What mass media did during the recent terrorist attacks in Mumbai clearly demonstrates how callous our media is in dealing such sensitive situations. There was a time when any national or international incident of importance was brought to the notice of public by newspapers or radio. Then came T.V. and with it came Doordarshan. There were elaborate reporting of the incidents in mainstream newspapers and also there were heavily loaded follow up of the story written by some eminent journalist. But this was not the case with Doordarshan as it was mainly controlled by the government. So at the end of the day what was presented to the mass was pure refined news.
With change in time news creation transformed into news production. With the proliferation of private news channels Doordarshan went into back foot. And India witnessed a new style in reporting with loads of glamour in it. T.V producers, presenters, reporters trained from BBC, CNN, Reuters, FOX News joined the private News channels of repute like NDTV, TIMES NOW, CNN IBN STAR NEWS etc. Thus started a war to present breaking news and exclusive stories to the audience as fast as it could be. The channel that churns out more such stories is hailed as the best in the race.
This race got fire during the recent terrorist attack in TAJ Hotel, Oberoi Trident Hotel and Nariman House in Mumbai. India is being repeatedly attacked by terrorists from neighboring nations is nothing new today but getting exclusive images of such encounter was what Indian media eagerly waiting for. T.V. footage of journalists kneeling down and reporting live from the encounter sites in TAJ Hotel, Oberoi Trident Hotel and Nariman House in Mumbai was clearly indicating how excited those journalists were. To many of them it was like reporting from the army bunker when enemy shell was repeatedly hurled from the other side.
The journalists were seen quizzing every people roaming around the terror sites for some bit of news which they can pass as exclusive. And the presenter seating at the air conditioned studio was busy in breaking such baseless news to public. Everything was in a mess, the reporting was not proper, figures were not correct and the fumbling was terribly annoying.
Most importantly the journalists were a menace for the security personnel who were bravely fighting the intruders. The journo brigade almost gheraoed the senior army officials and interrogated to pass them their strategy. This doesn’t only killed precious time during action but also presented the terrorists with the important information about the NSG commandoes plan of action.
Now when the mini war is over and battle is won successfully by the Indian army the same media is raising questions at the politicians, government and even the army. Why not they introspect at themselves? What have they done to educate the people either then presenting terror footage? What have they done constructively to create a mass upheaval against terror and national politicians?
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Role of Indian electronic media during terrorist attack in Mumbai
Friday, November 14, 2008
A killer bike called Hayabusa
Strong body, stunning finish, 1340cc inline-4 engine, lightning speed is all that defines Hayabusa, the fastest motorcycle in the world from the stable of Suzuki. Also known as the GSX1300R in many countries, Hayabusa was launched in 1999 and till now its sales has only skyrocketed in the global market. Hayabusa is a like a God of bikes to young bikers all over the world.
Following the incredible speed and magnetic appeal of the bike, Hayabusa has got its place in the 70mm screen. Recent Bollywood movies like Dhoom and Dhoom 2 has showed Hayabusa glamorously. This acted as an inspiration for the youths in India who earlier had to satisfy their craziness for speed with bikes such as Bajaj Pulsar and Yamaha. Reacting on the growing market the sales distributors promptly imported Hayabusa from neighbouring countries like Singapore, Malaysia and Japan.
Now, finally Hayabusa is here and along with it is number of bike accidents.
Young bikers love bikes and their passion for bike gets fire with Hayabusa, but very few of them actually know how to control the monster. With 1340cc inline-4 engine, Hayabusa is not a joke rather it is a deadly machine on the road. Expert bikers and trainers feel that enormous discipline and restraint is required to own this bike. One of the most interesting things often heard about Hayabusa is that instead of pulling wheelies when one grab a fistful of throttle; the bike will rocket forward and slowly pull the front tire off the ground.
Wealthy people often gift Hayabusa to their sons as birthday gift little realising the fact the toy can cut short their son’s life span. On the other hand young boys play with Hayabusa on public roads and highways and perform stunning acts with it. A trick they do out of innocence and for fun often turns into death.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Ban on smoking has gone up in smoke
Annually thousands die due to smoking related diseases in India and the most popular of them is cancer. Interestingly people feel jittery even talking about cancer, but at the same time they are so reluctant about its major cause. Several throw such arguments that --- even smoking is banned cancer can’t be prevented or pollution kills more than smoking. The problem in India is that very few people know little but understands more. To avoid uneasy problem they create their own stories as part of self defence mechanism.
