Indian Media Bash Blog

This is a well trafficked website which is covering the insider details of Times Now, NDTV and CNN-IBN.

What started as an honest look towards the faces behind the news (including the news anchors), has degenerated into taking jibes at the journalists. If it isn’t personal, it is full of “masala” as to what is happening in the rooms and how humans tend to react in closed confined spaces.

I’d endorse their decision to remain anonymous. It is good for them because they wouldn’t want to risk professional suicide while maintaining their “usual public relations”. However, what I wasn’t expecting was that the blog would stoop to “Times of India” like tabloidisation with “intimate details” of the “sex escapades” happening in the news rooms. Frankly, I don’t care and I wonder whether anyone does.

“Exposing” the “weekend muses” (internal emails) serves no purpose either; in the public interest (to whom the War For News guys seem to be working for) or the range of reference in terms of professional criticisms. Rajdeep may claim something, which he may or may not professionally endorse.Let’s assume for a moment that they don’t come straight from the heart; in my opinion, he has to play to the galleries by keeping the morale intact.

All professions have the same cross section of society as anywhere else. Some may encourage more lumpen elements and some may not. In my opinion, the “mystique” of journalist as a jholawalla, hand to mouth existence and the fire to “do something good for the country”, is a passe’. Things have changed drastically and identifying any good journalist is like looking for a needle in a haystack. I wonder whether the “old school” would endorse these new age tripes in the name of “journalism”.

The news anchors have become “mini celebrities” in their own right. It has also exposed them to a vast majority of people who can recognise them instantly. If someone offers to write in about the constructive criticisms, it is a welcome decision on their part. It would give in some sort of a benchmark with which they can identify with and hopefully improve upon next time. The kind of posts on War For News mentioning about “sexual harrasments” serves only to titillate; how do these anonymous loonies gain out of “highlighting the misdeeds”?

A disclaimer here. CNN-IBN/ NDTV sucks majorly. I have major issues with their editorial content/ presentation. Yet, I feel that it is more appropriate to leave them alone as to what they are upto. A balanced blog would be welcome to highlight where they goof up and where they could improve. It would be more appropriate (and hence carry more weight) if someone competent enough writes in about them.

Sitting back anonymously and aiming needlessly at someone would only point towards a perverted mindset. War For News has just demonstrated that they can take it to absurd lengths.