The media needs to wake up

What never fails to surprise one is the tendency of the regional TV channels to stay in the rut and play safe. There was a time when music on TV was just a slot spanning about thirty to sixty minutes. Therefore it made sense to go in for musical extravaganza on the New Year Eve. It attracted viewers’ interest. Now, with channels like MH1 playing music 24x7 and others like PTC Punjabi, Zee Punjabi and ETC Punjabi virtually feeding on music albums, it does not make sense to air musical shows to usher in the New Year. But, with the exception of MH1 – which decided to go spiritual on 31st December – most of the channels including DDJ went through the song-dance-mirth routine. Talking of mirth – one has yet to come across a novel gag on the Punjabi small screen; most of the jokes fall flat, slap-stick comedies have become a big yawn.

The annual round-ups too fail to evoke much interest. The PTC News channel’s review of soap opera scene only underscored the poverty of Punjabi entertainment industry. Moreover, although the channel did a commendable job of telecasting various political and sporting highlights, it could not restrain itself from reciting the Badal-Chautala Chalisa. While the Akali-BJP combine has nothing tangible to show as achievement in Punjab, and had fared poorly in the recent Lok Sabha elections, the reviewers sang paeans to Sukhbir Badal’s leadership qualities. Similarly, even though the INC was able to retain power in Haryana it was Om Prakash Chautala who seemed to be the reviewers’ hero. When bias becomes brazen a news channel’s credibility becomes a casualty.

The development versus environmental degradation debate is the current favourite of our chattering classes. Zee Punjabi’s Khabarsaar took up the issue last fortnight in the light of what happened at Copenhagen. Every “summit” on environmental issues has so far proved to be a comedown for optimists. The reasons are not far to seek. The developed world wouldn’t like to compromise on its privileges and comforts in terms of environmentally harmful activities. On the other hand the developing countries cannot afford the relatively clean technologies to boost its industrial progress. The stand-off continues.

The Ruchika case has become quite prominent in the news bulletins. Frankly, the media took a long time in joining forces with Anand and Madhu Prakash in their selfless fight for getting justice for Ruchika. There has always been a hesitation on the regional media’s part to take on the high and mighty whenever they have gone astray. The channels have been rather tardy in organizing talk shows on the Ruchika issue. Contrast this with their alacrity vis-à-vis political/parochial issues. However, Haryana Speaks (PTC News) pointed out how injustice flourishes when powerful persons get away with heinous crimes. The punishment announced for Rathore was far more lenient than what a juvenile delinquent would have got. Masle took up the issue of treating every complaint as FIR by SHOs – a fallout of the Ruchika case, especially the way her brother Ashu was treated by the police.

Timely talk shows help understand a given issue in greater depth and are powerful opinion-making tools too. There is a need to set off a process that would make our polity genuinely safe for women and children. No public servant, politician or bureaucrat, should be allowed to behave like a tyrant. We live in a liberal-democratic country and not in some banana republic ruled by a tin pot dictator. This is where the role of media becomes pertinent. It can help build a strong value system that would facilitate prevention of harassment and exploitation of the weak and the vulnerable.

But, is the Punjabi electronics media capable of playing this vital role?

By Randeep Wadehra
Punjabi Antenna
www.tribuneindia.com