Why do people study the media? Not because they love Marshall McLuhan. Not because the smartass Israelis have started what can only be described as a debased, outlandish, outright demonic, defying all semblance of reason or rhyme war with Lebanon on the pretext of going for the Hezbollah. Who cares if hundreds of Lebanese civilians (official estimates and one can only believe these figures at one’s own risk) have already been killed and a thousand others wounded? How does it matter if Israel has broken all rules, entered Lebanon and has laid it bare for rape and plunder? Is it alarming if the US is sitting pretty, basking in the glory of having restored democracy and freedom to the people of Iraq? The invitation to Syria to join the war following which it too will be mercilessly pounded by American jets spewing all varieties of ominous biological, chemical, and what have you weapons, is open enough. But no one seems to notice. At least not the media, for sure. Instead, the rather fastidious and stupid act of a bunch of sozzled youngsters grabbed eyeballs, shutterbugs, and airtime for more than two days. The we also got to know the intimate career secrets of the former air hostesses and how they were grounded because of a grizzly disciplinary record. The parents muttering inanities on how their children were being harassed were interviewed on prime time. Thankfully we were spared innocuous kid pictures and long discussions on how perfectly normal youth behave in an irrational fashion given a certain circumstance. Just a little before this TV went on a benevolent rescue mission to bring Prince out – alive – of the 60-foot pit into which he had mistakenly fallen. As reporters scrambled for space to get their camera persons a good long shot, members of parliament, the Haryana Chief Minister, the UPA chairperson, and even the Prime Minister bowed their heads in prayer for the bewildered Prince in the pit. The coverage, some might argue was not being given to a rich Casanova or a murdered politician but to a farmer’s son; a sign of changing times….the media after all is becoming conscientious and responsible towards it’s primary duty. But there are ways to showcase care and responsibility and this was certainly not it. What about the close to 800 farmer suicides in Vidarbha and other parts of Maharashtra? Is anyone bothered? It is only after 19 days of relentless fighting and bombing that the Indian media rises to the occasion and starts covering Lebanon. Ajay Shukla of NDTV showed us the blood and the gore (whatever is permitted according to broadcast rules) perched comfortably on the heaped rubble of a bombed out building while Lebanese men who have lost their all pledged devotion to Hezbollah chief Hasan Nasrallah. But, the news that comes to us, comes filtered. Filtered through the watchful eyes of the Big Boy up there in Washington just like filtered, half-baked, biased news is sampled by the Americans and the rest of the world. Is there someone whom we can trust?

31 July 2006