By Kantha Raja
AT last, the Indian media learned to speak positively on the Commonwealth Games. Mind you, the foreign media piloted this venture. We needed some foreign reporters to speak positively on the CWG. The after-effect of the Indian media’s take on CWG was that Indian crowds seriously doubted if it were possible for India to host an event of such magnitude.
No branch of the Indian media spared the CWG happenings, rarely reporting and, often, interpreting the events. To elaborate the point, reporting is a sincere effort to retell what one sees, whereas interpreting is seeing events and describing them in your own biased way. With ready-made news in your mind, your vision of the world is either tinted or tainted. Tint – add colours and taint – corrupt the facts and both are dangerous for this profession.
Journalism is, as some clever guy puts it, digging out dirty things. News, says another, is something which somebody wants to hide. Most people in the media work on such assumptions. If we do speak, we speak bad things. We do not speak good things as there are sponsored channels or papers for it.
For instance: “The crowd booed Suresh Kalmadi at the opening ceremony” said channels and web reports. Other words used for the same are “crowd jeered”, “reacted angrily”, etc. First, let me make it very clear, I am neither a fan nor a relative of Kalmadi. I am eagerly waiting for the CWG to finish so that the administration can look into the discrepancies.
I was watching this event and was not really happy with the way things were twisted. Let the media not judge anyone before the verdict is out. Let the media not read into the behaviour of people. These conjectural conclusions damage the country’s reputation and the media’s own esteem in the public eye.
Right now, the good news is that such stories are drastically reduced. Stories praising the performance of our players are in full play. Indian players are shooting and wrestling really great with 11 gold medals so far. Wow! Our sports stars need the attention of the media to encourage them.
Imagine the Delhi Chief Minister pleading to the mass media and the masses of India to work as one to make the Games a success. She admits that the media is the fourth pillar of democracy. Building and balancing events on just three pillars is a difficult task. The media has, at last, relented to support the national cause.
AT last, the Indian media learned to speak positively on the Commonwealth Games. Mind you, the foreign media piloted this venture. We needed some foreign reporters to speak positively on the CWG. The after-effect of the Indian media’s take on CWG was that Indian crowds seriously doubted if it were possible for India to host an event of such magnitude.
No branch of the Indian media spared the CWG happenings, rarely reporting and, often, interpreting the events. To elaborate the point, reporting is a sincere effort to retell what one sees, whereas interpreting is seeing events and describing them in your own biased way. With ready-made news in your mind, your vision of the world is either tinted or tainted. Tint – add colours and taint – corrupt the facts and both are dangerous for this profession.
Journalism is, as some clever guy puts it, digging out dirty things. News, says another, is something which somebody wants to hide. Most people in the media work on such assumptions. If we do speak, we speak bad things. We do not speak good things as there are sponsored channels or papers for it.
For instance: “The crowd booed Suresh Kalmadi at the opening ceremony” said channels and web reports. Other words used for the same are “crowd jeered”, “reacted angrily”, etc. First, let me make it very clear, I am neither a fan nor a relative of Kalmadi. I am eagerly waiting for the CWG to finish so that the administration can look into the discrepancies.
I was watching this event and was not really happy with the way things were twisted. Let the media not judge anyone before the verdict is out. Let the media not read into the behaviour of people. These conjectural conclusions damage the country’s reputation and the media’s own esteem in the public eye.
Right now, the good news is that such stories are drastically reduced. Stories praising the performance of our players are in full play. Indian players are shooting and wrestling really great with 11 gold medals so far. Wow! Our sports stars need the attention of the media to encourage them.
Imagine the Delhi Chief Minister pleading to the mass media and the masses of India to work as one to make the Games a success. She admits that the media is the fourth pillar of democracy. Building and balancing events on just three pillars is a difficult task. The media has, at last, relented to support the national cause.
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