Are you a news junkie just like me? If you are, you must have experienced a similar thing which follows in my write up.

24 hours News channel as they boast, are in reality more crap than serious news. Just have a look at some serious recent crap which appeared as the headlines of a 24 hour news channel. “Billi (CAT) ki pooch (tail) badi ho gayi”, “Tamatar (Tomato) mein Hanuman (Lord Hanuman)”, “Nag (snake) aur Nagin ki prem kahani”,. Not only this, they keep on flashing this news for such period until something sensible is there which can get a place in the newsroom. To add more fury to it, they use the metaphor “Exclusive Report” and “Special Report” for all this crap.

Jokes apart, media is always considered as face of the nation. But it feels very sad to write that media men are not living up to the expectation by showing so called exclusive reports and that too as the headlines of prime time news hour. This is something which makes the 24 hour news channel a topic of fun.

Gone are the days when people anxiously used to wait for the news hour at prime time on Doordarshan. The cheap publicity and TRP race has made the news Channel least important thing to be watched. Do media men have answer for my question – “When are we going to launch a news Channel like BBC or CNN?”

Definitely no answer! Not unless we stop selling cheap news.

Media men are the spokesperson of the country. Free media is a sign of vibrant economy. They bring news to the nation and it is their prime responsibility to keep the citizens abreast of the latest happenings in the country. They do bring news every hour but this does not mean that in times of natural calamity, our news channel show concern for some celebrity because he is not able to take bath due to floods. I am talking about the deadly floods in Mumbai last year. People were drowning everywhere and the matter of Concern for a news channel (I don’t want to name it – They already know it coz they sell it) was that Big B could not take bath for two days as water rushed into his house. I don’t think the news made any good sense at that moment. How about that a young Indian army major lost his life while defending our sovereignty and integrity, but that did not make any news because our 24 hour channels were busy showing Sanjay Dutt crying in the court. This story appeared on the BBC but not on our channels, why?? This is because it failed to meet the most important criteria – TRP rating. I truly believe that instead of banning FTV or AXN our broadcast ministry should go after these channels.

I take great pride in saying that if I had not been a Chartered Accountant, I would have been a journalist. I adore Rajdeep Sardesai (Editor in Chief, CNN IBN), a Chartered Accountant and Sagarika Ghose for reigning at the top in spite of selling any cheap publicity. When almost all the news channel are running after glamour, there are quite a few who still maintain the standard. To be very precise, I am talking about CNN IBN, Times Now, and NDTV Profit. I end with the hope that some day we will be able to match the standards of BBC or CNN.

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