News is shit!

New is shit nowadays. Ain't it?

I can't understand the need for sensible human beings to sell and pimp their judgement to suit the fancies of the news channels and other sources.

This might sound quite insulting and offensive to many heroic members who take part in passing judgement or forwarding news-based content over the social media and also among their circles.

But I propose this offensive path purely for the purpose of catching the attention of such people, so that I can ask them to first learn to scrutinize news content and the way sources portray news.

What is so wrong or bad in the way news is served?

Lets try to find and write em down. Shall we?

a) News is supposed to be reporting of events based on recorded facts. It shouldn't be making news in the first place. Most news channels, in order to bring exclusive content, select scoop news that has good chances of increasing TRP temporarily. In order to form a good story, many reporters make a good story and fit the facts to suit it. All this sounds fine as long as they do not sell it as news. It should be marketed as 'inspired by real incidents' and be played as a short movie. That provides the entertainment value intended by the news channel, and they get their required TRP too. And no one has a problem with fake news.

b) News sources making judgements not found in the recorded facts. This is the increasing trend which most members of the audience fail to grasp. Though a judgemental article makes for an excellent click-bait and brings good readership/response in social media, it is making a mockery of journalism and its core purpose. Everyone knows that being judgemental is an exciting position for the one who is judging, but the one who is being judged directly or indirectly is being dealt with unfairly. Judgemental individuals can be a pain in the ass based on their reach. So when a news network itself is intentionally judgemental, supported by scores of fans, expert panels, shrewd show hosts and eloquent speakers, the common man's cry for sensible, unbiased facts goes unheard.

c) News sources are off late being very selective in news reporting, indicating their political or business affiliations. Due to the two points above, warring sides can throw news channels and reports against each other with differing sequence of events for the same set of facts. These practices splits the audiences against channels that give undue importance to topics they dislike and pick out wrongs in things they are interested in. Now we have a large ecosystem of divided audience who are blind to any facts presented by the media source that is against their interests. This destroys the credibility that any party wishes to bring forth using the massive reach of these channels. They have all basically spoilt their reputation by splitting ways with unbiased journalism.

d) Influencers who control the news media using political means or financial means are the modern bane of media houses. Coming under attack for the 3 points above, if any individual decides to move away from mainstream techniques above, they are guaranteed to have a bad time. Once a third front opens with unbiased news, it takes only a sentient population to realize the imaginary worlds created by the mainstream media. As long as intelligent news consumers exist in the ecosystem, it is the need of the tycoons to ensure that such independent sources do not rise up to prominence. The techniques used to stall their growth ranges from persuasion,coercion,public humiliation,trapping into losing credibility, starting smear campaigns etc to using political and financial muscle to subdue such sources. This is by far the largest reason for the mainstream media to continue in the same fashion, though the number of media houses keep rising every fiscal.

e) Each media house, as explained above represents a set of ideals, supports selective bigwigs and shuns certain others. In such conditions, the fan following is split for such houses based on their individual preferences. Quite similar to how political party members support their party leaders through thick and thin irrespective of what they personally think about their actions, these fans forget their own personal stances and start worshiping their media houses. They also take up the role of attacking rival houses, defending their house and its ideals against rivals and/or random independent critics. The techniques used for attacking can range from simple arguments using facts,ranting incoherently,taunting etc to participating in smear campaigns using memes and spreading libel. It is quite sad at this point that the very same audience which is being cheated by the media houses and their bigwigs puts out so much of its time and energy on these petty fights instead of fighting to bring real facts out.


News is an entertainment now for many, and it is a source of money for many others. In between that, the lives of people who rely on the reported news being corrected is not really in focus, unless by sheer luck it also happens to bring in good TRP ratings. You would have to convince the media house's manager about this and also need to bring all houses into an agreement if you really want to reap the benefits. Otherwise you'd end up being either torn down or be worshiped albeit temporarily, until they find another juicy piece of news to follow.

Living under a rock

It is when you are involved in a task that usually your mind conjures up strange stuff, the shower thoughts being immensely popular already.

It was during one such moment that I thought of someone who might have been living under a rock for the last one year. If that person( here its myself ) comes out and gets back into civilized life,certain aspects would need a detailed explanation by those around.

Credits:http://activerain.com

I would definitely be surprised by the lowered rates at which I'd be getting mobile internet in India, thanks to Jio whose weird-one-year free packs would take me equally long to understand.

