In a day and age where we hardly get time to read the papers every morning, I was at work early and started my day with a quick rush through of the morning headlines. A leading Indian website had a screaming headline quoting Obama say “I Screwed up”. Home page, First link and highlighted, I clicked on to read and only in reading realized what the real issue was. The article was written in such a hurried manner with intent to let the world know that Obama said what he said.
I managed to get sometime later in the day and went through print media! Sania Mirza is upset! – that’s what the sports page reads and why? Because a couple of guys went to a movie without taking her!! Give me a break!
It was the same day when India played Sri Lanka for the 3rd time and Sachin was adjudged leg before. I am not exaggerating here, but in exactly 30 minutes from the time the event had happened, an award winning Indian news cast site with the biggest names in the news business ran an opinion poll on whether India must complain because Sachin was a victim of bad umpiring!
I think the media is certainly missing the trees for the woods here. I firmly believe the role of any media is to make a meaningful impact to society. The reason I say this is because they choose to put the old adage, the pen is mightier than the sword in front of them at all times and hence I’d like to logically assume that their profession comes with responsibility.
If that is the case, why didn’t most media houses choose to dwell on the fact that the world’s most powerful man confessed to making a mistake and did it without much ado? Isn’t this a lesson for most leaders around the world? How many leaders have the guts to go in front of the world and say they made a mistake without batting an eyelid? Likewise with Sania! While I certainly believe they overdid the victory coverage to make me believe that this is the greatest thing that had happened to Indian sport (while I think this is probably the stepping stone), they chose to ignore the young kid who won a juniors on a world stage! The poor kid came up for review in a corner in fine print! I understand he does not have the glamour that a Sania has, but is that fair to the kid who did what he did?
It’s not over! The cricket story that day had India seal the series in clinical fashion. A series win overseas is a big deal and this probably went to the backstage with the focus on the reviews being how Sachin was penalized. Spare a thought for Yuvi and Sehwag who literally took the Sri Lankans to the cleaners in facilitating that great win!
In a glaring reflection of the state of the media, I pause to wonder how the media can be very selective in what they report and often times pick on trivial events to make the news? Is this the need for eyeballs or one of those fancy 3 word abbreviations that define viewership?
Image Credit: Chrstphre
Popularity: 15%
