Byte Collector
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Probably the most tedious bore on earth is the journalist who feels it is incumbent upon him always to be ethical. Talking of decrypting ethical journalism is rather facetious in this market driven society. Fed up of buying and selling in my short career in marketing, I took on journalism hoping to make a difference in this society. But got the shock of my life when in my first class of a reputed journalism school we were taught that we are not crusaders rather we sell news. In contrast to the hard drinking hero of the ordinary citizen today’s tertiary educated journalists have been denigrated as cappuccino sippers of the middle class promulgating a politically correct point of view remote from that of their audience. Modern journalists are peddlers of a commodity called information that is marketed to the commercial advantage without reference to the individuals own reason, sensitivity and commitment. News!! What is that?? When a reputed newspapers cover story is about Daboo Ratnani sending a marriage proposal for his dog to Aishwarya Rai’s bitch or entire media lined up for Shahrukh Khan to itch his back, news is hiding behind ethics waiting to be gang raped. It is all about getting bytes, bytes and bytes, in my short span of internship in a reputed news channel all I am doing is getting bytes. The issues that can affect society are dumped and masala tit bits are given preferences, I am giving my best to learn this new definition of journalism. When I was told to get the shots of Dr. Bharat Kumar’s(Doctor who died in Kabul in a bombblast) dead body and bytes of his family members, I felt like quiting this profession. Imagine a nine year old kid who doesn’t even know his father is dead witnessing byte collectors asking weird questions. Gone are the days of strenuous journalism, today the hit and run media has created Kaisa lag raha hai journalism decimating society’s professional disseminators of news. The so called globalization has made journalism part of the entertainment industry. It has become an FMCG product dumped down and commercially driven. The result is an undesirable shift in the balance of power from the editor to the marketing manager. Going by the standards of news stories being covered by the media agencies nowadays it seems that text book journalism is left for the archives only. These 24 hour news channel are left with no option but to go by the markets. It has been rightly said that Media today is a product of the dimwits, by the dimwits and for the dimwits. It no longer aspire to change the world, it is insensitive and irresponsible. When the builders in Mumbai are violating all rules, when a South African modal is raped, when the slum dwellers are fighting for their rights, Media is also responsible. Where is the outrage? Where are the lessons of journalism which taught us to report the truth in spite of all odds. Has society failed the media or has the media failed the society, perhaps both. Our republic and its press will rise and fall together. A spirited and courageous press who can preserve public virtue is the need of hour. Until the press redefines its priorities you can see byte collectors like us roaming on roads of Mumbai reporting news that affects none.