Sunday, April 22, 2007

your's forever, hype

At last, the wedding of the year(?) is over. More than it being a reason to celebrate(like it concerns me), it provides me relief. Now, i can actually watch some 'news' on tv. I, also can hear sensible matter on the radio, rather than where Rai and Bachchan junior are to honeymoon. Fortunately, the print media kept it low key.

The other day(night rather), i had cnn-ibn running on my tv. It showed two people hang outside the gates of the Bachchan household. They, were, in fact, trying to reason why 'a' star was not attending the celebrations. Silly, mindless stuff. If anybody did watch the show, i'm sure she/he will agree with me. Who cares if X, Y, Z..... etc did not participate. Moreover, let Rai and Bachchan marry, why the hullaballo?

To my chagrin, nothing worthwhile was being aired on any of the channels. And i had to keep myself awake, unless my parents wished to spend the night on the road.

Have we become so addicted to 'icons', that we hardly care for anything else. Let a marriage be a marriage. Not a scoop. Not a 'breaking news', being flashed, which makes me linger on that channel for some more time. Thinking that there is something after all. It only adds to my desparation.

Let somebody purchase umpteen number of benarasi sarees... let they offer prayer at a particular temple..... let them vanish from the surface from the earth.... and maybe never return at all.

Hype and never-ending hype! And the visual media is booming in India. With more channels in the foray.

The icing: we like it!

God bless!

14 comments:

Shiv said...

Mindless..purely mindless journalism..

When was the last time the media gave full coverage to some social movements? When was the last time they focussed on some relevent burning issues?

Oh..they have standard answer..we give what our readers/viewers like..

I call this as TOI syndrome..where TOI started giving some junk news as box items on front pages..

I was chatting with a friend on same topic and my friend commented "The way media is going crazy on this Ash-Abhi wedding, it looks like on d-day there will be an expert panel discussing what color of undergarments Ash will be wearing! ".

Anyways..happy married life folks !

Anonymous said...

I cleverly watched Animal Planet the whole day as the tamasha unfolded outside the gates of Jalsa and Prateeksha.

You've made one good point after another, mouna. I mean, who on God's green earth cares what Aish and Abhi are up to? Whether they're married or not?

If only we focussed on development journalism a lot more can be achieved. We're a backward country, for all the damn hype and hoopla. It is only a minority of our population that can be bothered with such non-events; whilst the majority would be more concerned with the drudgery of their daily lives... water supply, gas connection, electricity, ration cards...

I think what's needed is not development journalism but a development OF journalism!

There were so many events happening all across the country I'm sure; but what did the media choose to portray? Some blasted wedding between two people who were so hush-hush about the marriage.

I honestly felt pained to see tired journos hanging around the two houses in the run up to the wedding, as though their very lives depended on it. These people weren't invited, the entire matter was kept under wraps for a long time, and on D day they were made to stand like beggars under the mid day sun. Horrible!

Has any journalist worth his/her salt bothered to visit the Tsunami ravaged villages to find out how the folks there are doing after a couple of years? Do the scribesmen and women even think it necessary to question the government on the relief packages that were promised to the hapless fisher folk? No. This is not a glamourous story now, is it?

The Hindi channels take the cake and eat it too! Every so often one gets to see a woman or man openly cursing their spouse on their alleged infidelity. Quickly, a one hour programme is planned... lawyers, psychiatrists, doctors and what-have-you are called in (depending on the 'Breaking Story')to the studios to analyse the topic on hand. And we're feed with trash right in our bedrooms. fancy that!

I am increasingly proud of the fact that I have nothing whatsoever to do with the media anymore. My short, albeit eventful stint, was enough to teach me all the lessons I need for a lifetime!

I'd better stop here, for I fear my comment has already exceed the word count of your post!

Anonymous said...

When I was a kid "news " had a halo around it.My father heard the 9 pm news and we kids maintained silence.If we were awake we would try to hang on to every word and my father would readily discuss events after the news.
Now switching on a news channel in front of kids can be quite embarassing most times.MMS,crime digitally re created ,Bollywood scoops,and what-not.
One thing for sure...
NEWS is indeed breaking :(

Srik said...

All I want to say about it is




.

Anonymous said...

Excellent neela!!!
New is breaking... hahahaha:)

Anonymous said...

Good post.. With all channels going after ratings, the sleaze factor is something they go after time and time again..

As you say.. who cares !!!

balar said...

you have a valid point...i dont watch indian channels...:))
as u said, who cares abt AAs marriage and shilpa & Richard Gere kisses .:))

mouna said...

shiv,
toi syndrome, very apt. they allot time and space to such issues.

mother started yelling today, out of the blue. i later realized why: she saw a picture of rai and bachchan in tirupathi ;)

anand,
so what? afterall, we blog to express our views, is it not??

i thought u liked your chosen field, why do u doubt it?

neela,
i repeat this again, your remarks are so witty!! keep it up :D
i too do the same, if at all(clause) they show something worthwhile.

srik,
am i to see anger, disgust... thru' those invisible words?
- SK

vijay,
sleaze is all that we are allowed to see, and ratings! just like any masala soap.

balar,
u have a choice, don't u? yes, like we all care(duh!!!)

Srik said...

frustration and disappointment.

mouna said...

srik,
once in a while. we should let it pass.

Anand N. Balaji said...

Thanks mouna.

mouna said...

anand, what for? did i do something nice? :)

Anonymous said...

ahh..its a total tamasha...considering the media ...oh man give me a break...even the finer details...and at the end...we have to watch a debate over the same issue ...concluding its with the public's interest..anyways...its all part of gaining attention..which the media took care of...

mouna said...

anon,
yes, i heard cnn-ibn saying it was all hype, and pray, who was hyping it?

didn't they realise?