The high standards of news agencies

The following article is purely the product of my over-crazed imagination and total frustration. If you get offended by this article, you probably deserve it!

 The news channels (and occasionally the odd papers) which thrive on sensationalism and breaking news are at the pinnacle of the information gathering process. Operating at the highest standards of moral and ethical integrity, they impart information right from alien cows to medieval instruments of torture, often in the same ‘news’ story. What more can anyone desire?

 A recent example:

 

Its no longer about what’s true, let alone important; its more about what makes a better story, a better read. So, an 11 year old sitting on facebook and sending chain mails about a perverted ghost gets more attention than, say, a flood which killed thousands.

 Here is how the above case will be broadcasted:

 Why does the child sit on fb and not orkut? Who is the ghost? Does the child have psychological problems? Is fb safe for YOUR kid? Is fb run by ghosts? Stay tuned- interview with the perverted ghost coming right after the break!! Oh yeah, there has been flood in an insignificant part of the country which no-one really cares about. Breaking news!! Priyanka tweets about her new shoes!!

 To be fair,  it’s partly the users fault as well. People watch such broadcasts with a kind of horrified fascination, asking themselves- ‘can they really show this? Do they actually think we want to watch this?’ and just to be sure they are not hallucinating, they keep on watching. This apparently increases the ratings of the channel and induces them to sink to lower depths.

 News that the common man would actually find important and useful is blatantly ignored and fluff pieces are shown—who cares about strikes bringing the entire city to a halt?  But a blind bull, whose shitting habits foretell the future; now THAT is a story. (taking bullshit to an entirely new level.)

Apparently bollywood writers of hit movies such as ‘Desi Daru’ and ‘Roadside Beggar’ are now turning to journalism since it is a long-term job (News never gets old) with a higher pay-grade, more suited to their unique talents and also has the option of a pension!

Stay tuned, more to follow!

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