Perhaps there’s nothing on earth that money can’t buy. Yes, now you can buy news too.
It’s called ‘paid news’, perhaps an unheard-of coinage in journalism at least to common people. If you like to have news tailored or concocted to suit your purpose for catering to public, just approach some print or electronic media and pay them handsomely depending on circulation or TRP, they’ll not hesitate to dish it out to people in the manner news is presented. Don’t confuse advertisement with ‘paid news’. To all appearances, it would be news to readers or viewers. Imagine, just for money a TV channel or news paper can stoop to such a low level throwing ethics, honesty and integrity to the winds. How unfortunate it is that these so called newsmen never feel qualm of conscience when they take their readers or viewers for a ride! However, editors’ guild and press council strongly condemn this uncouth practice of ‘paid news’. But how far this condemnation would work on the offenders and rectify them leaves enough room for doubt. Now we people need to be on our guard against being duped by paid news. But how? Try to verify the element of truth contained in the news from other sources, if possible. Otherwise, now on all news would seem to you as ‘paid news.’
Really the coinage of the term 'paid news' is unique. But its predecessor'embedded journalism'saw the field trial when Bush-Blair and their willing associates attacked,captured and devasted the only secular country in the middleeast, Iraq violating UN Charter.Journalists travelled with the invaders and reported the so called ''true picture''of Iraq.USA the controller of the world media screens the flow of information in a very deft manner.New generation is now brought up in the filtered world view as desired by the Headman of the congealed world village.Now the progress of democracy as envisaged by its chief patron,USA,reached virtually all countries including ours.We now have the rare opportunity to swallow the make believe profiles of the brushed up scintillating images of the otherwise intolerably abominable persons and their heinous deeds.What was true earlier that 'all the people cannot be duped for all the time'is not teneable nowadays since most of the media print or electronic are 'paid' ones. They could muster the art and methodology to continue their sacred task of manufacturing news and information as per requirements of their mentors for a long long time.There comes the father of this brand of disseminating news and information, the great Goebels,notorious PR&Broadcasting Minister of Nazi dictator - was responsible for the loss of more that 4 crores of life in the second world war.His watchword was'repeat falsehoo' as many times as coceivable and people will ultimately believe it as true. That culture pervades all spheres of activities of the mankind. Did we get the information that in spite of being a very poor country and under stringent economic blockade CUBA tops the list in health care and completely eliminated dropout in educational institutions? Are we aware that Latin American countries like Bolivia, Venezuala and host of others have taken control of their natural resources from the multinationals andothers levers of economic control?Their massive effort to uplift the masses from the dungeon of poverty, unemployment etc have been creating a unique scenario for the people to applaud in the looming gloom of darkness and despair. Though very difficult to distinguish between the sparkling cut glass and the diamond for the common people, effprts should be on. Truely educated conscious people will have to shoulder the bounden duty of acting as the vanguard against the raging war of disinformation, falsehood and half truth shattering the good senses of the mankind.
ReplyDelete