Wednesday, August 02, 2006

MOVEMENTless MEDIA...

It's not the first time that media has not covered a big event organised in the heart of the capital. I don't know why...leaving Jansatta, Sunday Post and Janmat, no other media group covered it. Although the story did not appear on Janmat.

For the first time in the history of independent India, political forces ranging from Gandhians to Socialists and Marxist-Leninist-Maoist forces have joined hands against imperialism in a broad democratic front: the People's Democratic Front Of India (PDFI). PDFI consisting of 175 mass organisations from 16 states was formally launched on 31st July on the death anniversary of Shaheed Udham Singh.

Did media not understand the importance of this event? The present day news sense which relies on the presence of big names and personalities in any event was illegitimate in this context. What big names do you need? Medha Patkar, Varvara Rao, Kalyan Rao, Nandita Haksar, SAR Gilani... to name a few, who were present on this ocassion. 175 mass movements is not such a small stuff to be avoided.

This is not unique. Many a times, I have seen that people keep on clearing their throats on the Parliament Street, Jantar-Mantar and media turns its back over it. Is this not turning back to half of the reality of this country? Secondly, the Editors are at least expected to understand the pros and cons of any event like this in the holistic context of growing resentment and retaliations against the state power everywhere. What has happened to them?

Surely, media which was a movement in the British times had ceased to be at a very early stage of economic liberalisation. Now, it has become completely movementless. Who is responsible for it? Journalists, TRP driven professional ethics, Media managers, state or anyone else?

Abhishek Srivastava

2 comments:

Babu said...

Hi,
It has been coveered by The Hindu, Eenadu, Vartha and a few other news papers in south India.
I do agree that the main stream news papers / channels are more obssessed with reporting page-3 culture. But I have some doubts about the PDFI coverage. PDFI might have a significance to some. But I don't feel it is a significant event, that happened in the Indian history. Medha Patkar is a well known person without any selfishness, although little bit obsessed with few of her activities.
I feel, by including Varavara Rao and Kalyana Rao at par with Medha Patkar.. you are not doing any thing good. Who is varavara rao? who is kalyana Rao? What they have done? They done nothing good.. except giving statements while sitting in Hyderabad.

Apoplexy said...

it would be interesting to see how is amalgam of foces of egaslitarianism enrich the struggle for a better world or whtr communist sectarianism destroys the experiment