The people of karnataka gave a clear mandate to Yeddi and Co to cleanse the mud that his predecessors have thrown and give a clean govt. Not to throw more of his own. Yeddi’s personal priorites, his family interference, party’s spineless central leadership (leadership really????), Reddy’s dissidence, irresponsible Opposition…all have contributed to the present choas. Karnataka politics once known for its decency has reached a situation where we have to search for those attributes. This aritcle is directed against those arguments which constantly talk abt media’s biased approach towards Bjp and its affiliates. I am not pro or anti to any party…neither i am secularist nor a fundamentalist… My mind is not influenced by any “ism”s….I just talk my mind…
The most repetitive argument I have come across nowadays is “I am not supporting yeddi ..he shud be punished but what i am against is the biased approach of the media towards him”. The moment you add a “but” in the sentence the former part of the sentence loses its significance and the latter assumes it.It shows that you are more concerned for the latter not the former. I cant understand why dont you take the statement of Digvijay in the same spirit when he says “We are investigating the mumbai blasts “but” we are not ruling out the possibility of hindu fundamentalist’s hands in it”.Why are you biased now????whats the difference between you and Digvijay then?
Thats where I am worried. Instead of focusing on the real issues which needs immediate priority you are focusing on something else. A clear case of misplaced priorities.Lets assume for a moment that media is unbiased and they do not give “more” priority to yeddi’s scam which is “small” compared to other congressmen’s. Whats going to change??? Apart from giving a emotional satisfaction that this party is not the only corrupt what change its going to bring in? does it change the Millions of people’s lives which are affected by these scams and corruptions? No…… just pure pleasure that I am not alone…
When Nityananda’s scandal came to light he recieved the highest coverage with channels running the show for several months. He was targetted for months together and people supported that campaign.. reason…the preachings of nityananda did not match with his doings…same thing applies to Bjp too…Before they speak they start with phrases like “country first”, “bharatmata”, “janmabhoomi”, “bhagavadgeetha” and all highly regarded principles.. when you talk lot of ideals thousands of eyes will be watching each and every step and they will always be scrutinizing to find some or the other weakness which can be projected to defy you and your principles. This is natural tendency. On the other hand congressmen never talk about such high ideals at all..infact their PM does not even talk…all of them been outsourced to its mouthpiece Digvijay…People will be more pissed off when they see a saint doing the crime than a seasoned criminal doing the same.Who is trying to be saint here??? Bjp or Congress???
One of the main repurcussion of media’s biased approach is the formation of public opinion against that person and the subsequent electroral mandate against him. If that is the case Vajepaayi shud not have lost the elections when “india was shining”, Modi should not have won for another term “post Godhra” and S M krishna would not have lost when “Bengaluru was on its way to become Singapore”. The public opinion is not formed on the basis of media reports.They are formed on the basis of comman man’s problems and sufferings and what is the feel good factor he is having. BJP came to power in karnataka not beacuse media just ‘showed’ kumaraswamy as the “vachanabrashta” but ‘he was one’ and people sensed it.
Some supporters of BJP are so deeply immersed in accusations against media that they fail to recognize one character who was targeted the most brutally by the same biased media and went on to any levels to supress him but he did not just manage to survive it , rather came out triumphant against them , Mr. Narendra Modi. Initially he confronted any barkings against him but soon realized that a counter barking against barking does no good and chose to remain silent and mind his work(Example: when he walked out of Karan Thapar’s devil advocate due to karan’s incessant mentioning of post godhra riots). The man who was so vulnerable to media’s allegation and accusation today stands in a position where the same media thinks twice before commenting on him. They might not be praising all his development work but neither they are denouncing!!!!coz he has not given any chance for them!!!!!Absolute no chance!!!!!!! But believe me yeddi gave plenty of them!!!!!!!!
Media is absolutely biased no doubt in that. We need to understand the fact that they are business organisations. They care only about profitablity (like any other profession)not on the accountability of the facts they show.They choose..to show what they want. Having said that, perhaps this is not the time we focus our energy and critisims on how media works but to focus it on the culprits. Everyone agrees that yeddi has done wrong things..everyone agrees that he shud be punished….everyone agrees that the image of Karnataka and its politics are ruined…everyone agrees that there is solid evidences to back all these allegations….Then why are you shifting against the media… If the other congressmen are involved in corruption then launch a separate protest. Dont combine that with Yeddi’s case because it gives a feeling that you support yeddi and his corruptions. The media will interpret the same way and again you have to raise voice against its bias and this loops forever.
