3…2….1….and Rolling

The media is useless…media should be banned…media is causing all this trauma….media is acting irresponsible….media this media that…..

In the last few months I have heard a LOT of media bashing…so much so, some people have even tagged me as "the mediaperson" to be beware of. Everytime a crisis situation arises in our country, the media and politicians are the first targets. While it is the latter that should be held more responsible for problems in our country, I don't realize why some people cry foul at the media.

For starters, Media is just a medium. It is not the authority. So whatever is said and suggested by the media, it is just the voice of a number of people. Everyone enjoys pointing a finger at the media, but has anyone ever wondered the hardship that media goes through?? To talk about the recent Mumbai terrorist attacks, people were all out blaming media. If we were so bad and irresponsible, why were millions of Indians glued to news channels for all 3 days. Couldn't they have switched their channel to saas bahu serials. If you don't like what you see, u have the choice to change it by the click of a button. The truth is you wanted the news but it needed to be according to your taste. In a country with millions its very difficult to serve news according to each individual taste.

I am not glorifying media but I am fed up of this media bashing. I do agree that there are times where media has faltered, but then there are many times were media's interference has caused a lot of help than harm. Like the Jessica Lal murder case. Had it not been for media blowing the case out of proportion maybe her real killers would be sitting in another bar today and shooting some more innocent girls. Even to talk about the recent attacks, had it not been for media adding pressure on the politician's, maybe even today RR Patil and Deshmukh would still be in their respective positions and allowing the blasted sites as locations for some movie.

I personally hate it when people look at me and say "you media people" like i am some sort of alien from another planet. We are people just like you. We report for people. Not many understand the dynamics of this job. On one hand you may not want to stick the mike on the face of someone who has just lost their husband in an attack but on the other hand you have 20 other channels who are doing the same thing. And if you don't do it then you have you senior editor telling you why you dint get that "exclusive". The truth is even you like to hear these stories. Stories of survivors, stories of people who have lost near and dear ones. But when we do interview them you call us "insensitive". They say media is a double edged sword and I do agree with that. What media needs to know is which side of the sword to use and when.