27 August 2008

Media, meaning

A blog I was reading the other day described and commented on the amount of ‘trash’ dished out by the Indian media recently – specifically, the news in print and on TV. For an old-school media/news consumer like me, this observation was not only true, but also heartening to know as the blogger and those who commented on her post were young (I’m guessing, in their twenties) and concerned about the state of the media in India today.

This made me wonder. Doesn’t the news coverage (i.e. the content and its creation) by the media, its bias and its delivery reflect the state and nature of the society (and the culture) it represents and originates from? How, then, can we interpret and criticise the news in India today as trash? As media/news consumers, are we – at least, this small disenchanted group of people – radically different from mainstream consumers in some unique way(s)?

How, and why, are we unable to find meaning in today’s media/news when others around us are thriving in it? What distinguishes us from them? Are we, then, the ‘other’ in our own society and culture?

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