Indian Media Bash Blog

First and foremost, thanks to Sushubh for inviting me to blog on Indian media.

Secondly, this blog is proudly hosted on Word Press 2.0. Arguably, they have “AJAXIFIED” the whole interface. We are proud to go Open Source.

There are couple of websites devoted to “media watch” so to say. However, they have their own axes to grind. Perhaps devoted to “outdated ideologies” (read marxism) and “secularism”. While they sound good in theory, it makes no sense in the practical world. (Notable among them is The Hoot)

While starting this “blog”, I am humbled by the fact that mainstream media has the resources and most importantly reach to a wider audience. Here too, our scope would be extremely limited in terms of audience or influencing opinions.

The purpose isn’t to malign anyone personally; I remember the aborted attempts to “throttle” Mediahh by Times of India. They easily take the cake for bastardising the media; yet we are wary that any “direct” attacks would invite the hordes of legal lawsuits. Ultimately, Times retracted it’s lawsuit but proof enough that it couldn’t swallow any criticism on it’s “publications”.

Mediahh had the big advantage of “insider information”. We are guided by the fact that we get to see the issues from an “outsider’s perspective”.

These issues are of paramount importance for our sheer survival or the way the elected representatives deal with them. Accountability is an alien concept for them; we hope to swing the public opinion to make them accountable for their lapses. This indeed, is the ideal that guides us all. In the hindsight, the Indian media might just report objectively.

It all boils down to one simple fact. English media or it’s counterparts in the regional stream have dumbed down considerably. It doesn’t apply to every media house; there are notable exceptions. Some periodicals like Economic and Political Weekly or The Statesman are still far and few. We need more of these.

You are invited to contribute to the blog; your contribution would be duly acknowledged.