Watching the news on TV these days has been reduced to a farce. There are so many news channels around, and each seems a replica of the other.
In terms of content, they rarely have any thought provoking discussions or news. What we get now is “Breaking News” all the time. Also, the SOP seems to be: grab images clicked by others, plaster your logo, and voila, so-called “exclusive pictures/footage”. The best part is: same pic shown by ALL channels. So much for exclusivity!
Last year, I wondered if Karisma Kapoor’s marital problems merited so much coverage. Since then, we seem to have descended into some kind of an abyss. What we get to see now are stories related to activities of filmstars. They now focus on these “high society” dos; who got drunk, who misbehaved, who wore what clothes etc, or even what a “former mistress” of an underworld don is up to! I never expected the underworld to get so much free coverage.
TV channels are also increasingly intruding into private lives of common people, thrusting them into the limelight for no fault of theirs.
Newsmen rush inside someone’s house/on the way to a hospital, thrust cameras and mikes at them and ask, “Aapko kaisa mehsoos ho raha hai?” regardless of the fact that the person could be fighting for his/her life! Then they show endless footage of the house/hospital/relatives and a newsperson on the spot who plays “Mr.Know-it-all”, giving us tidbits.
When there is no news item worth a mention, then it has to be cricket.
There is a cricket pundit on every TV channel now, waxing eloquent about what ails the cricket team and how to set things right. Recently, channels invited viewers to reply via SMS to the question “Kamzor Kadi Kaun?”, implying that Chappell, Dravid, Pathan or anyone else is a weak link because we lost a match/series.
The Australia v/s South Africa match (where both teams crossed 400+ and SA won) is still fresh in memory. It is difficult to imagine the Australian media castigating Ponting the captain, Brett Lee who bowled the final over or even a rookie who went for more than 100 runs. In India, people would’ve called for their sacking. People lose all sense of perspective when discussing cricket.
One exception was the April fool joke that NDTV played on Sidhu, which was too good. They first called him “Maninder Singh Sidhu”, one of India’s best spin bowlers. He was speechless and a bit angry. They also called him ‘Cherry’ instead of his nickname ‘Sherry’ which incensed him more. They continued in the same vein despite his efforts to correct them. He seemed on the verge of an apoplectic fit before another person came in and told him it was a joke 😀
Till some time ago, even the TV debates seemed lively, but they now seem to serve no purpose. The participants are useless, time limit is too short, there is endless bickering and interruption. At the end of the program, there is a sense of dissatisfaction with the conclusion (if any). Rajdeep Sardesai was ok at one time, but has now descended to sarcastic taunts and bluster.
On a more cheerful note, ICC and ESPN-Star Sports resolved their differences a few hours before the football world cup began. Sports lovers had a great weekend being able to choose between football, cricket, tennis and Formula 1.
