Punch and counter punch
Born on a "twins" sign, there is always this inherent tendency to think and counter think, for any a Gemini. Probably, yes or no questions would be THE most toughest quandary for them. Whenever they form a belief, the other twin raises questions to the contrary and poor Gemini's are always stuck in the purgatory of beliefs.
All this bittu putting is for the jimple fact that me the Gemini.
If at all news media has a sun sign, going by the characteristics described above, it would undoubtedly and rightly be Gemini. There should always be views and counterviews to balance the flow of arguments and guide the readers towards the truth. When news was restricted only to few newspapers and Doordarshan, there was a straitjacket view of what the viewers should see or believe. With 24 hour news channels, that first barrier was cracked open. When media moguls learnt the power of manipulating news, channels prospered in premium ad rates and politicians relished the prospect of reaching out to every household, right from their seat. The politico media nexus was there for all to see and without any major option to counter their ever growing power, they are now like that gooey alien thing, from Spiderman 3, which eats away the soul of anyone who comes in contact with it, takes their shape and makes them immensely more powerful. Anyone who controls the popular news channels and newspapers can literally control the government. All those James Bond style story lines have become reality.
Like good old days of MGR's double act movies, where, more the eviler a twin, too good-er the other guy would be, the mainstream media has "fathered" a mutant version with internet called as social media. Unlike the news channels and papers, all it needs is an internet connection and an account on any popular social networking site. Though its clout is still controlled by the government with its draconian and megalomaniacal cyber laws, social media has become that ant which could very well fell the elephant.
The trigger behind this post has been long strewn since the recent LS elections, where in Modi and RaGa fought across all kinds of media possible, with Namo coming up trumps. Not just that, he made Rahul the clown of India, who was partially to be blamed for his empowering statements!! Though the battle is over, numerous wars are still being waged day in and day out on the net. Recent one being the controversial tweet by Barkha about Modi's supposed Louis Vuitton shawl, which one fellow Namo follower, got it verified by the company itself that it was a false statement. Of all the zillion issues in the world, the supposedly famous tv anchor, chooses a shawl to make a comment on the nation's premier, which in itself reeks of paid media's outlandish behavior. And the response is no less exemplary, for every single criticism on ruling party, if they've to drag their opponent down, there would be no progress.
The concept of faith has been taken for a hike and nowadays no one believes in anything. Every single aspect of news are being debated to the minutest. If 20 people are killed for hacking trees, every single person with a keyboard forms a conspiracy theory and the issue gets blown over like anything. Human angle in the form of "victims" families make a killing TRP, till the next hot news. There is an explosion of news articles from all angles and it becomes more and more difficult to form an opinion. I hope they all collapse into a heap soon and we've a streamlined and stabilized media circus soon. I want to go back to those days when people asked their kids to read a particular newspaper for improving their language. Considering the crap that they post as news, ippolaam paper open pannavay bayama irukku!!!
All this bittu putting is for the jimple fact that me the Gemini.
If at all news media has a sun sign, going by the characteristics described above, it would undoubtedly and rightly be Gemini. There should always be views and counterviews to balance the flow of arguments and guide the readers towards the truth. When news was restricted only to few newspapers and Doordarshan, there was a straitjacket view of what the viewers should see or believe. With 24 hour news channels, that first barrier was cracked open. When media moguls learnt the power of manipulating news, channels prospered in premium ad rates and politicians relished the prospect of reaching out to every household, right from their seat. The politico media nexus was there for all to see and without any major option to counter their ever growing power, they are now like that gooey alien thing, from Spiderman 3, which eats away the soul of anyone who comes in contact with it, takes their shape and makes them immensely more powerful. Anyone who controls the popular news channels and newspapers can literally control the government. All those James Bond style story lines have become reality.
Like good old days of MGR's double act movies, where, more the eviler a twin, too good-er the other guy would be, the mainstream media has "fathered" a mutant version with internet called as social media. Unlike the news channels and papers, all it needs is an internet connection and an account on any popular social networking site. Though its clout is still controlled by the government with its draconian and megalomaniacal cyber laws, social media has become that ant which could very well fell the elephant.
The trigger behind this post has been long strewn since the recent LS elections, where in Modi and RaGa fought across all kinds of media possible, with Namo coming up trumps. Not just that, he made Rahul the clown of India, who was partially to be blamed for his empowering statements!! Though the battle is over, numerous wars are still being waged day in and day out on the net. Recent one being the controversial tweet by Barkha about Modi's supposed Louis Vuitton shawl, which one fellow Namo follower, got it verified by the company itself that it was a false statement. Of all the zillion issues in the world, the supposedly famous tv anchor, chooses a shawl to make a comment on the nation's premier, which in itself reeks of paid media's outlandish behavior. And the response is no less exemplary, for every single criticism on ruling party, if they've to drag their opponent down, there would be no progress.
The concept of faith has been taken for a hike and nowadays no one believes in anything. Every single aspect of news are being debated to the minutest. If 20 people are killed for hacking trees, every single person with a keyboard forms a conspiracy theory and the issue gets blown over like anything. Human angle in the form of "victims" families make a killing TRP, till the next hot news. There is an explosion of news articles from all angles and it becomes more and more difficult to form an opinion. I hope they all collapse into a heap soon and we've a streamlined and stabilized media circus soon. I want to go back to those days when people asked their kids to read a particular newspaper for improving their language. Considering the crap that they post as news, ippolaam paper open pannavay bayama irukku!!!
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