Media needs to get its act together

On 1/1/2010 I posted an article here titled “Nitin Gadkari misses a big opportunity for BJP.” On 2/1/2010, Hindustan Times writes an editorial criticising Nitin Gadkari and BJP for supporting JMM’s Shibu Soren and at the same time hoping that gadkari is able to increase the party’s base by 10% so that BJP is back as a largest opposition party.

I think its about time that newspapers like Hindustan Times (HT) stopped wasting space on the controversy between Chetan Bhagat and Aamir khan who are playing all of us as idiots and focus on more important issues. Let me explain what I mean.

Just days before getting into the power bed with Shibu Soren, HT had published an interview with Nitin Gadkari with headlines stating that one does need power to serve the people. By getting bed with Shibu Soren, it is clear that Gadkari had lied to HT. Now if I was the editor of HT, I would have taken the matter seriously and taken the BJP leader to task for lying to them. I would have focused on bringing out the fact that Nitin Gadkari lies. On the front page, I would have published all his quotes on the subject published in various newspapers and magazines and asked him to clarify his stand or explain why he lied. HT needed to do this to maintain its own credibility. What is the point of reading HT if one cannot believe whats written in it.

HT needed to do this as its responsibility as a leading newspaper of the country. Politicians have been lying to the people of this country and misleading them. Its time we hold them accountable for what they say and make their life hell till they apologise and not promise to do it again. HT or any other major newspaper has the power to do so but whether they have the strength to do so is in question.

Lastly, keeping the interest of the citizens of the Jharkhand state and moral and ethical issues involved, HT should have raised a hue and cry before the JMM and BJP tied the proverbial political knot so that such an alliance would not have taken place. On one hand HT is running a campaign in Delhi pointing out what is wrong with the governance system after the fact but ignores the formation of a government in which the Chief Minister is a alledged criminal.

I would say that I, a one man blog, reacted faster than HT and gave you guys a complete analysis of why BJP should not have supported Shibu Soren of the JMM. We all know that the the media including newspapers are the backbone of democracy and a potent weapon against all the ills of our society. This is evident from a number of cases like Jessica murder case and the current Ruchika’s case. It is only through timely and analytical reporting that we can corner the corrupt politicians and government officials like Rathore.

I do hope the editor of HT and those of other newspapers would make sure that no one comes to them and lies as well as gets away with it. I do hope that HT will expose the lies of Nitin Gadkari on its front page so that neither he nor any aother politician dares to lie to them and to their readers.

avinash narula

We need the newspapers to I think it is time that newspapers started not only giving facts