A CORRESPONDENT WHO NEVER GOT THE JOB - Part 1

A young lady had it all. Learning’s from academic books, her self-awareness qualities par excellence, a sure material for any media house editorial positions, unfortunately her first story reporting was often the last with them. If you are thinking the media owners let her down well you are half right the other half is viewers who give the media houses liberties to misuse our senses.

News exists in the minds of a broadcasting team. It is not ‘the event’ it is something perceived after the event. It is an attempt to reconstruct the same and often not identical with the event. The manner in which most news room have their script written and dramatized for its audience, they dare to be senseless only because we express our enjoyment by patronising those channels. The lady correspondent dared to change the reporting script. Keeping her soul in her profession she was cautious that her writings are power, but without wisdom and compassion, it will never be the solution to depict and correct the wrongs in society.

Covering a rape story the young lady correspondent script would read “The men need to be ashamed as one among them age 24, brutally, in humanly and forcibly exercised acts of pleasure on a women age 19 against her will. Yet another reality of male child parents who take pride in having a son, but fail to inculcate the respect of women in him. Recorded statements of the family and other relevant people are available as an exhibit for the investigating team and the courts to examine. We expect investigating authorities and judiciary of the region to exercise timely justice, as it is a test of their respect for the womb they came from. This ghastly act happened in a township in Maharashtra, should the victim fails in getting justice, we will run more content for drawing administrations accountability.”

The lady correspondent’s script was rejected as it lacked the masala and tadka touching sensitive points among the masses to sensationalise the story into the length and breadth of the country. What sensitive points in the script were missing? No interviews or panel discussions to orchestrate noise about a political failure, demanding heads of cm, pm to roll, with less focus to find the head that did it all. Policing incompetency and failure not projected and the tadka of communal and religious mention brings in more eye balls. The lady journalist script had none hence rejected. Has it ever occurred to you why media houses randomly associate with only a select rape incident when on an average 9 cases officially get registered a day in India as per 2021 data. Who tends to gain when they do what they do?

The young lady correspondent wishes to treat minds with stories that bring national pride, information of national achievements, inventions, innovations, growth, stories of art, sports and culture. Often the content of information being shared by all media with a common man has no relevance or reason for him to know, nor can he contribute in resolving it. The elected representatives voted by common man are to perform inside the parliament and not on street and in front of cameras. The freedom of speech is being abused thanks to opportunity extended by media. For them poorest of verbal diarrhoea attracts eye balls increasing their TRP and which is largely served to us. This senseless taken for granted attitude by media needs to stop.

Our minds have not grown while the media in India has grown into an economic giant, with a business turnover exceeding one per cent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).

Coming in the next part how the lady correspondents scripts differ on the same stories others do but her contents bring no hatred, violence or protest.