Indian Media : Television abdicating it's responsibility ?

Given the fact that I've been in the grip of a viral fever, the last few days have been spent @ home with only some novels and the TV to keep company. This background is to simply establish that some of us do not watch the "general news" on TV during the day as we'd expect most of the country to do ?

I've been shocked at the level of reporting. All of news seems to be a public "washing" of just a few / very meager facts with LOADS of "spin".

A typical section on the Aarushi case, as an example, will have atleast 4 people (all with hidden agendas IMHO) sitting on a panel with the presumption that their viewpoint needs to be heard. Not once, but, repeated a few hundred times over the next few hours. Maybe this is how we make opinions ?

There is absolutely NO CHANNEL that seems to be asking basic / structural questions related to solving the problem instead of sensationalizing them
For example,
   a. Obviously, the collection of evidence left much to be asked for. However, nobody, is asking the real question as to why - as a nation with such a large IPS training infrastructure, we cannot seem to address this structurally. Is there a long term lesson that will be established ? Do we think CBI is that 'only' agency ?
 
   b. I'm sure much will be made of the number of switches in the investigation team - UP police, CBI team 1, CBI team 2 etc. Is this going to continue in the future ?. I'm sure my detractors will cite the infamous friction between teams as in FBI / State police as examples of this, but, atleast these team changes do not happen AN YEAR or so later when all the evidence is suspect ? What are we trying to achieve.

   c. There will also be debate on arrival of new witnesses at a late stage. Isn't witness presentation a long term problem that has been glaringly inoperative ? The Jessica Lall murder case is a prime example. As a nation we desperately need a witness protection program and NOBODY in the media seems to raise this ?

I, for one, feel that the Media has the responsibility - nay DUTY to look at issues and bring about public opinion to bear about structural changes. It has NO business sitting in a jury seat influencing public opinions (esp those sub-judice) just to get TRPs. Have we forgotten that a media trail is no different than the witch hunts of the yore ?

Ages ago, when asked to comment upon my opinion as to why the average Joe in the US thought of his county / state and at max Washington as his world compared to the typical John in the UK. I had surmised that the TV news was the reason. No local US channel does a fraction of the job that a BBC does locally. Although, I'm sure commercially, they have a larger following.

Is India headed the same way ?

Are we going to be a nation who fed on "Instant News - 2 minute noodle style". Get the snippet and transmit the hell out of it. Who cares about analysis / intelligence or just plain due diligence of responsible reporting ?

Bureaucrats & Politicians : The bane of India - who is more to blame ?

I've been watching the news related to all the scams very avidly. It is interesting to note that for the first time (2G scam), there seems to be a clear acknowledgment publicly to the bureaucrat / politician and business (money) nexus.

While, I agree that the focus on Mr. Raja and his political party is newsworthy, I'm surprised that there has been very little noise on the culpability of the 'executive' arm of the government ie. the Bureaucrats. 

I've long held the opinion that these non-elected (or rather selected !) elite of the country have done more harm that the politicians in propagating the servitude and feudal / colonial heritage. They clearly see themselves as "ruler" class and the citizen of the country (esp. the poor villager / aam aadmi) as the "ruled".

It pains me to see these individual farmers / villagers queue up to a local government office and stand with their hands folded in submission asking for information related to some file. Only to be told in most cases to come the next day as the individual officer does not have the time ?

Last week, I was surprised to listen to a retired bureaucrat flay his elk in public. His statement that these individuals seemed to have struggled only once in their lives ie when they took the appropriate examination - IAS, IPS etc and post the passing of the examination, most never seemed to have the need to apply their brains / intellect again. Implying that "servitude" to senior officers would be enough for growth !

Another observation was that the politicians have to be more responsive to common problems and issues and are generally so as compared to the executive. Infact, in most villages today, the politician's value is all the more where he/she moves the executive to RESPOND. Atleast, the politicians' agenda in keeping this role very clear. What about the unknown / hidden agenda of the bureaucrat ?

How do we make our bureaucracy more responsive / how do we reform them ?