Today's Indian Media - Watchdogs or Perpetrators?

Not that I am an avid reader of newspapers, but It so happens that I wanted to be a good citizen of the world and keep a track of what was happening on this beautiful planet. 

A year into this new "newspaper-reading" project, I realized (quite late) why I initially stopped reading the newspapers for quite so many years. One of the reasons being, newspaper companies publish only news that would sell them fast and publish only what they want us to read.

Didn't someone once actually say that a newspaper in the society is more like a watchdog that brings to light the mishaps and the wrong deeds in a society, to ensure the perpetrators are actually held responsible? Or was it me who created that statement in my head hoping that it was said by someone who was more famous?

Either ways, even if it wasn’t said by someone famous, at least now I am saying it. 

Over the past year, the one thing that I have come to realize is that, our wonderful journalists and reporters are so creative, that they actually print even the slightest detail like a political figure passing gas into a creative piece as to how that gas had nuclear contamination that threats the neighboring countries. End result - India pays the ultimate result by losing its innocent lives at railway stations and bus depots!

Today’s journalists and reporters fail to realize that it is not just a matter of filling the space in their newspapers nor is it about talking crap on your news channels (filling space is why you  have companies to advertize). It is more about having the common sense to discern what the consequences would be if a stupid statement by an uneducated politician is quoted in the newspapers or stated on various news channels. 

Indian Media should start acting with responsibility. If you really want to quote a radical statement of a so-called “revolutionary” leader of this country, then forward such statements to the Home Ministry or the External affairs ministry and print or quote what the heads of such ministries have to say.

I agree that such revoltingly, radical statements could possibly bring in better revenue for the newspaper companies and TV channels, but are you willing to do it at the cost of national security and  at the cost of so many innocent lives.

It is time that the Indian media started thinking, are we as humans nothing more than just “collateral damage”? Are our human lives nothing more than just a means to sell more papers or get better viewer rating?

Indian newspaper and news channel companies should stop quoting arrogant dictators, alcoholics and money hoarders who call themselves political leaders. Speak to the Ministries in-charge and stop claiming our lives to sell your papers better.

Always remember, we are a peace loving country. Don’t instigate it with your irresponsibility.