As someone said, the media's the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that's power, because they control the minds of the masses. Media play a vital role especially in democracy. Media is the most dominant unit of democracy that keeps an eye on legislative, judicial, and executive powers and enlightens common people the practice of three powers, thus bridges the hiatus between people and power.
I have been watching the proceedings and developments in the case of acid attack on Swapnika and Praneetha. Few days back one of the news channels showed the footage that had a young man, who allegedly threw acid on Swapnika and Praneetha, lying on the ground along with two accomplices, drenched in blood. The wicked scene was shown with a horrific music in the background, as if it was a tragedy scene of a thriller movie. Later the same news channel broadcasted few interviews with some people who were all applauding the police efforts for their courageous act of wiping out of three anti-social elements. In a way media was depicting the police as heroes, who in fact took the law in their hands and killed violently the acid attackers who, as per police, allegedly tried to attack policemen with acid. The three attackers should definitely be punished; I am not condoning their uncivilized, barbarian act. But they should be punished as per judiciary system of India. My concern is the ignorance of media on the negligence by the police to act upon when victims lodged a complaint. The negligence is the cause which led to this unfortunate situation today. Instead, media was provoking common people by injecting the law of blood for blood, which unfortunately doesn’t abide by the democracy.
Couple of days back, I saw a footage that showed US President Bush who ducked to save himself from the shoes hurled by an Iraqi journalist. The journalist found a way to vent his anger and frustration by throwing his shoes at President with shouts of ‘This is a farewell kiss, you dog!!’ and ‘This is from the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq!”. Since then, this incident had been discussed as a lapse of security by analyzing the details of security personnel available at the time of incident and predicted possible attacks in the future on president and suggested few tips to avoid this kind of incidents from happening again. First of all, it wasn’t a lapse of security and no security check is available to study the intentions of a person, let alone his acts. Media should not just focus on the details from personnel to make sure if the journalists, who were present at the press conference, background were checked. The whole incident reflects the aggravation and dissatisfaction of an average Iraqi. Media wasn’t even worried to look at the incident in that aspect, and ‘un’surprisingly they presumed that Journalist was on wrong side. I agree that he was on the wrong side by throwing shoes at a President, but a light of investigation on his frustration and a study of his agony would have been better information. It would have meant that media had covered the incident in all aspects, refraining itself from a cluster biased minds. Instead, they had manufactured the news the way they wanted and made it disappear in just a day or two, which is very unlike of media.
Not only above said incidents, but also the repetition of news all day long would clearly test ones nerves on these news channels. They would like to talk about a dog show numerous times in a day rather than bringing the news of killings of poor, innocent Indian students in universities across US. I am talking about that particular incident here, not just because I am Indian, but also I believe that this piece of information has substantial meaning to it than some dog show.
Media is a powerful weapon in democracy, a weapon with which one can change the pulse of a nation, one can bring the light of awareness to dispel the darkness of ignorance, one can even turn a psycho into a sage and also more importantly this all can happen vice versa. As they say, with great power comes great responsibility, and here the responsibility is stupendous as they are dealing with the lives of people all over the world. Media should enable a common citizen to understand the working body moves, making each and every individual more responsible. Media should also facilitate government in making policies that are useful for general public and also be used as a checking function to make sure that elected representatives working towards their oaths and carry out the wishes of the people who elected them.
In a way, Media should be like a mirror that shows the actual face with ‘wrinkles’, which would definitely help this place to make more livable and more lovable.
I have been watching the proceedings and developments in the case of acid attack on Swapnika and Praneetha. Few days back one of the news channels showed the footage that had a young man, who allegedly threw acid on Swapnika and Praneetha, lying on the ground along with two accomplices, drenched in blood. The wicked scene was shown with a horrific music in the background, as if it was a tragedy scene of a thriller movie. Later the same news channel broadcasted few interviews with some people who were all applauding the police efforts for their courageous act of wiping out of three anti-social elements. In a way media was depicting the police as heroes, who in fact took the law in their hands and killed violently the acid attackers who, as per police, allegedly tried to attack policemen with acid. The three attackers should definitely be punished; I am not condoning their uncivilized, barbarian act. But they should be punished as per judiciary system of India. My concern is the ignorance of media on the negligence by the police to act upon when victims lodged a complaint. The negligence is the cause which led to this unfortunate situation today. Instead, media was provoking common people by injecting the law of blood for blood, which unfortunately doesn’t abide by the democracy.
Couple of days back, I saw a footage that showed US President Bush who ducked to save himself from the shoes hurled by an Iraqi journalist. The journalist found a way to vent his anger and frustration by throwing his shoes at President with shouts of ‘This is a farewell kiss, you dog!!’ and ‘This is from the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq!”. Since then, this incident had been discussed as a lapse of security by analyzing the details of security personnel available at the time of incident and predicted possible attacks in the future on president and suggested few tips to avoid this kind of incidents from happening again. First of all, it wasn’t a lapse of security and no security check is available to study the intentions of a person, let alone his acts. Media should not just focus on the details from personnel to make sure if the journalists, who were present at the press conference, background were checked. The whole incident reflects the aggravation and dissatisfaction of an average Iraqi. Media wasn’t even worried to look at the incident in that aspect, and ‘un’surprisingly they presumed that Journalist was on wrong side. I agree that he was on the wrong side by throwing shoes at a President, but a light of investigation on his frustration and a study of his agony would have been better information. It would have meant that media had covered the incident in all aspects, refraining itself from a cluster biased minds. Instead, they had manufactured the news the way they wanted and made it disappear in just a day or two, which is very unlike of media.
Not only above said incidents, but also the repetition of news all day long would clearly test ones nerves on these news channels. They would like to talk about a dog show numerous times in a day rather than bringing the news of killings of poor, innocent Indian students in universities across US. I am talking about that particular incident here, not just because I am Indian, but also I believe that this piece of information has substantial meaning to it than some dog show.
Media is a powerful weapon in democracy, a weapon with which one can change the pulse of a nation, one can bring the light of awareness to dispel the darkness of ignorance, one can even turn a psycho into a sage and also more importantly this all can happen vice versa. As they say, with great power comes great responsibility, and here the responsibility is stupendous as they are dealing with the lives of people all over the world. Media should enable a common citizen to understand the working body moves, making each and every individual more responsible. Media should also facilitate government in making policies that are useful for general public and also be used as a checking function to make sure that elected representatives working towards their oaths and carry out the wishes of the people who elected them.
In a way, Media should be like a mirror that shows the actual face with ‘wrinkles’, which would definitely help this place to make more livable and more lovable.