Thinking of getting cleaned up and buy a few groceries if I head to the nearest shopping mall, I would have the surprise of my life when they wouldn't accept the currency notes from my wallet. I would even have a terrible time if I were to be incarcerated for owning money!!

Supposing I didn't get arrested and managed to buy from my card ( whose pin I surprisingly remembered ) and head to the petrol pump with my vehicle, I'd be surprised to face the pink notes and the daily changing rates concept.

Faced with a currency shortage, I would walk to my bank's nearest ATM and find that all ATMs in the vicinity are either super crowded or out of cash. After half an hour of waiting in the queue for another bank's ATM when I manage to get in and swipe my card, I would be horrified to see it complaining that I need to visit my bank before I can do this.

Infuriated I walk into my bank's crowded branch, wait the queue out and finally talk to the personnel, who informs me that I can't get any cash out without my Aadhar card being linked. Drat!

I visit a friend, beg him to withdraw cash from his account and he informs me that the bank now charges withdrawals too. Having seen so much, I find it surprisingly easy to digest and get my purchases done and go into a deep sleep.

Within a week, I stumble upon these significant and complex changes:-
a) The cow has replaced the tiger as the national animal and it is easier to kill a tiger claiming that it is a threat to the cattle population.

b) Secularism has become sickularism and the thought of being equal is highly despicable in society
c) There is a clown leading America into disaster

d) Trolls are the best source of online humour
e) A monopolistic power rules over entire India, almost
f) All news is fake

g) The newborn state of Telangana has taken flight, and there are many more in gestation and conception stages
h) People are talking about metros, highspeed trains, hyperloop and what not..
i) There are more things being banned than being invented
j) Exchange deals seem to look like a thing of the past as GST( its the Indian Area-55) kicks in
k) America isn't everyone's blue-eyed boy anymore
l) Europe has turned into a refugee camp
m) Britain is no longer part of Europe!

n) Govt jobs are the fad now
o) We have more entrepreneurs and religious zealots per sq.km to compensate for the decline in large private enterprise

 p) Yo-yo Honey Singh isn't composing anymore, but his inspired versions do!

q) There are more really innovative new Indian startups and individuals making a difference out there
r) More people have become sensitive to balancing development with ecological health
s) The railways have become much neater but long long distances to go

What I am glad (or not so ) hasn't changed:-
a) Prices of things are still increasing

b) The crowd and heat of the cities keep increasing
c) More farmers keep sacrificing their lives and livelihood
d) Number of super rich Indians keep rising
e) Super rich and powerful criminals stay out of reach of law and stay in vogue

Phew!

I think I should return to my rock and shut this mad world out before it floods me with the idiosyncrasies and paradoxes.

an outrage and then an afterthought

sometimes,  its just too hard to bottle up emotions and accept things.

That's one of the many extreme emotions I experienced after watching the BBC Documentary titled "India's Daughter" covering the incidents of the 2012 Nirbhaya rape case. And that ain't even the most extreme ones, because the nature of the contents of the documentary is such.

This video is banned in India, but BBC has decided to air it in UK, and it has been doing multiple rounds in the social media, generating many a fiery discussion, outbursts and many many more silent and guilty hearts.

The video interviews the main accused and he narrates in detail the incidents of the night, alongwith his justifications and motives. Narratives are also recorded from all the perpetrators' kin and also of the victim and others involved, giving it an overall picture of everyone's story.

To add to the gruesome nature of the crime itself , the lack of remorse displayed by the victims and the nature in which they accept it as a natural course of action makes one wonder if we are living in the same nation about which we talk so high and mighty on 15th August every year, or share the same values we like so much to boast about everywhere.

While its natural for a defence lawyer to argue on the side on his client, the deeply set mindset against women empowerment even among the highly educated, rich and respected men in the professional of legal practice lets ones belief down heavily on the society. I found it harder to sit still hearing their continuous banter against how women must conduct themselves. Statements like "We have the best culture in. In our culture, there is no place for a woman", uttered by the defence lawyer and the claims by another lawyer to set his own daughter on fire if she disgraces the family, just shows how deeply rotten things are down under the glossy image of "culture".

While its really a blessing that BBC has made this documentary and as Javed Akhtar stated in the parliament, if men watch this and feel its content is bad, they should also be ashamed about how they treat the women around them.

But after watching the heart wrenching 1 hr documentary, my heart keeps asking me "how many such videos would have to be made for this to become just a bad memory", and the answers I can come up with aren't anywhere near being rosy.

