Blast from the past: Rein in these Hounds!

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Sunday, October 10, 2004

Rein in these Hounds!

Watched this awesome documentary called "Control Room" a few days ago... It's on Al Jazeera and the whole scenario surrounding the oppression of objective journalism in today's world... It really struck a chord...

Come to think of it what is this 'reality' that we speak of? Is it something tangible and universal or merely our perception of events? And if it is the latter, then shouldn't we be immensely worried about the rampant abuse of all the media around us which shape our perceptions?!!

I have watched FOX News butcher every notion of "fair and balanced" reporting that I had... I have seen the 'Times of India' turn into a dishrag, shamelessly furthering the cause of its corporate cousins (like Indiatimes and Times FM)... I have seen the political spin-masters weaving their webs merely minutes after a candidate has said something and trying to convert his message into something totally unrecognizable! But that's not the real shocking bit - the most frustrating part is that common people like you and me seem to be swayed by all this wand-waving!

With the media playing such a dramatic role in all 'our' views and opinions it really is a wonder that we don't do more to ensure that we indeed get ONLY the 'news' and not the 'opinions'... Infact to take it one step further, sometimes we get neither news nor opinions, but complete fiction! But then again, mebbe the reason we hear what we hear is simply because that is indeed what we WANT to hear! If more people took a stand and said 'enough is enough', these slaves of ratings would have to stop and take notice and change their errant ways!

And may I add that 'errant' doesn't really say it all - Misconstruing Kerry's pragmatic thought on measuring up to global standards of propriety and turning it into some garbage about 'global veto' is blasphemy and slander and not 'errant' behaviour... 'Errant' is what a 5-yr old kid is when he breaks the cookie jar!!! When TOI uses a quarter of the front page on the world's largest-selling English daily to harp on about some dating funda on '8888', it's bordering on cheap prostitution, not an 'errant' act!!!

Today's media needs to hear this loud and clear - We the people are adults...and are capable of independent thought! We DO NOT need you to tell us what message to draw from what we see! We are in a democracy goddamit - not some state-sponsored thought-sanitization program! Documentaries like 'Control Room' need to be seen by us all - if it doesn't make you erupt into a vicious tirade like this, it will atleast make you uncomfortable enough to stop and reflect for a while!