Milking the Cow

My daily dose of news and latest happenings around the globe comes from newspaper and the Internet. But, of late I have been watching the news channels too. Quite frankly, they were totally unimpressive. Just for the sake of living up to the tag of a 24-hr news channel and for justifying the advertisers' money, crap is dished out. Even the news that makes sense is packaged "differently". The idea of product/service differentiation is turned into a joke.

Every damn thing is sensationalized. Every story is shredded apart from all illogical angles. Worse still, in many of the news shows the "expert" opinion itself appears so shady, largely because of the doubtful credentials of the speaker. The very art of wrapping the content in the colorful paper of mod-looking newsreaders with gelled hair and wide-as-a-wall flat screens in the background, takes the focus away from the news and "pushes" the prejudicial conclusions and opinions upon the viewers.

Being brought up on the staple diet of gossip-free, content-thick newspaper, The Hindu, I am beginning to find the transition that some of the newspapers have undergone, in the name of "marketing" the news, very cosmetic. For example, one of the leading economic dailies of the country, basked so much in the glory of Arcelor-Mittal deal, spent bales of newsprint tracking his speeches and appearances for the past one year, that for a second, even the most discerning reader on the Dalal Street would mistake it for a LN Mittal newsletter, meant for internal circulation only!

But, try and crib as much we may, the fact remains that "packaged" news sells. The concept of breaking news is hogwashed day in and day out, but still, we lap it all up. We want, they make. They sell, we buy. The audiences are cows. Media has to milk them for the milk AND the cream.

Q: Whats the best way to prevent the milk from turning sour?
A: Keep it in the cow!