Change the News.

(13 Sept ’09)

            It all started on Facebook. Some said he was a supporting the Indian Army against terrorism. Then his friend said the Army was the most corrupt institution in India. Another one said there was no discrimination: everyone was equally corrupt. And so forth. I butted in: as happens quite often on facebook conversations, no one knew anyone, I knew only the first chap. So I asked, why the most corrupt? The non-face said because they asked for bribes directly and didn’t care who was around. I asked, “Bribes for freezing to death in Siachen? Not care who was around whilst treading on mines in Arunachal? Corrupt enough to save delinquent children who’d fallen into tubewells? Interesting! Then the next ‘voice’ typed in that she understood that these acts needed a lot of nobility and all that, but what about all the excesses.. or words to that effect… when they took law into their own hands. Then I said, a few bad apples don’t make a fine professional force ‘the most corrupt’ institution, and if we really were concerned about doing something for the country, we shouldn’t be wasting time on Facebook, that there were plenty of non-greedy doctors, policemen, soldiers, even politicians, that most people were good and that the country had a good future. Out of the blue, the original chap whose ‘wall’ we were scribbling our quarrel on interrupted to say, he knew a lot of good people and that he stood by what he said: that he was supporting the Indian Army against terrorism. We debaters came to our senses and our keyboards and have made cyber-friends with each other, offering chai and conversations to each other.

            This interaction got me thinking. We are all so cynical that aisa hee hota hai. One of the reasons is that the media gives bigger font size and better pages to the bad news. If there is a story about rape and another about a fireman saving someone, the first makes front page headlines, the second is tucked in a corner. Who’s the hero? Who will people notice and talk about? No prizes for guessing.

            Our teenagers get medals, very valuable, hard to win stuff in the Physics, Chemistry, Math, Bio Olympiads conducted in various parts of the world each year. In any other country, it would make a splash. Ever see NDTV, Zee, Star, Aajtak or the others giving them a boost? To be fair, the billiards champ, P Advani, was interviewed for a couple of seconds, but no one explained what billiards is, what it means to win a tournament… like they explain in detail how somebody burnt her servant’s hands and gauged out her eyes. Our soldiers, our policemen, many of our scientists, our teachers, do extremely – and I mean to the extreme—unbelievably good things. These days, I find Hindustan Times Mumbai edition does cover quite a few and it’s heartwarming to read those articles. In the conversation mentioned above on facebook, one person actually laid a challenge of sorts: do you want me to give lots of examples of corrupt people? To the guy to who said he was an optimist, who said he believed in the goodness of humanity. Actually, in a competition between the corrupt and the heroic, the latter would have larger numbers and make more interesting reading if well presented.

            One person said: you won’t get advertising if you didn’t have sensational stories. Difficult to believe that Coke or Pepsi would sponsor a murder story rather than a sports one. I think the decision to choose headlines lies with the media company alone. If a magazine wants to be different, it can, even within the framework of market rules. 

            A qualified psychologist or sociologist would be able to analyse the impact such negative news has on the general population. I believe strongly, that all of us have come to accept that cynicism, that corruption, is the norm. I’ve never needed to bribe for anything, not even in Goa. Perhaps I had to wait a little longer, but it was worth it. Was I lucky? Nope. I followed the ‘system’, I was firm when I was right, and I was lucky. I also believe that good news headlines and articles will eventually make people look up to good leaders. If you keep reading about drugs, accidents, bomb blasts, you get used to them. See what happens when India wins a cricket match, or an Olympic medal or a beauty contest. It holds the country together. A feel good factor happens. So does news about a good crop, a good outstanding deed, good anything. Our media needs to put forth things we can take pride in. Comments, anyone? 

@@@@@