Changing Values of Indian Journalism

The recent incidents of journalists coming into the news for wrong deeds is casting serious doubts on this profession.

Firstly, there was an ugly incident of an electronic media journalist being attacked by his in-laws. The senior journalist, Karim a news editor & presenter at TV5, a Telugu News channel was attacked at his home by his in-laws. While all the media channels hushed up the news as a solidarity to their fraternity, the details of the whole incident are widely discussed on the internet.

Kareem who earlier worked with TV9, where he shot to fame was apparently involved in many extortion & black mailing incidents. There were rumors that he just survived an attempt on his life from the henchmen of an AP politician. Further, Kareem had been a womanizer, divorced his previous partners and married a fellow news presenter Sirisha at TV9. Shirisha’s parents are against this marriage and had a grudge on Kareem and at an opportune moment they attacked Kareem and pour acid on his face.

What is appalling is, Kareem is not alone in this fraternity. In a different incident in Mumbai, two journalists have been arrested as they allegedly blackmailed a bar owner. The accused in the episode, Ravindra Krishna Rao and Preeti Narayan Kadam found that a local bar owner was indulging in illegal activities of trafficking. However, instead of reporting the incident in the press or to the police, the journalist duo went straight to the bar owner and demanded him to pay a monthly commission (hafta) to them. The bar owner opposed the deal and approached the police who booked the journalists under the charges of extortion.

While I'm typing this, the news coming on the prime time shows a mob beating a student at Ambedkar Law College at Chennai. The police were standing 10 meters away and watching the crowd beat a hapless student. The cameraman/newsreader captured the best possible view of some hapless victims hands and legs broken in front of our eyes.

sick! If you can stomach this news, take a look at the picture at http://www.hindu.com/2008/11/13/stories/2008111358300100.htm

These incidents pose serious doubts on the whole journalist profession and questions the authenticity of the news that reach our living rooms. Hope good sense prevails and the professional journalists stand up against and expose these rotten eggs among their fraternity.