Anna's group has been accused of smart media management & receiving excessive biased coverage specially the major news channels doing the 24 hour Anna routine with main anchors in full attendance . Seems the coverage got the goat of the government , the activists , assorted do-godders , experts , intellectuals etc. many of whom did make plenty hay while the media sun was shining.
Statistics show news channels showing Anna's movement live received higher TRPs & news as genre topped entertainment during the past fortnight . Anna was in all seriousness dubbed "serial killer" by a TOI news bit , just Google to find it. Is quite apparent that the the channels only responded to what the people were interested in . All the pre-Ram Lila Ground Show independent opinion polls & surveys too had showed that Ann's JLP Bill had overwhelming support from all sections of the society usually hovering around 85-90% . The interest in him & his follow up movement was only natural and the media had to be there to capture the event as is their job and purpose. For a change a social issue that affects masses got the better of saas bahu , cricket & comedy circus . Anna & his team deserve all the credit for making us all serious abut the issue. Media only did its job. The TV debates that went on simultaneously weren't the best possible & the media could have done much better here . They were neither incisive , in-depth , interesting or as serious as the importance of the issue demanded. We saw that in the name of balanced debate one Anna person represnting people's interest was pitted against 5 to 6 others or even more as thy kept coming & going ...mostly opposed to Anna's JPL or his methods , ranging from obliquely critical to totally virulent . A Congress , a BJP , a competing unheard of NGO or two , a "fair" journalist or two , a "constitutional expert " lawyer opposed to the bill , a Dalit , the few Gandhi Grandsons ....etc. etc. all had a field day . The only respite for Anna was a fellow citizens like Kabir Bedi , Anupan Kher who spoke the people's language . It was also seen that the anchors like Arnab who spoke the people's language got better viewer ship . The lady minister too wanted fair coverage & said so , probably the media responded to the official challenge or the not so subtle subterranean pressure that surely was applied . The debate or rather non debate by these rather large panels was centered around some wishy-washy generalities that were to be repeated on every channel by the same gentlemen , some time a few of them spoke at the same time reminiscent of the parliament ruckus , there were no proper rebuttals allowed by the Anna's side , as is the case with meaningful serious dialogues , who were out numbered at least 5:1 any way . The TV was a follow up to the movement & should have been Anna's JLP Bill vs all others , even a 40:60 Anna : Others would have been unfair to the subject on people's mind , should have been 50:50 strictly to allow for good debating . The pro & con air minutes are there to be counted . The debates with these lop sided panels that were set up to debunk people's issue in the name of fair discussion was a fraud on the people by the mass media & people do punish such insincerity by switching off ..the media should get it nice & proper . What was really needed was to confront Anna's people & the nay sayers face to face so that the people could see the truth for them selves. To pit Chidambram , Sibbal or his legal supporters Vs. Prashant Bshushan. Kejriwal/Bedi/Manish Vs. Aruna Roy , Nikil Dey , Jaiprkash , Chanderbhan , Udit Raj . The media is seriously under estimating the commonsense of a billion ...by propping up biased trash in the name of serious debate. Anna or Amma you can't fool the masses even for a moment ... and TV comes with an interesting gadget called remote. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "humanrights movement" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/humanrights-movement?hl=en.
