Media Hype !!

The race is on to capture - attention...blame it on something called the TRP & TRM rating. Ordinary folks like you and me are the sitting targets in this circus. Don't really believe it..here are a few examples...

If you stay in Mumbai, you possibily cannot miss the lately concern of "Our Dear Readers" from the Old Lady of Boribunder. Don't be surprised if reams of valuable space is being devoted to the "Loyal readers"... The Poor Guys who till recently were being made to read awful stuff ( especially the Sunday Supplemant contents) in name of imaginative reporting. The same gang of so called celebrities listed on Page-3 of Saturday Times, made it to The Sunday Supplement cover stories. So Why the concern lately. No there hasen't been a shortage of manufactured celebrities...just that the Zee-Dainik Jagran and HT are set to enter Mumbai. Monopoly is Dead..Long Live the "Old Lady"

The race to bring Breaking news to the viewers can sometimes takes serious proportions. Let me revisit 13 August, 2003 the day ONGC chopper carrying 28 personnel went down the Arabian Sea. Several Live News channel "broke" the news. While the resue operations were still being carried out, one prominent channel kept flashing that all the 28 personnel are dead. That 2 persons survived the crash and were ultimately rescued was of no importance. Imagine the trauma such misleading reporting can cause to the affected families......

Another instance of the misreported story is the death of the noted scientist Dr Raja Ramanna on 23 September, 2004. NDTV broke the news of his death, around 8.00 PM on 23th September while the other News channel insisted he was alive but serious. Plain Lucky for NDTV that Dr Ramanna departed around 8.30 PM. Just imagine had Dr Ramanna survived.. it would have been an egg on the "Credibility having many Faces"