On numerous counts already, questions have been raised on the moral responsibility of the media and media persons. From the live coverage of the commandos being air landed on the ill fated Nariman House in Mumbai to stories similar to the one portrayed by Soha Ali khan in Mumbai Meri Jaan, media persons have, I strongly believe, behaved quite irresponsibly.
The most recent act of the media which only strengthens this belief was when a media person asked an insensitive and inflammatory question to Sachin Tendulkar during a press conference commemorating his 20 years in international cricket. The question had nothing to do with his sporting achievements. It instead quizzed him about his opinion on the very potent, magnetic and sensitive Mumbaikar issue.
Whatever his opinion would have been, even before he began answering, the damage was done. It was sure to arouse reactions from the relevant political camps. From the Shiv Sena through its mouthpiece, The Samna to the Samajwadi leader Abu Azmi leaving no stone unturned to gather political mileage from it. This I fear is just the start and could only get muckier. In fact, if the person involved had been anyone other than Sachin himself, I am sure the usual anti-social “protests” would have begun immediately with their signature stone pelting on houses, morchas and digging up of cricket pitches.
What I fail to understand is whether TRP the only thing that matters?
No one wants a censor-like, government run big brother overseeing the content that the free media reports. Its only up to them to prevent such days from dawning upon themselves as we the people to whom they are meant to serve will be the biggest losers.
Is media today, not an extension of the same channel that was decades ago so instrumental in bringing the nation together. Yes it very much is. And when they do function in the way they should, cases like the Jessica Lal murder case get re-opened giving us a glimpse of what its power is capable of achieving.
How I wish it also possessed wisdom to exercise discretion in dispensing it.