Who cares about the fine? Those who smoke spend thousands or even more in a year on their preferred brands of puff. So only a Rs. 200 fine cannot stop them from smoking in public places. Even the law enforcement body is reluctant. People smoking boldly everywhere, but nobody is there to punish them. Politicians fear that they may lose some loyal voters if they try to become strict. So pretending is the best policy to avoid the situation and let the smoking ban go up in smoke.
Friday, November 7, 2008
Is anything left for Sourav Ganguly to achieve?
The sudden announcement of retirement by Sourav Ganguly during the Test series against Australia would be an emotional blow to the numerous Sourav or Dada fans spread all over the world. But Sourav or Maharaj as popularly known among Bengalis has shown that how a sportsman should live a life, truly King-size.
Through the entire career spanning 16 years Sourav has gathered many feathers in his cap that include scoring 6888 runs in 109 Tests including 15 magnificent tons, scoring 11363 runs in 311 ODIs with 22 centuries at an outstanding average of 41.02, captaining India in 147 ODIs and 49 tests. He also made India proud by leading the Indian national team to the maximum number of 21 victories ever achieved by any Indian captain with a win percentage of over 40.
It is now a fact that Ganguly won’t be donning the national jersey for India, but several generations in future will still be watching in the TV screen - Ganguly taking his shirt off celebrating his team’s extraordinary win in the Natwest Series Final in 2002. Sourav became demi God in the heart of millions of Indian when he lead the Indian cricket team to 2003 World Cup finals and bravely challenged the might of Australians.
Having seen the pinnacle of success as a cricketer and with earnings like Solomon’s wealth what will be his post retirement plan?
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Anticipating appraisal at the time of financial meltdown
The collapse of Lehman Brothers, the world’s largest investment banking organisation and the sell-out of Merrill Lynch brought along with it doomsday for millions of employees and would-be employees engaged in various sectors all over the world. National and international media is abuzz with news of lay off, pink slips, sacking, retrenchment, salary cut and similar horrific sounding words. Fresh recruitment in large IT, ITes, real estate, investment banking and multinational companies has been put on hold. Even the job aspirants who were previously issued offer letter now have to wait for an indefinite period to get another call from the HR department.
Even the employees who were happily working in their organisation and were looking forward to a stimulating appraisal are also feeling the jittery due to this evil financial meltdown. Employees normally work in an organisation in a hope to get a good increment for a job well done and this in the long run work as a motivation. But the present financial crisis has also spoilt such dreams of employees. Instead they are only praying for the almighty to show them a ray of hope. Many employees are afraid of demanding or even questioning the process of appraisal at this critical point of time, fearing they might lose their job.
Interestingly, if the scenario is seen from a different angle then it can be found that this financial meltdown and the resulting crisis and panic in the job market are the handiwork of the HRs (equally of large, medium and small companies). They are making the most of this situation, when employees are walking at tight rope and the employers have given the full autonomy to the HRs to reduce cost anyhow. For the time being they are cherishing every moment of pain, agony, frustration and tension of the hapless employees.
Taking chance of the situation even the HRs of small companies are also flexing their muscles. The small companies are less affected by this financial meltdown compared to the big and medium companies, but such small companies and especially the HRs are employing the situation by applying pressure tactics on the employees. They are masterminding unique methods like spreading threat mails, warning mails, rumours etc to keep the employees under pressure. Either they are deliberately delaying the appraisal cycle of employees or creating suspense about the appraisal. Even those who are apprised on time are not given the deserving pay hike.
As the full form of HR mean human resource, the HRs in reality should act more delicately for the benefit of the human resource of an organization rather than just showing their inclination towards the management.
Monday, November 3, 2008
An enigma called BREAKING NEWS
According to Wikipedia (the online reliable encyclopaedia), “Breaking news is a current event that broadcasters feel warrants the interruption of scheduled programming in order to report its details. Its use is often loosely assigned to the most significant story of the moment or a story that is being covered live. It could be a story that is simply of wide interest to viewers and has little impact otherwise.”
This is a widely accepted definition of BREAKING NEWS in the news industry. But AajTak, Zee News and India TV in particular have reshaped the definition in their own way. These two channels primarily consider news to be as breaking news looking at its viewereship, which mainly comprise Hindi speaking mass of India. So they normally pick news that appeals the emotions, inquisition and sociological background of such viewers. In addition to these the quantity of Hindi speaking viewer is too strong, which makes it too hard to resist the TRP that comes as a bonus for these commercial hungry so called news channels. The truth behind this statement will be justified if the breaking news broadcasted by these channels is watched carefully.
