In good faith

It’s no child’s play to keep a tradition going and if one breaks, it comes as a rude shock. Dramatic closure of Britain’s 168-year-old tabloid, News of the World, has stunned the world. It hurts even more knowing the reason. Facing allegations of illegal phone hacking of a murdered girl, rape victims, families of dead soldiers, politicians and celebs, the revered British tabloid will print its last edition on Sunday, July 10, free of advertisements, focusing maximum on content. Media baron and owner Rupert Murdoch maintains that given the enormity of scandals and owing to mounting public pressure, closure is the only way out…
How does it look? Is it just another incident? I cannot look at it that way. No, not only because it’s concerned to my fraternity. When I look at it from humanitarian point of view, I can see that the entire chain of events has wider, deeper and vaster implications. A lot is happening behind the curtains and when I say this, I am not limiting myself to the incident alone. I am referring to an occurrence, which is part of a larger picture: the tendency to thrive exploiting people’s weaknesses or woes.
Someone going to any extent to keep one’s stove burning is perturbing. As a media person, I hang my head in shame. Overall impression about the media is not much encouraging and such incidents only consolidate the common belief. Some reporters literally thrive on negativity and people’s weaknesses for an instant appeal. It’s termed sensationalism or yellow journalism. But why single out media? Don’t we see the tendency permeating every sphere?
Success is the watchword and people are leaving no stone unturned to win money and fame. At times, a strong desire to succeed takes an ugly turn. Are we so haunted by false notions of success that at the end of the day, we don’t mind what price are we paying or making others pay? Otherwise, why should a person hack phones of a murder victim or rape victims?
Success earned this way is always short-lived, but who cares? Flourishing on negativity is becoming a kind of tendency. Have our sensibilities blunted? Let’s accept the fact that such things are given because there are takers. Some of us have created the need for these kinds of things and media is probably becoming a facilitator. People stooping low for success excel because we allow them to. The tendency prevails because it’s lurking somewhere within us.
Shutting down of one of the oldest tabloid could be a policy decision but what about families depending on it? True, life never stops. People will explore other avenues and move on but the tendency will prevail time and again if we don’t assess what we are losing to gain what we want. Do we want success, money and fame at the expense of loss of face and breach of trust? Well, it’s time we found sincere answers.
The 168-year-old tabloid is rolling its shutters down. It takes quite a lot to keep the consistency. One may be doing something good or even bad, one will find it tough to be consistent for these many years. Whenever a rich tradition breaks, it also breaks hearts. I felt sad like many others when this happened in case of the tabloid.
The silver lining is, all of us see people around who will never compromise on principles. Why, I am one of those and so are you, for sure. We might be in minority but we are the ones who are consistent with the best policy of honesty. Our rare breed keeps order amid chaos. In our own capacities, let’s keep the lamp of positivism burning to dispel the darkness around.
- KanChan

Comments

  1. Very well put! It's sad how the tabloid breathed its last amidst a dirty game. There will be many who would be affected negatively - those who earned their bread and butter through the tabloid and those who appreciated what it carried for last 168 years. It obviously deserved much more respect than what it went to grave with.

    Media is blamed to be tainting people's image.. but the good journos still out number the bad ones by a huge margin. Only because the dirt sells is why the dirt gets noticed so much. Sad, but true.

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