POSERS TO THE MEDIA

Media plays a role in changing perceptions on issues that confront us on a day to day basis. It is small wonder then that a person of the stature of Winston Churchill remarked that there was nothing called public opinion and only published opinion existed. Take the recent events which have hogged the limelight and prime time of most television channels and one would wonder as to what extent media could descend in its endeavour to establish its influence over the executive and the judiciary.

The 26/11 was the watershed when the people noticed the clamour of the media on the need to send a strong message to the world at large. Months before laymen had borne the brunt of the violence and had been dubbed as the spirit of the respective cities merely because the victims were mere mortals - equality means some are more equal than others.

Move over to the Prathiba case. The judgement came as a shocker to the culprit. The noose would have been better on amy day. The sentence of imprisonment till death with no option for even commutation would send shivers down the spine of any person who desires or lusts in future. Imagine the torture of leading a life in a cell lifelong and compare it to the trauma of a few days hallucinating the noose and ending with a noose. This was truly a case of Daniel having come to judgement. Understandably the kin of the respective persons were moved by the emotions on their own counts but where did the media end up in this debate?

The trauma of this victim is no less to that of that of other such victims. Has the media played a positive role in bringing to book the culprits in cases which involve lesser mortals? Should they not be taking this responsibility? Should they not be highlighting the excellent work done by some in their respecive fields while baying for the blood of the culprits? Questions which media should sit and ponder over.