Somewhat in-line with what the documentary tries to expose by taking statements from the accused and their kin, and several other experts, the root of all this traces itself back and forth across various issues that we hear about daily, like poverty, unemployment,dowry, nepotism,caste etc. Strong divides between the rich and poor, powerful and downtrodden, leads to criminals taking birth in larger numbers with such notions of unequal share of power with the fairer sex. Clubbed with our society and political system's inability to cater to any one set of values consistently without media attention or direct benefits, all these stick for long times and keep coming back "after" someone has to go through the agonizing pains.

Afterall, how long did the tremendous and immensely passionate youth protests last? Did the rape crimes come down? Did the percentage of reported cases go up? Did we, collectively as the society and administration address any of the root causes with the required passion? I say the answer is no. I say this problem lives on with us, and every living moment has to be spent on correcting what we can, learning from our mistakes of complacency and keeping vigil to not let our society breed monsters within our people. And all are our people, both victims and accused.

This doesn't end here...

Lord of War

Opening up the news websites, or on switching on the TV, I regularly see images of soldiers carrying weapons, or protesters demonstrating in front of policemen armed to the teeth. Add to this the image and news of regular shoot-outs in various neighbourhoods.

On one such occasion I couldn't help wonder what I would think on seeing the same images, if I were to own a significant number of arms and ammunition factories. Supposedly, I had connections in the shady east Europe, or North Africa or South East Asia, to name a few, this would have been fairly easy too..

What would be my thoughts? Would I be noticing the weapons, the nature of usage, the country, and going over my deals and plan my charts? Will I call up my execs and ask for ground report? I would maybe run calculations in my head on which gang leaders I would want to meet, which lobby gangs should I fund, which political party to add my weight behind and so on.

I would be a very busy man for sure, as competition is heavy in this business.
The low cost Chinese models make it hard to negotiate with the rich yet stupid clients that we arms tycoons have to regularly deal with. And the rascals who run for shit like peace and charity missions continuously make me lose markets. But then the damage they make hardly makes a dent in my profits.

Dealing with politicos is the hardest part everywhere. The shady goons in their employ bring good deals, but going ahead with their cuts has to be a very discrete, else I would be the one who has to face the music. Its easier to deal with anarchies and rebels, and hence our organization has been dedicated to creating more and more such markets.

Well, last but not the least the domestic markets are booming everywhere. Ranging from people who keep guns to defend their property from neighbours to those who want to keep their illegal empires intact, I have a big list of customers.

Its tough going these days, but we are good at this, so don't be surprised if you find your closest friend or relative in my customer list :) sooner or later..

flame wars everywhere

News is all around us, and many of us devour upon it. I am a mild consumer of news.
News itself might be ranging trivial or funny stuff for leisure reading for people with specific interests to really breaking and important ones which everyone reads.

I occasionally get to read many articles from various news channels on interesting topics. I read quite less, as in I click on news articles in FB timeline,twitter timeline or in some news websites, only if I really get attracted to the headlines.

First I read the article, think upon it, and see if I agree with the author and his/her viewpoints depending upon my expertise on the topic. Then the mind seeks to know what other people or friends think about it if I feel it is something others might be interested in. So, I head over to the comments section to see the public perception.

The responses are interesting topic to study for data statistics and understanding the mindset of the readers. Comparing the responses to the same news topic in multiple media gives a good idea of the coverage of the media and the nature of their readers.

But there are also lots of news of high importance, for which the amount of public response seems strangely insufficient. I often feel short of content after reading some articles and wish to know what the general public reading it thinks about it. But almost all articles of interest to me garners no interest from the public that 'freely shares opinions'.

But among the few that do, I have seen such little useful and sensible comments that I subconsciously don't scroll down to the comments section for good articles. Take a news that even remotely relates to politics, war, religion etc and you get to the other extreme. There are lots of points, data and perceptions to read, but what spoils the apple cart is the flame wars.

Flame wars are fun to read upto some point, if the opposing sides have enough valid ammunition. But I have observed that most of the comments in the Indian media are very immature or sounds like plain propaganda message. I can immediately imagine a furious fanatic typing away on his keyboard trying to block the points made by the other side. The shit hits the fan when the topic covers sensational topics for no reason.

For this reason, sometimes I stick to respectable news media like The Hindu or some other foreign media for news that is of interest to me. Also I trust the category specific news feeds more as they don't tend to deviate from topic..