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May 4, 1998
SPECIALS
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How Readers reacted to Pritish Nandy's last column
Date sent: Thu, 30 Apr 1998 13:20:40 +0800 It's true. It's the fourth estate that should be blamed first for this disease -- second, the not-so-aware readers. The media has always focused only on politics, movies and cricket. It has never given due credit to successful businessmen, investors, entrepreneurs, scientists, social workers, artists, sportsmen etc. Now it has assumed such proportions that a sudden change may result in business loss. So please get your present and future colleagues to change gradually towards the right culture and impress the average readers about the various ways to succeed and get recognised in life. Nothing happens by just fretting and fuming!
P R Reddy
Date sent: Wed, 29 Apr 1998 09:48:18 +0530 As usual, PN is lively and interesting. But is this not the usual gap between a Mumbaiwallah and Delhiwallah? The Delhi media is driven by politics. In a larger sense, the outer Delhi limits, including parts of Haryana and UP is obsessed with political power, how it's manipulated, who's up and who's down. In the US there is a similar tendency in Washington, but the interest and voices of people 'outside the beltway' constantly intrude and force the media to recognise that such preoccupations have a limited audience. With India's increasing decentralisation, and the growing importance of the states and regions, media concerns will necessarily become more balanced, especially when the news out of Delhi is so often just as PN describes it. Let the information consumer speak with greater clarity and the information provider will change his formula in response.
Jerry Brennig
Date sent: Tue, 28 Apr 1998 18:27:15 -0500 One day you praise Jayalalitha Jayaram for pushing the BJP to kick out chargesheeted MPs, forget the fact that nobody is ever going to challenge her for the "most corrupt politician" award. Now here you are telling us that these politicians occupy all the newspaper real estate. Whose fault is that? It's journalists like you who don't have the guts to expose criminal elements and write praising articles to get their blessings and increase your circulation that are responsible. Ragu
Date sent: Tue, 28 Apr 1998 17:44:58 -0500 I thought about it only when you pointed it out. "Why is politics the subject of our front pages" unlike in other countries? (I admit I have never seen a newspaper from another developing country). I discussed this with some of my friends and here are the views about the psychology behind it. 1. Front pages are meant for something exciting or catchy. A lot of unexpected is definitely happening in Indian politics. 2. When the citizens are so used to all their needs being taken care of, they are really not very much concerned about the lot making the decision. 3. Indians enjoy politics. All the reasons look good to me. Sony
Date sent: Tue, 28 Apr 1998 14:52:52 -0700 "Why does our politics grab the media, grab our mindshare, our reluctant attention day after day? Loathsome leaders; corrupt MPs; thieving ministers; ugly, despicable louts and historysheeters masquerading as netas; blackmailers; extortionists; thugs. Why do these people hijack our attention again and again and again?" asks Pritish Nandy. Well, that's because two timers like you keep harping about the same crap time and again! People like you give prominence to unscrupulous politicians like Swamy and Jayalalitha! Srinivas Murthy
Date sent: Tue, 28 Apr 1998 14:49:43 -0700 Pritish, You made a correct point. It is true that today the majority of news papers/magazines are giving prominence to this useless stuff. Something that whets the appetites of the gossip-hungry readers is dished out day after day. The reasons are many and they are like the proverbial chicken-egg story. 'We read what we get -- We give what they want'. Instead of going into that, let me say what can be done to better the situation: I strongly believe that among these pulp readers there are many who merely follow the established track and trends created by the few at the top. These people can think. But they don't have the initiative or proper direction. There needs to be news sources which can provide these. Which highlights positive accomplishments. Better ideas. This might sound pedantic and redundant. But a fact remains a fact. Ramprasad
Date sent: Tue, 28 Apr 98 13:22:36 -0800 You stole my words Pritish!! The role of the media in getting our politics is so dirty that it cannot be doubted. Every single byte of what politicians say is made headline and every single achievement from any Indian in the world arena is made a non-news. The media has made us more like a person who drives a bicycle and not care about cars on road and, one day, gets crushed under the wheels of one of them. We are riding a bicycle. Of course, we have made a lot of progress. But is that enough? Is that proportionate with our potential? Is that enough to quench our thirst for development? Don't we want a new outlook towards the world? Don't we want to compete with them? It's a pity we are being ruled by illiterate politicians who don't know the pace the world is going at, and are rather happy at the pace. These guys who call themselves the guards of society are struck and bitten by this breed of politicians. For them whatever any politician does becomes a headline because that is what the public wants. They are not worried about the moral side of news reporting. They ain't no guards, they are just another business which, unluckily, happens to have such a good reach and important role in the upbringing of society. I wish they would get to know their duties... Mukesh Kataria
Date sent: Tue, 28 Apr 1998 16:30:43 -0400 Just brilliant. It is about time our news pundits stopped painting India by the tar brush of political misdeeds.
