It is appalling to witness the extent to which the media can go just for the sake of TRPs. Campaign journalism has lost it's purpose with the media only taking up issues which according is event-based and interests the urban middle-class. With farmer suicides on the rise and a number of environmental problems in various parts of our country, there is certainly no dearth of 'real' issues that can be taken up by the media to campaign for.
This trend of highlighting certain issues as the lead news story and ignoring other issues, of sometimes greater importance, has dangerous ramifications as the public tends to believe the media without thinking twice. The main reason is that there is no in-depth investigation of any issue. The electronic media in particular is so dependent on 'sound-bite' journalism that all reporting is now absolutely on face value. Today, even mere allegations are passed off as 'news.'
This is not to say that some of the issues taken up by the media like the Jessica Lal case and Save the Tigers campaign are not worth campaigning for, however, the media should fulfill it's role of Public Service by covering issues of social relevance without any biased ideology whatsover.
