Raju Korti
It is risky these days to tell people that you are a journalist. Knowing that I have banged my head in that profession for more than three decades, my friends and relatives -- and their number seems to only increase -- never fail to rub it in that the credibility of media is at an all time low. (With the probable exception of the Indian Rupee). The small consolation is I left the mainstream media in 2009, around the same time my good friend and colleague Smita Deshmukh left. But reality never hit me hard as it did this morning.
Although she did not specifically mention what provoked that post, I could latch on to the reason. On her Facebook wall Smita wrote she did not regret her decision to leave Journalism. I read the comment and smiled it away but by a strange coincidence, I was witness to an embarrassing situation a little later while on my way to work. I had boarded a local train which was packed at that peak hour with people jostling for space. Suddenly I heard two persons, whose faces I couldn't see, arguing for reasons I couldn't gather. Soon the argument got heated and one of them said "don't mess around with me. I am from the media." The others who were watching the drama with stony faces suddenly sprang to life at the mention of media. I will quote their exact words: "MC media, BC media, saale bikau haraami naalayak humko media ka darr dikhata hai? Jaa kis ko leke aana hai leke aa. Khud dukaandaari karte ho aur duniya ko akal seekhate ho. Bhaad me gayi tumhari media.". I am sure none of us is so innocent that we do not know these expletives and what they mean. By the time I got down a couple of stations later, the public outrage continued and I could just catch the redder-than-beetroot face of the person who thought being in media made him invincible. The seething anger of the people against the media was an eye-opener although in the past, I had heard adverse comments about my profession. I chose not to dwell on them being one of their ilk. A few years back an acquaintance of my in-laws had told me bluntly on my face that :"Journalism and journalists are humbug." For someone who practiced his profession with utmost sincerity, this was ultimate insult. Today, it has reached a stage where even politicians -- people with lowest credibility -- feel free to advise journalists that they must act responsibly and introspect about what ails their profession.
The sad truth most of us journalists refuse to acknowledge is the skepticism about what they see, hear and read in the media. No major news outlet -- whether broadcast or cable, print or online -- stands out as particularly credible. The media agenda is often euphemistically described as "narrative." The television has particularly queered the pitch in manufacturing public opinion and dumbing down news. Opinions, often puerile and silly, are passed off as information. I would like to know how many old-timers like me feel offended that they too have been painted with a black brush because of the growing number of black sheep in the profession. Excuse me, but it is difficult to find sensible, intelligent and conscientious journalists these days. Professional smartness is all about personal and political affiliations and prejudices. In my years of teaching media students, I am witness to the rot setting in. Sample some of their questions: Does the Press card allow you to go anywhere and enjoy free lunches and gifts? Can I get easy access to celebrities and pose with them for pictures? Will politicians do our bidding like paying our phone and petrol bills? As a journalist will I get to talk to gangsters? What do journalists do to make "side income" and such stuff. Its stifling.
I have always felt and realized that journalists and policemen have one thing in common. Both hallucinate that their clout comes from their profession. Aggressive jaws drop to their crotch once they are (thrown) out of it. With social media and the concept of Citizen Journalism, every person is an erudite journalist now. No one is any less expert than the other on any issue under the Sun. The definition of News Media was never so diluted as it it is today. The unvarnished fact is people's trust in the media began to deteriorate long before the industry's finances began to drop and the Internet hatched a cut-throat competition -- as well as more gossip and speculation.
The great deluge that goes under the heading "News Media" has been poisoned by junk blogs, gossip sheets, shout radio and TV partisans who have confined the word credibility only to the dictionary.
I am waiting for the day when I would die "live" on TV and people spouting condolences while I watch mortified wondering if I would have been better off dead instead.
It is risky these days to tell people that you are a journalist. Knowing that I have banged my head in that profession for more than three decades, my friends and relatives -- and their number seems to only increase -- never fail to rub it in that the credibility of media is at an all time low. (With the probable exception of the Indian Rupee). The small consolation is I left the mainstream media in 2009, around the same time my good friend and colleague Smita Deshmukh left. But reality never hit me hard as it did this morning.
Although she did not specifically mention what provoked that post, I could latch on to the reason. On her Facebook wall Smita wrote she did not regret her decision to leave Journalism. I read the comment and smiled it away but by a strange coincidence, I was witness to an embarrassing situation a little later while on my way to work. I had boarded a local train which was packed at that peak hour with people jostling for space. Suddenly I heard two persons, whose faces I couldn't see, arguing for reasons I couldn't gather. Soon the argument got heated and one of them said "don't mess around with me. I am from the media." The others who were watching the drama with stony faces suddenly sprang to life at the mention of media. I will quote their exact words: "MC media, BC media, saale bikau haraami naalayak humko media ka darr dikhata hai? Jaa kis ko leke aana hai leke aa. Khud dukaandaari karte ho aur duniya ko akal seekhate ho. Bhaad me gayi tumhari media.". I am sure none of us is so innocent that we do not know these expletives and what they mean. By the time I got down a couple of stations later, the public outrage continued and I could just catch the redder-than-beetroot face of the person who thought being in media made him invincible. The seething anger of the people against the media was an eye-opener although in the past, I had heard adverse comments about my profession. I chose not to dwell on them being one of their ilk. A few years back an acquaintance of my in-laws had told me bluntly on my face that :"Journalism and journalists are humbug." For someone who practiced his profession with utmost sincerity, this was ultimate insult. Today, it has reached a stage where even politicians -- people with lowest credibility -- feel free to advise journalists that they must act responsibly and introspect about what ails their profession.
The sad truth most of us journalists refuse to acknowledge is the skepticism about what they see, hear and read in the media. No major news outlet -- whether broadcast or cable, print or online -- stands out as particularly credible. The media agenda is often euphemistically described as "narrative." The television has particularly queered the pitch in manufacturing public opinion and dumbing down news. Opinions, often puerile and silly, are passed off as information. I would like to know how many old-timers like me feel offended that they too have been painted with a black brush because of the growing number of black sheep in the profession. Excuse me, but it is difficult to find sensible, intelligent and conscientious journalists these days. Professional smartness is all about personal and political affiliations and prejudices. In my years of teaching media students, I am witness to the rot setting in. Sample some of their questions: Does the Press card allow you to go anywhere and enjoy free lunches and gifts? Can I get easy access to celebrities and pose with them for pictures? Will politicians do our bidding like paying our phone and petrol bills? As a journalist will I get to talk to gangsters? What do journalists do to make "side income" and such stuff. Its stifling.
I have always felt and realized that journalists and policemen have one thing in common. Both hallucinate that their clout comes from their profession. Aggressive jaws drop to their crotch once they are (thrown) out of it. With social media and the concept of Citizen Journalism, every person is an erudite journalist now. No one is any less expert than the other on any issue under the Sun. The definition of News Media was never so diluted as it it is today. The unvarnished fact is people's trust in the media began to deteriorate long before the industry's finances began to drop and the Internet hatched a cut-throat competition -- as well as more gossip and speculation.
The great deluge that goes under the heading "News Media" has been poisoned by junk blogs, gossip sheets, shout radio and TV partisans who have confined the word credibility only to the dictionary.
I am waiting for the day when I would die "live" on TV and people spouting condolences while I watch mortified wondering if I would have been better off dead instead.
