Imagine the scenario when the news you read are nothing but advertisements masquerading as news. What if they are paid for by people with vested interests and twisted in the way they like and printed without the mandatory 'advt' tag at the bottom? That is exactly what happened during the Maharashtra elections. Through an investigative article in the hindu, P.Sainath has pointed to this new menace. It all happened during the recently concluded Maharashtra elections when an article praising congress leader Ashok Chavan appeared in many of the regional newspapers. The story was published with the credits attributed to a 'special correspondent'. And proving his case that it indeed is paid journalism at its worst, Sainath points out that you can't have the same special correspondent writing for all these papers. More than blaming the politicians or parties, here the blame rests solely with the concerned media houses for such an act which goes against the basic tenets of journalism.
After incidents like this, how much can one trust the newspaper that you read. Barring a few of them like 'The Hindu', rest are all owned by business houses with an eye on profit. To be precise, just on profit. As fake stories become the order of the day, we will find it hard to separate the real news from the advertisement campaigns. Tomorrow, if I want, I can have a nice article written on me provided I've enough money. Newspapers are slowly becoming propaganda machines for those with fat pockets. Its almost as scary as the thought police that we all read in George Orwell's '1984'.
your crusader Praveen
[Do drop in to my photoblog for the latest updates]
After incidents like this, how much can one trust the newspaper that you read. Barring a few of them like 'The Hindu', rest are all owned by business houses with an eye on profit. To be precise, just on profit. As fake stories become the order of the day, we will find it hard to separate the real news from the advertisement campaigns. Tomorrow, if I want, I can have a nice article written on me provided I've enough money. Newspapers are slowly becoming propaganda machines for those with fat pockets. Its almost as scary as the thought police that we all read in George Orwell's '1984'.
your crusader Praveen
[Do drop in to my photoblog for the latest updates]
This entry was posted
on Friday, December 04, 2009
at Friday, December 04, 2009
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