Hee-Haw!

Over the past few days, I have been really irritated with the news channels in our country. Actually, not the past few days, for the past few months or years probably. I was quite upset, and finally decided to do something about it. So i finally decided to send a mail to all news channels. In a state of impulse, I just scribbled something on the computer, and shot off a mail.. Mistakes, there will be.. Naivety, there will be.. Please bear! :)

The Fourth Pillar? Yeah Right!

The past few days have been quite action-packed as far as NEWS was concerned, with politics taking centre-stage for a change. It would actually be wrong to say that only the past few days have been action-packed. Every day has been. If nothing happened, at least action was created by you people, like it has been the case for many years now. I want to clarify a few things. I am not a frustrated man, who has nothing better to do than send hate mails. I am not affiliated to any political party. I do not consider myself to be as 'educated', 'well-read' and 'thoughtful' as you are! I am just a 23 year-old student who is frustrated with seeing the kind of worthless stuff that you show on News Channels these days. And this mail has ben sent in a state of anger and frustration, so please forgive my tone.

I used to be really proud whenever I saw the news on TV. I used to say to myself, "Wow! We really have the power to say whatever we want on News Channels! These news anchors are really lambasting the politicians, and no one can touch them! Kudos to Freedom of Speech, and the Freedom of the press!". I used to feel bad for the Americans after reading reports of how the Bush administration controls their news, and consequently feel proud that in India, which is still not developed fully, we have the power to do so! But that was in my teens! The gravity of what you guys can control and how much you guys can affect has seeped into me more recently. The News Channels surely haver a lot of power, and they surely can control the minds of innocent people. And yes, you can show whatever you think is important! Nice! The problem is, that now this pride has turned to disgust. Disgust over the quality of news we have. Disgust over the worthless crap you are forcing down our throats. Disgusted that you, who are a part of the so-called Fourth Estate, have so little concern of what you show on screen.

We blame politicians for violence. We say that they incite riots. We arrest 2 individuals for inciting violence. But who will file an FIR against you? You cannot deny that news channels have ruined the state of India, the bonhomie, the peace, as much as the politicians. You sit comfortably in your Delhi offices, mulling over how you can rake up another issue, so that your advertising rates will improve, so that you airtime can be more expensive, so that your TRPs will improve and what not! You have completely succumbed to the pressures of conglomerates, and don't care a damn for the people you are affecting. How many of you gave some importance to the farmer suicides in Maharashtra? Oh sorry! I know, the whole 'Prince' episode was so important! Sorry I take back my words! How many of you try to update us on the world as it is today? Oh sorry! Your crime shows eat up the night slots! And why do all of you have stupid crime shows in the night, where the anchor himself looks like a serial killer? Well, you have them because your rival channel has them too!

You may be sniggering at what I am talking about, and why I am so worked up. And I'll tell you why. Because you have lost all seriousness, conscience and self-pride. You have forgotten the reason why you set out to be journalists. And most importantly, you are so ignorant, that you have no clue how much media, and especially mass media affects the thinking and mood of people. You have created a state of fear in the country. Something what the United States has done to its people. People I know sleep, walk, live, breathe, talk in a state of fear, of something bad happening to them. And a major part of that fear is thanks to the 'Sansani' and 'Crime Diary' shows which you keep on airing. When Mumbai was peaceful on the evening of the 13 February, you were showing incidents of violence which were a day old. Do you know how much panic that creates? The place where I study, the North-Indians with me were scared to even venture out on the roads. They were scared of me, of all Marathi people. And that wasn't only because of the irresponsibility of Raj and Abu Azmi, that was all fueled by your channels. You kept on comparing Balasaheb and Raj, you kept on spreading rumors, you kept on showing old clippings. Some of you, I don't want to name them, even went to the extent of concluding that, "Now will there be a state of fear within the Muslims in Mumbai? Because Raj is doing what Balasaheb did, so he may also target the Muslims like Balasaheb!" What the hell were you thinking when you made that statement? How irresponsible can you get?

I talked about the 'Raj-Abu-North-Indians issue' only because it is fresh in our minds. But the news channels have done so much damage, that you will not realise this now. I must say that I do not mean to generalise. Some news channels have really managed to hold their own ground. But a majority of channels are sucking up to the huge corporate houses. I was chatting with a senior media-person, who has been affiliated with a certain news channel. I asked him the same thing about the state of news channels today. And the reason he gave me was - TRPs. You think we really care about your TRPs? Do you really think that you can influence people, make someone into a hero, demolish someone, create a state of panic in the country, spread hatred, never focus on the really important issues - all for your TRPs? If you feel that you have no responsibility, then shame on you. If you feel - 'Arre yaar, don't get so worked up, its ok!' - then I feel you should be shameful of calling yourself the Mass Media. So go ahead, show crime shows, call astrologers and tarot readers all night, show inconsequential photos of Sanjay Dutt's marriage, and please! Never focus on the real issues!

I can go on and on, citing examples and showing problems. But I know that the heartless and brainless beings that you are, you will just throw this away as another hate-mail i.e. if you get any! But I am an optimist, and I feel that things will change, I hope that things will change. But they will never change unless you change yourself. Don't wait for a bloody revolution to happen, because when it will happen, it will be a big mess. India is developing, and you are an important part in its development. So please be aware that your every action is doing something to your viewers, consciously or sub-conciously. And Mr. or Ms. CEO of the channel, sorry that you have to read this mail from a 23-year old nobody. You might as well dismiss it off. But believe me, even though I have not seen as many summers and winters as you have, I can say that it will come and haunt you in some way or the other. When your house will start getting affected, only then will you realise that gravity of what you do. I pray to God, Ram, Rahim or anyone or anything that you have faith in, that we realise this before anything bad does happen.

If you had the patience to sit through this entire tirade of my feelings, thanks. If you deleted tis mail before reading anything, well then what's the point of addressing anything!

I just hope that I could reach out to some people. And I can definitely say that I do echo the emotions of many urban students that I know. I have mailed this to all the e-mail addresses of news channels that I could find, but I urge to forward this to as many news channels as you can, and of course if you can!

Thanks,
God Bless,
Peace,

Suhrud Godbole