The News/ The Newsance(to be read as nuisance)

There was a time when everyone used to wait for the 8.30 News on Doordarshan. When Rini Khanna, and Usha Alberqueque used to be a household name, or the weekly wait for The World this week by Pronnoy Roy about the goings on in the world on every Friday. The news used to encapsulate the key moments across the world, news that moved the world, news that changed the course of the world, news that actually meant something, news that was of use.

Yesterday as i surfed through different channels, almost every news channel (except the international ones like CNN, BBC) had one thing in common. They reported about Amir Khans blog of naming his dog SRK, about Amitabh asking for forgiveness to Sharukh. Moreover, Zee Network was showcasing different snippets of Zee Cine Awards, and the worst of it was showing the Room where SRK stayed in London where the functions were held. Well, SRK is everywhere, and there can be another dedicated post on that.

But looking at the shallowness of the news channels, i wonder where the media in our country are heading. Tabloids were earlier a British thing. They would find out the meatiest scandals and relish on it and suck the scandalous victim off their dignity and honor. A very recent news that had flashed on Mumbai Mirror was that of Malaika Arora Khan getting a divorce from Arbaaz Khan. Who is Malaika Arora Khan? A plastic bimbette who hides her protruding teeth by showing a pout on her lips? Who is Arbaz Khan? The many times flopped brother of Salman Khan??? Why was it on the front page? What have they done to the country that they got so much importance? - a reader wrote. Pat came the reply from the editor - 'They are public figures and many of our readers are interested in knowing about them, that is the reason why they were featured.' The next day edition captured a news of Malaika and Arbaz using it as a gimmick as a publicity for one of their products and the newspaper cried foul on how they mislead the media! Isn't it obvious? With media eating out of the hands of the so-called celebrities, isn't it fair, that the media can be used as well?

This brings us to a never ending debate on the role of the media. The media is everywhere, they are carriers of knowledge, information and bridge us to the remaining part of the world. But the media is currently being used in a manner it should have never been. Media can be used to channelize progress, growth by showing relevant information, but unfortunately, it has gone beserk, plunging into its lowest standards where news can be bought and sold, where celebrities can be made and broke, where a star can be created and destroyed.

A journalist friend of mine had told me about an incident which made me realize that there were agencies who could make you a celebrity in a period of one year. They will plan the entire strategy for you and in a year, you would have reached Page 3. Once in page 3, a little bit of lobbying and then you come to Page 1. Just what the flop actor and the dumb bimbette did.

When will we say enough is enough? When will this stupidity stop? What can bring about a change in the media? When would constructive news get more importance over the commode Shah Rukh sat on in the plush hotel in London, before the Zee Cine awards? When would we know that there has been a fantastic development in curing of cancer using the Kanzius Machine ? When...

Well for the privileged, internet can save the day. For the not so privileged, living in a remote corner of India, they will have to live with the knowledge that Shahrukh Khan is bigger than the President and Prime Minister of India. Shahrukh would never approve of that, but the media would and they would love to believe that!