Vijay Mathur
Date sent: Tue, 28 Apr 1998 12:52:18 -0700 (PDT) Blame it on the press! The Indian press is entirely responsible for the irrelevant and uneducational news hitting the headlines. Unfortunately, a newspaper's survival appears to be dependent on appeasing the corrupt goons (Indian politicians). Consequently, news such as "Amma's Temper" gets precedence over India winning the Sharjah Cup! Freedom of speech has withered due to the politicisation and criminalisation of the press. What Indians see and hear is entirely dependent on the whims and fancies of those in power. Thanks to our NETAS we are a proud INFORMATION DEPRIVED society!
Date sent: Tue, 28 Apr 1998 12:50:00 -0700 I think Pritish is dead on. The undue coverage on silly and stupid politicians only shows the standard of our media. As a concrete step, the newspaper and television media must pledge to boycott news of these politicians (or make them a minor footnote) and bring the real achievers like Laxmi Mittal or Tendulkar into the limelight. Let the experiment begin in earnest.
Date sent: Tue, 28 Apr 1998 14:44:21 -0400 Couldn't agree more. And the worst part is despite this obsession, nobody cares a shit and is willing to do anything other than put some votes after doing the ina-meena-myna-mo.
Date sent: Tue, 28 Apr 1998 13:19:50 -0500 Mr Nandy, For the first time I find myself agreeing with your views. You are one of the respected media persons in India these days. Maybe you can talk to the editors of various newspapers to bring about a change not only in NEWS headlines but the life of the average Indian.
Ritambhara Goel
Chicago
Date sent: Tue, 28 Apr 1998 11:08:30 -0700 (PDT) Pritish Nandy wants Indians to look at sexy women and watch rich industrialists and cheer good cricket instead of gawking at the non-stop obscenities thrust down our throat by ugly politicians. That is a point well made. But why don't you, Pritish, do some positive journalism in the coming years? After all, you already have your Padma Shri. The fourth estate in India is never willing to partake in the real life of the common man. Religion is a taboo for you when millions walk to the banks of Ganges for the Kumbh Mela. You don't understand what moves them. You feed their base feelings of sex and violence with movies and politics and now you want to conveniently point fingers at them. When someone like Gandhi abused the religious spirit of simple people for political ends, newspapers and poets were there praising him as the Mahatma! The biggest problem of India is not the population explosion or caste system but religious imposters and manipulating politicians. It is the responsibility of journalists to expose them and lead the society in severely punishing them. Ganapathy Sundaram
Date sent: Tue, 28 Apr 1998 10:10:40 -0700 Just today I wondered how come Pritish is always complaining about everything. Then he comes up with this article. I often disagree with him, but this time I have to say it was nice to read him. Venkat
Date sent: Tue, 28 Apr 1998 13:04:14 -0400 How indeed right Pritish Nandy is! He forgot to add to the 'shame-list' how Indian press glorifies every politician by calling him or her a 'leader'. As if the very fact of politicking turns a criminal, murderer or thug into a leader. And there seems to be some justification, a crude logic, for the kind of press coverage we abhor -- if every politician is a leader, then s/he justifies the coverage because leaders deserve coverage! Worse, Mahatma Gandhi is a 'leader' and so is Rabri Devi. I'm waiting for the day when murderer, thug, looter and brigand-at-large Veerappan becomes a 'leader'! Forget about good journalistic skills, even discriminatory use of the English language is often overlooked. Or is it a bad case of 'racial memory' at work because there was a time when politicians were truly leaders of people? And the press seems to hang on to that notion rather fondly. It is perhaps time for journalists to paint a truer picture of their subjects. It might be appropriate to start attaching prefixes such as 'criminal-turned politician' or 'alleged axe murderer' or 'just-out-of-prison