You switch on your television, and maybe watch a movie, a serial. But that’s not real. That’s a story somebody made up. Now people want to watch reality on TV. So, we come up with reality TV! It’s all exciting and spicy and scandalous; keeps the viewers hooked. And what of the real reality? Has the act-by-the-script law seeped its way down from movies to real life?
Sometimes big things happen, like a country is bombed, or someone important died, or there’s some huge unrest going on in the country – none of that is scripted. But what if what we are reading, is, in fact, scripted, acted, played?
The press is not always about pleasing its audience – they report the truth. But politics – the Big Game – only wants to show the people what they think they want to see – that means shutting up the press, keeping them quiet, or making them change directions to a story.
Forget political parties ‘buying’ or ‘selling’ stories, these days we even have media houses pressuring their reporters and writers to budge and change what really happened to make it look more – decent. And the honest ones who refuse to decorate the details are sacked; why, some of them quit on their own. There are a lot of honest journalists out there, and it is good to know they are standing up for what’s right and not bowing down to corruption. Yes, for the first time, it looks like India is looking towards throwing corruption right out the window!
Recently, a newspaper pulled an article that made our prime minister look bad (it was about Narendra Modi’s appointment of Amit Shah to head the Bharatiya Janata Party, Shah being on trial for murder and other crimes). If the media houses refuse to be honest – it’s a relief to see that their employers won’t be following the same house rule.
India has a bad reputation when it comes to transparency of the press. But it looks like the very people who work in such places are not going to sit back and degrade that reputation further. There’s been a lot of dirt dug up in every nook and cranny of the country – politics, religion, race, caste, violence – why, here on this blog you will find a good number of articles that show how monstrous our country and its people and administration are capable of becoming. And from that corner, it looks like vigilantes are emerging. Honest people who are ready to fight for the country are finally coming out of the shadows. In 1947, our country became independent, owing to the efforts of years of fearless warriors, yet corruption pervaded and encroached into every part of this country, and it seems like the warriors of our time are bringing out their swords.
The press is one of the most important symbols of freedom. They tell the world some of the biggest stories that are happening in our world. Some of those stories get fabricated and glistened on its way to the audience, who ever so keenly sit before the television, waiting for it to feed them information. And since recently, journalists have been revolting against it, or at least not lending a hand to it. Yes, India has a long, long way to go to free corruption, curb violence, bestow peace, but it looks like it is taking its first steps. Today, the press is fighting. Let’s give them a hand.
