From Awe to Disillusionment

India has undergone dramatic changes in the last decade or two. One of the most significant thing in this rapidly changed India that I admired (till recently) the most was the advent of news channels somewhere during the late 90s. I felt they were “fresh”, the journalists were “well educated” discussed and debated on important national and international issues and more importantly had panelists who were champions in their respective fields. So attracted was I to a few news channels that television for me apart from sports meant NDTV 24*7, CNN-IBN, CNBC-TV 18 and NDTV Profit; that was it; I followed these channels as if they were the gospel of truth, elevated some of the anchors to the status of a “demi-god” and literally worshipped them. I watched them online, ensured that I read their columns in the news=papers (and it meant reading multiple papers as each had a column in different ones) and also shared the ones that I felt were very good with a group of friends and felt nice about it.

Now with the (in)-famous Radia tapes exposing the “best-in-the-business” I suddenly feel I was so foolish!!
• The column that I read the other day was not the opinion of my favorite journalist/anchor but was what the corporate head felt should be written in-order to project a certain image of him in public.
• That debate that I chose to watch at 8 pm on Saturday night instead of going out with friends was actually pre-fixed. The moderator already had an agenda (again decided by some corporate) and ensured that the debate was tilted in that direction!
• That magazine that I started subscribing since another of my favorite journalist writes in it; had articles which were again written or spun in a way to please certain corporate.

Suddenly I feel cheated, I was so naïve to think that we live in a democracy and one of the pillars of democracy is free and un-biased presses; who with the power of their pen and words have the influence to shape public minds! Alas little did I know it’s all “Fixed”!! It’s all pre-decided! What message to convey, whom to please, whom to bring down, whom to high-light; it never was an independent opinion!
It is 8 pm Saturday evening again, my eyes shift to the remote control (they are so trained to it), to switch on one of the news channels, but my mind now tells me that it’s much better to spend the evening with friends and family……..at least I won’t feel let down.