serial rapist' while describing Indian politicians instead of the exalted and cheery 'leader'. Though reporters may find the term 'leader' a simple enough (less keystrokes on a computer/typewriter!) and harmless word that just does the work, it does convey a sense of societal acceptance, a kind of anointing that instantly washes away past sins. As Chomsky has never tired of saying, the media's use of words, carelessly chosen and repeated often enough, bestows a certain legitimacy on the subject, making them stick. This is typecasting working in the reverse form. I'm not sure how many newsrooms in the country even bother to revise and update their stylebooks regularly, asking critical questions about the way they cover stories and issues, and the language they use. Journalism, once a critical pursuit, has degenerated into a mundane, mindless recycling of press releases and hosting PR spin. It's not the readers and viewers who succumb to the 'glamour' but the journalists who succumb first, doing whatever it takes to get into the journalistic loop, and then force the readers/viewers to lump their version of what's news. Doesn't that explain the lack of a single newspaper or magazine or media outlet that celebrates the diversity and achievements of the people of the country?
Date sent: Tue, 28 Apr 1998 11:59:33 EDT It was a well written column and the majority will agree with him. But he is not saying something revealing. Everyone knows it. What is needed at this hour is some direction as to what can be done. Readers will respect Mr Nandy's opinion more if he suggests some remedy to the situation. Bala Suresh
Date sent: Tue, 28 Apr 1998 09:08:13 -0700 Well said, Pritish. And why is Rediff covering so much politics under the NEWS topic? Why don't you advise the Rediff editors to allocate a column called 'Dirty Politics' and put the stories under that title? I think Rediff should show the way...
Ananth
Date sent: Tue, 28 Apr 1998 12:10:01 -0400 For a change Pritish Nandy has written a meaningful article. But he should realise that it is people like him who make a mountain out of a mole hill and spread unnecessary analysis of something non existent in their bid to express their psychological weakness to accept the BJP in power. Ajay Gannerkote
Date sent: Tue, 28 Apr 1998 11:14:03 -0500 A lot has been made of the 'achievements' of the Indian Miss World and Miss Universe. The plain fact is that the cosmetic industry, after having saturated the Western markets, is desperately in search of newer markets for their products. Hence the crowning of beauty queens from this part of the world.
Date sent: Wed, 29 Apr 1998 01:44:44 -0400 Hi Pritish, Your article was good. But who are responsible for all the stuff coming on to the front pages? It is you presspersons. More than publishing the news for the welfare of the society, these papers publish all negative news. The polity is producing bad politicians according to you. Okay, but the so-called intellectuals are neglecting the political system. That's why bad people are entering the key field. Intellectuals are more worried about themselves and are always involved in planning their own future till retirement. THOSE WHO FEEL, AND ARE INTELLECTUAL, SHOULD COME OUT AND SPEND TIME IN DOING SOME CONSTRUCTIVE WORK. JUST BLAMING THE PRESS AND THE POLITICIANS DOESN'T COUNT. H Vijay Simha
Date sent: Tue, 28 Apr 1998 22:38:37 -0500 This article should silence the venomous critics of Nandy's previous two articles. I think the previous two articles were rash, without the notion that those would be reaching millions.
Date sent: Wed, 29 Apr 1998 09:53:19 -0400 0 Excellent, Pritish! Give some hints on how to write a column to Varsha. She need to learn. I am very much impressed. Shashi
Date sent: Thu, 30 Apr 1998 17:24:00 -0700 Even in full public glare, the politicians are behaving like a bunch of circus jokers. If they are let loose, that is, if the media starts ignoring their activities, God only knows what will happen. Pritish Nandy, wake up from your slumber, we are talking about India, not the USA.
Santosh Bhat
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