On the lighter side (To all those are up against media)
No matter how much you create noise the media is not going to change the way it is functioning. Accept it…So the options in-front of you are…
1. Fund the same media and make them your agents – This is not possible because in money power you cant match congress inspite of these reddy and yeddi scams. They are no.1 in that.
2. Provide them the best ad deals which they cant refuse (God Father style) – again not possible!!!!
3. Set up your own channels and newspapers make them the leading dailys – Forget it!!!!!
So When you cant make any of them either keep quiet or force the leaders to mend their ways. Because, it looks so funny seeing you fighting media and their corrupt and dishonest practices on behalf of the most corrupted men.
Well written article Kote!!!. Really very good analysis and nicely presented.. Keep going…
Yeddi’s corrupt practices are not being discounted at all….And BJP, after having come to power for the first time in South India could have managed a lot better given the squalor and ruckus created by the previous govt..But, BJP in the desire of preserving its image went on to only tarnish it…..Therefore, Yeddi must be held accountable and punished sternly for the wrongdoings of his govt, as he was at the helm of affairs and there is no denying that….
Media’s portrayal and depiction of the entire scandal goes a long way in forming public opinion as you rightly pointed out….But the public, which is not made up of people who make daily headlines, gets to know about these scams only through the media….Therefore a strong criticism against one as compared to a mild accusation against the other changes the intensity and flaring up of public sentiment to a large extent…In this context, i feel that the Media should be absolutely unbiased and should adopt a non-partisan attitude when presenting the facts….
@Raveesh N Kote.
Good presentation of your thoughts n analysis.! (5/5) But, as history speaks media plays a very important role in a nations governance, politics, development,culture, ways of living and what not. ! ( Don’t think only latter holds valid , then the praise for your analysis looses
)
PS:
I am not towards any political party.
Now, First of all, Kindly take back your comparison of Diggy n others. Please
We are way better and meaningful,Sensible in our analysis and usages of ”But”.
As, I told – Media plays a very important role in the society and its the responsibility of media to show both good and bad. But ..??? they only do the latter one and the latter is meant only for non-cong government. Thats the main reason we Shout that ‘Media is Biased’.!!
And, if their intention is TRPs and making profit, wont they get TRPs if they show real scams of congress govt and make the breaking news out of it..? why only non-congress govts always ?
They never show the development works of BJP ( say non-congress ) governments, but always waited to pull Yeddy (non-Cong CMs) down, which irks us the most.! media should have the responsibility to show both-good and bad. In karnataka, Sometimes Media irked the state govt more than kumarswamy did!!
And, Undoubtedly Modi has not given a chance for his opponents( Congress and Media) to bark. But given( making) the slightest chance of same old godhra case, they still torture him once in 6 months and which will make the headline for a week. !
On your analysis that BJP makes statements of “country first”, “bharatmata”, “janmabhoomi” blah blah blah.. Even congress do statements of secularism, devlopment, aam-aadmi, blah blah…shit..!
I dont want to comment anything about a party’s portfolio, statements, promises and other things because each and every political party in India has lost it value.!! And people dont wish to see anymore “New” party which will ultimately be acquired by the bigger one.
coming back to the ‘Biased media’ == I have some Questions which r always left unanswered for long time..
1. Why din’t BarkhaDutt organize a show to discuss quattrochi’s escape when the case was closed last year whereas she will be the first to discuss SIT reports on modi.?
2. why rajdeep sardesai has not dared to call the Sonia/PM/FM to a live chat on issues like CWG,2G,Lokpal,Black money whereas they bring Gadkari to discuss Yeddy..?
3. Why is media silent on Kasab and afzal’s sentence ?
4. Wont they get TRPs if they show breaking news on congress govts ?
questions keep growing .. bored of typing..;)
once again.. India TV Media- particularly English News channels are Biased. Its high time they realize their social responsibility.
Regards
Ram
I want to give an analogy..may not be the perfect but near to perfect…
Once upon a time there were 2 kids in the neighbourhood. The neighbour kid had a bad habit of stealing money. seeing that the other kid also started stealing. But the neighbour kid was giving a part of his earnings to the “village announcer” who is responsible for broadcasting the news to whole village.So he always remained silent of the neighbour kid’s wrongdoings. But when the other kid was caught stealing he broadcasted that. But the parents started arguing with the Village announcer that “yes we agree that our kid has stolen and he can be punished for whatever he has done but the neighbour kid is a bigger thief and he should also be projected as a theif by the announcer” .
After hearing its parents’ arguments the kid which was initially scared that it is caught then starts thinking that it has the support of its parents (even though parents were not actually supporting). beacuse it knows that the neighbour kid is not going stop stealing, and the announcer is not going to project him as thief so everytime i am caught i get an excuse to point my fingers at him and escape by getting my parent’s support who will always fight against the village announcer.
