It is a reflection that has caught my fancy and as I scrounged various newspapers, magazines and news channels available in plenty, I have come to the conclusion that Indian Journalism has lost its sheen which was so painfully acquired by a certain Barkha Dutt those fateful days, back in 1999.
The newspapers, for a want of a better word are nothing but glorified tabloids with front page news covering the outrageously ridiculous antics of our politicians, the botox-ed, lip tucked, polygamous film stars and the omnipresent cricket team. Somehow, the lack of originality and issues to cover is a constant cause of intellectual drought that has been plaguing this world. I wonder what has happened to the basic principals of journalism, these papers are based on? Where exactly has the spirit to report, unearth a story and write disappeared? Why is it that world class papers have news covering every important aspect of the world, the debt crisis, the wars, the scandals and somehow our flawed narrow appetite for gossip has not been satiated. And it is absolutely ridiculous the way articles are being written in such journals.It makes me question the suitability of the reporters, supposedly "writing" the news. The fall of language, the lack of grammar and a coherence of thoughts only add to my linguistic woes, piling on to the intellectual feces that has accumulated over time.
News channel are a much cause of hilarity and I am not even going to waste this space on the crappy, shit-head, low IQ channels littering the air space. English news channels were still bearable with niche journalists like Pranoy Roy, Barkha Dutt and Arunabh Goswami at its helm.*respect*
Other than few shows hosted by them and few others produced by them, the English news channels are just a melting pot of anchors sporting fake accents and news topics which have been lifted off the CNN and BBC. Its actually funny that they cover "important world news" like the Norway killing, Syria Attacks, Euro crises, the phone hacking scandal etc few days later than they actually happened. I suppose, they wait for the economist, the time and other magazines to get matter ready for them. And yet it surprises me that they could cover the death of Amy Winehouse(the same day as the Norway killing which were almost blissfully ignored) and the Will-Kate marriage(which received 24 hour live coverage) with full zest and proper timing. Its shameful that journalism and reporting has just become another name for tabloid trash picking in our country.
I wonder what is the reason for such state of affairs?Why is it that the Indian audience is considered so dim-witted and dense that they are fed a regular dose of gossip and political drama but nothing that could be held remotely close to the world class publications available.Or maybe, the Indian audience is stupid, maybe they do want their dose of TV serial gossip, who married whom?Rahul Gandhi's latest comments, which paani puri walah pissed in his foodstuff and which lonely housewife ran away with her much younger boyfriend.
A pity.
The newspapers, for a want of a better word are nothing but glorified tabloids with front page news covering the outrageously ridiculous antics of our politicians, the botox-ed, lip tucked, polygamous film stars and the omnipresent cricket team. Somehow, the lack of originality and issues to cover is a constant cause of intellectual drought that has been plaguing this world. I wonder what has happened to the basic principals of journalism, these papers are based on? Where exactly has the spirit to report, unearth a story and write disappeared? Why is it that world class papers have news covering every important aspect of the world, the debt crisis, the wars, the scandals and somehow our flawed narrow appetite for gossip has not been satiated. And it is absolutely ridiculous the way articles are being written in such journals.It makes me question the suitability of the reporters, supposedly "writing" the news. The fall of language, the lack of grammar and a coherence of thoughts only add to my linguistic woes, piling on to the intellectual feces that has accumulated over time.News channel are a much cause of hilarity and I am not even going to waste this space on the crappy, shit-head, low IQ channels littering the air space. English news channels were still bearable with niche journalists like Pranoy Roy, Barkha Dutt and Arunabh Goswami at its helm.*respect*
Other than few shows hosted by them and few others produced by them, the English news channels are just a melting pot of anchors sporting fake accents and news topics which have been lifted off the CNN and BBC. Its actually funny that they cover "important world news" like the Norway killing, Syria Attacks, Euro crises, the phone hacking scandal etc few days later than they actually happened. I suppose, they wait for the economist, the time and other magazines to get matter ready for them. And yet it surprises me that they could cover the death of Amy Winehouse(the same day as the Norway killing which were almost blissfully ignored) and the Will-Kate marriage(which received 24 hour live coverage) with full zest and proper timing. Its shameful that journalism and reporting has just become another name for tabloid trash picking in our country.I wonder what is the reason for such state of affairs?Why is it that the Indian audience is considered so dim-witted and dense that they are fed a regular dose of gossip and political drama but nothing that could be held remotely close to the world class publications available.Or maybe, the Indian audience is stupid, maybe they do want their dose of TV serial gossip, who married whom?Rahul Gandhi's latest comments, which paani puri walah pissed in his foodstuff and which lonely housewife ran away with her much younger boyfriend.
A pity.
The title of your post is quite relevant but I disagree with some of the content. Firstly, Barkha Dutt doesn't epitomise the ethos of 'good' journalism. What happened in 1999 did shot her to fame but she didn't follow it up anymore. She has a take on everything - things which you wouldn't make sense to you (as you pointed out in the end).
ReplyDeleteSecondly, the first pic you put of the newspapers gives an impression that either you aren't aware of the sorry state of affairs of hindi journalism or maybe you don't read them. English journalism is still quite healthy as compared to Hindi journalism. And the newspapers you put up there, all do not fit the bill for poor journalism. TOI (Toilet Paper) surely is there but I don't think The Hindu and The Indian Express will be up there anyway. Now these are papers which one loves to read coz they present lot of intelligent views on everything.
One thing I undoubtedly agree with you- IndiaTV is surely the king of them all. :D
Nicely written!
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