There are many kinds of war- Civil war, Biological war, Nuclear war but the worst kind is PROPAGANDA WAR.
The reason is that it is the propaganda spread against things leads to the actual war.
In today's world most people have very strong opinions which generally dont change. Now whats the source on which the opinions are based? Newspapers, News channels, Radio etc i.e. THE MEDIA.
Now pause for a moment and think- Is the media controlling you? Is it making you believe what they want you to believe?
Its important and correct to have an opinion but is it flexible enough to change once you know the other side of story? Or have people been "brainwashed" that they dont want to even look at the other side!!
Its dangerous if you are controlled by someone else and its even more dangerous if the masses are controlled by someone else!
"The pen is mightier than the sword"
But what if the pen is in the wrong hands? Now the question comes- "Why would the media do something like this?". Their job after all is to make the people aware!
WRONG!! In the age of TRP's and Profit generation ethics are taking a back seat and money is what matters!
DID YOU KNOW??
During the recent Maharashtra elections many newspapers and news channels telecasted and wrote congress advertisements as NEWS thus manipulating the voters and ultimately the results. All this was done for MONEY. The nexus was ultimately exposed by "THE HINDU" newspaper ( Detailed post on this coming soon).
When you dont believe in advertisements of products is it right to believe in advertisements disguised in the form of news? Or has the time come to be rational and look for alternate sources of information and be flexible in approach.
Lets look at the power of Media with the help of an example.
Think about BIHAR for a moment. There are high chances that a not so good picture of it came into your mind. Widespread poverty, illiteracy, corruption, scams is what one thinks of.
But do you know that in the past year Bihar was the 2nd highest state in terms of development next only to Gujarat!! Have a look at the following article from ToI-
The perception might have changed after reading the success story of Bihar in the newspaper though you might not have believed it otherwise! Thats the power Media carries.
Though it doesnt mean that whole Media is at fault or they do not do anything right. Media has highlighted many important issues in the past and will do so even in the future. But it is time to realize the nexus functioning in Media ( The movie Rann would throw more light on this I hope). Should people stop believing media blindly and start analysing themselves?
There opinion might not change even after that but then they are sure that its their OWN opinion and not someone controlling them.
Godhra Riots- A communal blunder and BJP's worst nightmare. But do you know 1984 Anti-Sikh riots were much worse (A detailed post coming soon).
Varun Gandhi's much publicized speech against the muslims. A similar speech was made against the Hindus in Andhra Pradesh I guess at a similar time. NO NEWS! Also check the manifesto of the NCP candidate here . Again NO NEWS!
Congress- Party for the youth. An analysis of the MP's after election revealed that BJP had more "youth" MP's than congress. And after few months another report in ToI mentioned that Congress youth MP's had started LEAST discussions in Parliament!
Sugar at Rs 50/- kg, More than 30% of population STILL below poverty line, 50 years of Congress (Common man's govt) rule, No talk of price rise in Media! Connect the dots.
Is It time to start looking for answers?
5 comments for this post
The problem is not just that simple. We still need the media for the information..any kind of media. People should be smart enough to extract only the information leaving out all the frills which tend to make you look at a situation they want you to.
I do believe that we'd have a lot more issues in the society in the absence of so many different media.
I agree. Anyone who has an above-average intelligence would have easily sensed the partisanship of the media during the Lok Sabha elections. That's the power of money!! Any government has to be completely impotent to loose the next elections. By virtue of being in power, they have enough money and wherewitthals to influence the media. If you look closely, all statistics point to much-better-than-better governance in Gujarat and Bihar, both ruled by the NDA. But, the media discussions always evade that.
Long live the misery of demo-crassy!!
@ Lakshmipriya
I completely agree. Media still plays a very important role and is not as bad as this article makes it looks like.
but its high time that people stop believe the media ALONE. Everyone shall be opened to discuss the matters atleast and then decide rather than having a firm opinion just becoz media says it!
@ talking skull
Absolutely true! What surprises me is the calm among people even when inflation is sky high and prices are soaring rapidly. just becoz the media hasnt highlighted this fact people seem to have forgotten how much more they are paying for the basic commodities!
Thnx for the informative post!