Such breaking news doesn’t accumulate much interest in Eastern and Southern part of India, where the Hindi speaking viewer is comparatively less. Strangely being national news channel AajTak, Zee News and India TV is least bothered about other part of India. They very much like Raj Thackeray wants to earn the attention of a particular fraction of the society. These channels are not ruled by strong editorial team/content instead is guided by the advertisers who force them to pick news that has an entertainment value.
If this is not the case then how these channels air news (if they really deserve to be categorised as news) such as calf born with 2 heads, Aishwarya and Abhishek’s pooja, tantriks evaluating what would have been the best possible solution for the Bachchan, Mallika’s fallout on her performance on the new year eve and many similar news as breaking news.
These channels broadcast illogical, impractical, gossip making, supernatural, violence and nudity in the name of news which is evident from the amusing and catchy headline they flash as breaking news such as:
Katrinaka sudh hindi shuniye
Camera me kalajadu
America mei music album mein macha bawal
Commissioner ka kutta mila
Kapde churanewali bhut
Shararti langur ke harkate
Aao yamlok chale
Muat ke bad
Bagh ka hua prem
Khuni barish ke piche kaun?
Pyaaz mangnewali churail
Salman ke sasuralwale
Chajje pe billo rani
Rahul ne dal puri aur sabji khai
Amitabh Bachchan ko thand lagi
Wonder from which planet these TV producers have come! It will be another breaking news then.
Friday, October 31, 2008
Kolkata is unfavourable for studying mass communication
For aspiring journalists who dream of working in reputed newspaper houses and T.V channels or for copywriters/media planers/visualisers in big advertising agencies getting admission in a good media school or college is a first step to success. Apart from the newspaper houses and T.V channels there are also public relation agencies and event management companies that are part of the large media industry. With the healthy rise in Indian economy supported by the growing awareness about media among the mass of the society there has been a substantial rise in the media industry particularly in the news sector all across India.
Leaving aside rest of India if just Kolkata is considered as a case study then it will be fascinating to see at the number of regional 24 hours news channel, newspaper (monthly, fortnightly, weekly) that has entered the media market in the past 4 years. This rapid development has simultaneously increased the demand for educated and skilled professionals in the field. The skilled professionals mainly come from the media schools and colleges such as Calcutta University, Jadavpur University, St. Xavier’s College, Bhavan's Asutosh College of Communication and Management, Netaji Subhas University and several others based in Kolkata.
The glitz and glamour of media is so alluring that every year huge number of students try to get admission into the reputed colleges of Kolkata that offer M.A. or P.G. Diploma in Mass Communication and Journalism to add a new dimension to their career. But very few students do a basic reality check of these institutions before taking admission. After the end of higher secondary or ISC exam most of the students are mainly focussed on getting admission into a reputed college to add value in their resume in future.
In such mad rush the students actually overlook that mass communication is not that usual kind of subject that can be acquired just by taking notes inside a class. There is an immense need for practical classes in order to grasp the subject as well the market properly. But very few mass communication institutions in Kolkata leaving aside only St. Xavier’s College have the practice of practical classes that is essential to this subject. A student who has not done field work or internship while studying mass comm. is not practically fit for the industry that what is believed by the experts in the industry.
The P.G. Diploma in mass communication course in Jadavpur University is an instance that attracts nearly 3,000 applications every year out of which only 145 get through after admission test and a viva. Recognitions such as 'University with Potential for Excellence' by University Grants Commission (UGC), 'Five Star' status by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), First Indian University to earn SYLFF (Ryoichi Sasakawa Young Leaders Fellowship Fund) status from the Nippon Foundation, Japan are the only reasons behind the rush among the studenst to get into J.U. mass comm. department.
Students realise the futility of the course when classes commence after puja vacation (november). There are only two to three full time professors and the rest are media professionals acting as guest lecturer. Most of the guest lecturers during the course remain busy with their respective job so they don’t find enough time and urge to visit the classes in J.U. As a result most of the time the classes are declared free. Rest of the time the classes mainly concentrate on theory and notes. Before the exam the same professors provide the students with pre-drafted notes that the students distribute among themselves and fetch the pass mark. Some students who do a little library work manage to get a first class. Very few media companies come for campus recruitment. Even the officials in the department are reluctant to invite potential recruiters. Compared to all these the department has kept the course fee to 15,000 at par with the course fee of P.G. Diploma in mass communication of Indian Institute of Mass Communication.
So students do some reality check before you want to study mass communication in Kolkata. Best of Luck...