Journalism Icon Criticizes News Trends
Rajdeep Sardesai, TV journalist and Editor-in-Chief of India Broadcast News criticized Indian news trends during the annual convocation of Pioneer Media School, stating that “News is increasingly becoming trivia, and trivia are being passed on as news.” Sardesai lamented that important news is often overshadowed by apparently less-important happenings like cricket and crime, stressing that a journalist’s job is to educate the masses. He went on to criticize the dramatization of the news, including recreation of rape incidents, calling for PMS graduates to move beyond “wahan-ka-mahaul-kaisa-hai” journalism.
August 17th, 2005 at 4:00 pm
Hello, rajdeep has hit on the bulls eye! Be it print, television or cinema- what is protrayed is really depressing. What needs to be focussed on is passed off. Case in point, Govinda’s family involved in a road accident…all shown with animation. MMS on the cell phone is shown in vivid details, was that necessary? An awareness campaign might have done good. Creating sensation on trivia and depending on the film industry is the norm of the day! I guess television and print in particular reaches every part of the country and we need to use this as a tool for building thier confidence levels in day-to-day life not petrify them with recreated crime scenes and report them in and out! The perception in general at all levels in India on television or print is that its sick and not healthy for the society. Too much of westerinzation in every which way has become the norm. Showing our culture in a bad taste also stumps us all. Sing operations-its another story all together! Very filimi!!!Lets all concentrate on the core issues with optimism (show it on the television and print), in good taste. let it be a confidence building measure for the general population, every bit of the news. Let the media be a tool for national building and lifting the spirits of the nation.
Gurnath.