The parents are right in taking up the this biased approach of the village announcer but their kid’s stealing episode should not be used as a platform to fight against village announcer. They should take up this issue as an independent problem or when the neighbour kid is caught
but not combine it with their kid’s stealing thing. The fight’s credibility will be lost.
So Rama you should ask “why rajdeep sardesai has not dared to call the Sonia/PM/FM to a live chat on issues like CWG,2G,Lokpal,Black money” when those scams actually happend but not rake up that when yeddi scam is unearthed….even though u are impartial that gives an impression that u dont have problem if sonia or PM was not called as long as they dont call ghadkari also…
First of all, I would like to tell you that this is an EXCELLENT post, with your thoughts well put out. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it.
“Thats where I am worried. Instead of focusing on the real issues which needs immediate priority you are focusing on something else. A clear case of misplaced priorities.”
I believe YOURS is a case of misplaced priorities. The irresponsibility and bias of the media should have always been the most important issue.. Look, I believe in “Even if the peprpetrators go scot free, the innocents must NEVER be punished” principle. But, with a, dare I say, crooked and wicked media looming large at us, there have been and shall be cases where innocents have been/shall be put to dry. And that’s something which needs to be prevented on priority.
You say that the media has always been biased against Narendra Modi. May I draw your attention on the fact that the Gujarati vernacular press is and has been heavily pro Narendra Modi. You may argue that that is because of the amount of good work he has put in and the change being seen by the local populace. But still, he hasn’t had much criticism against him by the local media. So, comparing Yeddi and Modi is not correct.
Vajpayee’s “India Shining” ad caused a lot of backlash in the media, if you remember it well. They started projecting the amount of money spent on the advertisements, many problems faced by the people in different parts of the country was highlighted and this ad was ridiculed. Narendra Modi did not have the local press biased against him, and in any state, the local press holds sway over the national press. It is only in urban areas where the national press is followed keenly. S M Krishna’s case – I don’t exactly remember what happened. But I do remember a lot of accusations going around that he only focussed on Bangalore and neglected the rural areas – including his home constituency. I believe, the media did play a significant role in all these elections.
Look, I’m not supporting Yeddi here based on the argument you’ve mentioned above. I completely agree with you that “Media bias” and “Yeddi scams” must be looked at independently. But my concern is, will the sacking of Yeddi adversely affect or positively affect the state of affairs?
I personally believe that Yeddi has been the best CM since S M Krishna. Krishna, though probably rightly accused of neglecting the rural areas, laid a strong foundation for the IT/Services industries’ revolution in Bangalore. And Yeddi now, had started milking the benefits of that efficiently. Karnataka’s revenues reached an unprecendented high during his tenure. Schemes have not been only announced, but have been implemented as well.
This may not be because Yeddi inherently is a good CM. It’s not a co-incidence that the last well performing Govt was a Govt formed by a party with absolute majority in the house – S M Krishna’s. I believe the key here for better performing Govt is stability. If stability is there, there are lesser distractions and more time to concentrate on formulating and implementing schemes efficiently. There would be a well defined direction for the Govt to move forward. I guess that was the case with Yeddi’s Govt too, which, inspite of intra party bickerings, still had absolute majority in the house, and was moving forward fine.
And that is why I fear now. Yeddi had got people’s mandate in the last elections, and therefore had a sense of legitimacy to remain CM. Now, after he’s gone the new CM won’t have such “legitimacy”, and could be pulled down any time – after all he’s not the person people had voted for!! The intra-party bickering is only going to get worse and become bigger than the CM – who will probably be forced to appease different interests – as there is no “legitimacy” in him/her being the CM. More distractions and no stability = lesser growth!!
Unless people like you, Kote, happen to stand for elections, I believe we should always prefer the option which “sucks least”. And I think, the powers that be just forced it away.
“No matter how much you create noise the media is not going to change the way it is functioning. Accept it.”
I know you’ve told this on a lighter note but this is something we should not accept. You don’t accept scams by politicians, why should you accept the scams of media? Why at all? Media is our source of information on the working of the Government. Our decisions are based on the information provided by the media. If the media is tainted, our decisions would be wrong more often than not. An unbiased, responsible media is essential for differentiating the good from the bad, the better from the worse. Sure, the media organizations may be profit making organizations. But, as mass media, they have a responsibility towards the society. The media cannot “choose” to be unbiased and responsible. Rather it “has” to be unbiased and responsible. If they cannot be that, they rather open some sop channel or reality TV channel to make profits. The priority should be righting the media.