Irving Wallace, Mamooty, Media and Me

I was talking to my colleagues the other day about how media is being misused and how long held values are being traded for some quick bucks and ratings. Let's face it - there are only 24 hours in a day and there's only so much that can happen in this world and beyond in this time. But with 2745 news channels demanding a slice of the pie, there's not much you can tell people 24 hours a day, unless you go the CNN way and say the same things over and over again in the same mods, moods and words.

Or ... brings me to the title. I vaguely remember reading a novel by Irving wallace where a guy who runs a newspaper becomes a megalomaniac, wants to boost his business and hence CREATES NEWS of his own. He plans an assasination attempt and plans it in such a way that by the time the murder is done, news is out on his papers (another Mamooty movie, (New delhi?) was based on the same idea). I don't think media is going to go so far as creating sensational news. But whatever happens out of over-exposure is equally worse.

• They dissect every word, syllable and sound and make interpretations out of it. Recent example of SAP's CEO making an innocous statement as to how he "Wouldn't cut the call, if Larry (Ellison) calls" was sapped out of every single trace of sensationalism.
• Media loves heroes - if there aren't any around, they create them. Sadly, it's usually those one day wonders who suffer the brunt. You win a round, face the champion, hit a maiden century, rub your mole in front of the camera - you are a star! And worse, if there's even a sign of failure you are pulled down as swiftly as you were raised.
• Overexposure invites trouble. Personal opinion - You talk about the Indo-Pak bus service 27 times in an hour on TV and blow its significance out of proportion, you are only giving more reasons for lashkar-e-whatever to blow that bus off because all they want is attention and you are giving them a handful.

These are real lives we are talking about! A visible palpable risk.

And now for the last part of the title - Me. Are we, bloggers nosey? I am an active blogger. I take an effort to put up a blog here everyday. I mentally draft a post whenever I meet someone interesting or have an interesting experience. So, just to make my blog interesting - Would I create news? Compromise on faith and relationships? Recently I was reading a compilation of short stories by Satyajit Ray. In one of the stories, a character catches his writer friend off guard - "What are you thinking now? Whether I am an interesting character? Whether I or my problems could be used in any of your stories as an interesting character or a plot?". Would I too reach a point where every person around me ceases to exist as a blood and flesh life form but as a two dimension interesting entity on paper or on stage? Like a seasoned writer or a journalist? That point will mark the birth of cynicism that today's press is famous for.

Personally, I have an insulation between what happens to me and I write about. There are topics that are taboo and will never be discussed here. Everytime I write about someone, I get their permission and send them a link once the post is done. But attention is a vice and so is popularity - And if I do succumb to writing things I don't believe in or creating sensationalism by burning effigies of beliefs that are sacred to people just to get people interested, I tell myself now it's a crime.

And I am hoping this clarity stays with me for a lifetime.