Political lightweights in focus

Pradeep Mathur

Political alignments , differing perceptions , blame games, m u d - slinging and unfair allegations with an eye on the vote bank apart, I do not think any sensible person wants to put his or her own house on fire that is India for us.
There, of course, are forces who have given a strong communal orientation to our political scenario, partly out of conviction and partly because of convenience. Similarly, there are elements on the other side of the political spectrum who flaunt their intellectual caliber of objective thinking, knowledge and a non-conformist attitude upto the point where it hurts an average Indian's his faith in a simple and long cherished set of values.
The two opposing narratives give good news stories to media and save the effort of a beat reporter to research, analyse and work hard on a news story to the liking of semi-literate media audiences. Hence a lot many stupid statements which irresponsible and dim-witted political leaders make give us an impression that obtaining social reality is grim and dismal. Such politicians have always been there but in our reporting days they were ignored.
Now in the era of digital media the hunger for stories in so great that foolish statements of these political

Is the media-created perception the objective reality of our society? Is the communal divide now so deep that it would be impossible to bridge it or will it be used by the present rulers to take India on to the road of fascism?

lightweights get media space. And the thumb rule is that more stupid the statement bigger the headline. Is the media-created perception the objective reality of our society? Is the communal divide now so deep that it would be impossible to bridge it or will it be used by the present rulers to take India on to the road of fascism? Howsoever powerful the narratives may seem to be, I think we must reject these opposing perceptions of our present social reality. From whichever quarter it may come, loose talk on highly sensitive communal issue or national security matters, especially Kashmir, is bad and unfortunate and must be avoided as it upsets the masses and shakes their c o n f i d e n c e . Irresponsible narratives may somewhat retard the process of modernization of Indian society.
Earlier this month, on a visit to Rajasthan, I interacted with media students of two prestigious universities. While lecturing the students on media skills, I tried to assess in my own way as to what the young students think about the present sociopolitical situation in the country. And I found it to my pleasant surprise that their minds had not been polluted .
Without harbouring any prejudice and ideological baggage, they were looking to the future with hope. Their concern was to find a job where they would not be forced to write biased stories.
They looked quite displeased with the bickering, acrimonious debates and mud-slinging in which our politicians are engaging themselves.



		EDITOR'S MAIL EDITOR'S COMMENT PANDEMIC EFFECTS FRANKLY SPEAKING NEW PANDEMIC REALPOLITIK PANDEMIC EFFECTS NEW PANDEMIC NEW PANDEMIC SECURITY SCENE KERALA MADHYA PRADESH J&K SCENE PAKISTAN WATCH SIGNS OF THE TIMES WATER CONSERVATION OPEC CHANDIGARH DIARY HITS & MISSES PANDEMIC EMERGENCY MEDIA SPACE ENGINEERING OUR CONSTITUTION ESSENCE OF THE GITA ART OF LIVING Issue:May' 2020 Subscribe Now	MEDIA SPACE Political lightweights in focus Pradeep Mathur Political alignments , differing perceptions , blame games, m u d - slinging and unfair allegations with an eye on the vote bank apart, I do not think any sensible person wants to put his or her own house on fire that is India for us. There, of course, are forces who have given a strong communal orientation to our political scenario, partly out of conviction and partly because of convenience. Similarly, there are elements on the other side of the political spectrum who flaunt their intellectual caliber of objective thinking, knowledge and a non-conformist attitude upto the point where it hurts an average Indian's his faith in a simple and long cherished set of values. The two opposing narratives give good news stories to media and save the effort of a beat reporter to research, analyse and work hard on a news story to the liking of semi-literate media audiences. Hence a lot many stupid statements which irresponsible and dim-witted political leaders make give us an impression that obtaining social reality is grim and dismal. Such politicians have always been there but in our reporting days they were ignored. Now in the era of digital media the hunger for stories in so great that foolish statements of these political Is the media-created perception the objective reality of our society? Is the communal divide now so deep that it would be impossible to bridge it or will it be used by the present rulers to take India on to the road of fascism? lightweights get media space. And the thumb rule is that more stupid the statement bigger the headline. Is the media-created perception the objective reality of our society? Is the communal divide now so deep that it would be impossible to bridge it or will it be used by the present rulers to take India on to the road of fascism? Howsoever powerful the narratives may seem to be, I think we must reject these opposing perceptions of our present social reality. From whichever quarter it may come, loose talk on highly sensitive communal issue or national security matters, especially Kashmir, is bad and unfortunate and must be avoided as it upsets the masses and shakes their c o n f i d e n c e . Irresponsible narratives may somewhat retard the process of modernization of Indian society. Earlier this month, on a visit to Rajasthan, I interacted with media students of two prestigious universities. While lecturing the students on media skills, I tried to assess in my own way as to what the young students think about the present sociopolitical situation in the country. And I found it to my pleasant surprise that their minds had not been polluted . Without harbouring any prejudice and ideological baggage, they were looking to the future with hope. Their concern was to find a job where they would not be forced to write biased stories. They looked quite displeased with the bickering, acrimonious debates and mud-slinging in which our politicians are engaging themselves.