Khabar pakki hai?
Khabar pakki hai!
Where is the point in spending even that oft talked about twenty minutes reading a daily newspaper or that hour or so gaping at the idiot-box if all one gets to read or listen or see is stuff that may or may not be right. Or meaningful. When I read that we have been sliding down the global press freedom index, I was taken aback. Everyone from Arnab to Ravish Kumar and from Jug Suraiya to Tavleen Singh and every TV channel from India TV to NDTV or from Star to Zee swear unequivocally about the authenticity and immediacy of their words. And views, I believe. Though views are not news. I mean, if our news-dispensers were correct we would not really be sliding down any ranking anytime. Lest the radio guys do not feel left out, let me say that even they go about their daily task of raising the decibel levels in the news courtyard rather diligently. And so do the teeming crowds that throng the internet today. Yes, the social media with their typo-riddled cliché-smothered updates and the news portals with their super speedily churned out video clips add to the khabar universe here in India. They are all out getting juicy newsy bits out of their hiding… and yet, we have slid down the press freedom index.
Is it because all our enthusiastic news-tossing is more like Maggi noodles with ketchup? I mean, are we always over-doing the drama, over-reacting, and going over the boundaries of plausibility or is it because a large part of the media spread has begun focusing on all that isn’t news-worthy? Is it because news has been redefined as a product that must follow the dictates of a few aggressive politicians with ad-placement temptations, suave corporate think-tanks with unthinkable amounts of pay-outs, or foreign groups with vested interests that promise massive fund caches? One does read about the truth being a mix of these two premises and this slowly nudges the entire industry towards the news finally getting jettisoned and being replaced by selective bits that conform to one viewpoint or the other. We can call them distortions. We see such distortions all over. And we finally start calling every news bit an authentic fake. Now, this khabar is definitely pakki… and no one is promising me a secret sum in a secret bank account at a secret location outside the country. But then, I am not doing what the main-stream media has been often accused of doing and the reason is quite simple. I will come to the reasons for this now.
I know that there are negative and positive aspects that need to be balanced in a news-dish. I also know that readers, viewers, and listeners get fed-up if they are constantly fed with negativity and yearn for positive news bits. We are a country that has no dearth of positive news. But look at the headlines in any newspaper on any day and… there are hundreds of people on the social media agreeing that news makes them cringe and turn their heads away in displeasure. They get depressed. They feel unmotivated. ‘This is not why I am spending my money and time on newspapers or TV,’ they mutter in disgust. Now I am not saying that every news-bit about crime, rape, corruption, riots, and bungling must be avoided… but hey, tell us stuff that is taking the country forward. And we are indeed marching forward with energy. Yes, despite all the negative acts and conflicts in motion all over. For every case of corruption there will be two where people remain glued to positive principles. For every riot victim there will be two who respect others despite their religion, creed, or ideology. For every criminal there will be two who care for norms. And it is our over-zealousness with underlining just the bitter, sour, and unsavory bits that has a propensity to encourage our media to begin looking at even the positive bits at an angle that makes them look like another disruption. We have begun to turn everything into damaging rubbish! This is the serious state of news in the country. Bias pretends to be unbiased. A bigot is only someone else. Views massacre news every day and have now reached a stage when we think everything is unreliable. Things cannot be worse than this. It is not just sensationalism but also the menace of paid inserts that is killing the sensitive eco-system of belief in news.
No, I do not want to preach but then there must be a better way to find, write, and communicate news. Just keep everything short and factual. Forget your damn views. This is the reason I have stopped watching farcical debates on the television. Therefore, I stop reading an article on any online news portal when sentences start accusing. Accusations are not news just as views cannot be news. The next vital step is to help news consumers understand the core features of an issue without forcing sore views on them. Let the media know that they are not supposed to be charitable towards truth… even if it goes against their own beliefs. Brevity. Factfulness. Focus on the core issue. As I see the Indian media today, this is not happening anywhere. Searching for facts has become a tedious task of unravelling yourself from miles of meaningless views. This must end.
It is time for the real news to wake up. Push views to their own corner. This may not magically improve our media freedom index ranking but will surely make the news consumer begin their morning with facts and a chance to think independently.
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Arvind Passey
13 May 2022
