Media "bites"!

Now that Perry Crosswhite, the CEO of the Australian Commonwealth Games Association, has urged the Indian media to stop its shrill hysteria (not in so many words) and tirade against New Delhi and the Games, hopefully some sense will prevail! Frankly, I find it amazing that the media-wallahs were allowed free rein for so long to tarnish the image of India. Is there absolutely no check possible on what the press and TV write and say? Democracy does provide one the liberty of free speech. But surely, liberty is not to be confused with licence?

Kumkum and I, with a few friends, often chewed the cud on this. We felt that such extensive splash in the media about the "alleged" irregularities could very likely lead to adverse feelings about both India and the Commonwealth Games 2010. We feared this - and our fears proved well-found. A few days ago, the US,UK,Canada, Australia and New Zealand warned their delegates to be prepared to land in war-like zones of dug-outs,disrepair,rubble general chaos and hardship,once they arrive in New Delhi! I am happy that there are sensible people around like Perry Crosswhite to put things in their proper perspective.

In this context I have a few questions to ask of the media:

1.Does the media really believe that raking up the issues of inefficiency & corruption BEFORE the Games was the best effort put in by them in the larger interest of the nation's image?

2. Does the media believe that the exposes could not have waited for the Games to conclude?

3. Is crruption a new phenomenon in India? Is corruption non-existent in any other sphere in the country - in politics, in government, in business? Is it limited to only the organising of the Commonwealth Games?

4. Does the media sincerely believe that the building of such massive infrastructure as undertaken by Delhi could be completed without any hitch, without any traffic diversions, without any pile-up of excavated earth, without any interruption from the weather and, above all, without any inconvenience whatsoever to the public?

I am second to none in the belief that our municipal authorities, our public works departments and our utility vendors are steeped in corruption and inefficiency. They need to be exposed by every citizen, not just the media. The whistle-blowers need to be protected. I have written about it earlier in this blog. But, surely, there is a need for the media to see the Big Picture and not just run after TRPs and bylines?


Time and time again we have been mute witness to the Indian media falling flat on its face out of over-enthusiastic coverage and over-the-top reporting. Breaking News have been reduced to laughing matters. The responsible news has given way to sensationalism, often without any regard to the nation's security or image.

As though the politicians are not enough, the media has joined hands with them to ensure that the citizens are seldom able to raise their heads in national pride!

When will this end? Or will it ever?