there was a news titled "Naxal bandh call to hit rail traffic in 3 states" somewhere down the line and another one-"PM-Gilani could meet during SAARC: Krishna". They were put along with other important news like- "Gatecrashers at Shoaib-Sania's Pak reception" and "Dhoni: The pep-talk that inspired Chennai win". IBN Live had the main news as- "Modi down but not out, plans counter attack". It was followed by four other news. "am still the chairman of IPL, tweets Modi", " IPL gets new chief, fresh start, waits to try Modi", "Four IPL franchisees get I-T notice" and "Rise and fall of Modi; charges against him". Thankfully after that it talked about Probe report of Dantewaada incident. Daantewaada, as you might be remembering, is the place where 100 odd CRPF jawaans died in the worst ever Naxal atack. Headlines Today had the lead news as "I'm still IPL chairman: Lalit Modi". Another news was " Shilpa slams BCCI's claims on Royal". There certainly were two other news- "Naxal-hit states get Rs 95.61 cr " and "Fuel price hike: BJP flays Deora", but their priority level was much lower. There also was the smiling face of Lalit Modi at the main place. India TV's 5 top stories were "Greet Sania Bhabhi With Respect, Shoaib Tells His..", "Irfan Pathan Struck By Katrina's Beauty", "Shah Rukh Walks Out Of IPL Function Miffed Over", "Shakuni Vaastu Astrologer Handles Dhoni's Super Ki.." and "Indian Prem League: Dhoni Watched Match In Asin's...". Z News started with ":I am still IPL chairman, tweets defiant Modi " and a photo of Lalit Modi. It was followed by- "No JPC probe into IPL, phone-tapping: PM " and "Petition against Shoaib for violating law ". Later on there were also news like "Karzai assures PM of full security to Indians" and "Unique Identification Number gets new name and logo". I have placed this information for your kind perusal to appreciate what exactly are we being fed through all the informative and socially committed news channels. There is no doubt that these are private channels and are held by individuals or companies and thus have a right to present whatever they want. But the million-dollar question is- "Do these news channels not have any kind of social responsibility? Should they not have any concern for the real problems of the Nation? Does showing all these irrelevant and useless piece of information as top news-stories of our nation not slowly and surely poison the Indian brains?" We all know that the people behind these channels are extremely intelligent, motivated and committed people. They must have come to this profession with a lot of idealism and zeal. But does not the above illustration show that somewhere something has gone awry? Aren't there much importance issues in our country than the ones being highlighted as above? Aren't there much-much more important, sincere, dedicated, committed and illuminating people in our country who can be shown on the TV screens by giving them the due weightage and reverence that they deserve. Even if I try to think in the most considerate manner, I completely fail to understand how and why are people like M S Dhoni, Harbhajan Singh, Yuvraj Singh so great as to overshadow men like Nanaji Deshmukh, Anna Hazare, Baba Amte, Aruna Roy and many others, in the fields of judiciary, legal acumen, social service, literature, industry, scientific endeavours, journalism and so many other walks of life. Is it proper to place them on the backseat and turn these ordinary youngsters from Cinema and cricket into Demigods? We'll, they do have entertainment value and people like to have regular encounters with their lives. But then news channels shall not be entertainment channels. They themselves claim to be different and sincerely regard themselves as serious people engaged in some very important nation-building process. It being so, it seems that a time has come when the news channels will have to think over these situations and will have to make serious efforts to bring a sense of real proportion in whatever they are doing. I am not sermonizing over these things but am speaking through my heart because I sincerely believe that media holds a great power over the hearts and mind of the people and hence its appropriate use in the cause for which they claim themselves is made. Otherwise, the poisonous effects of these acts will have far deeper and dangerous repercussions. I think we need to come in a big way to spread this message around.
Amitabh Thakur, An IPS officer presently on study leave at IIM Lucknow # 94155-34526 [email protected]
