Till 60’s we had only print and radio, as a
child I recall, those days whole family used to gather and listen to it at
specific times for event commentaries, speeches, havamahal and binaca geetmala
etc. 70”s saw the advent of Television and now even neighbors would join at
specific times to watch chayageet, antakshari, movies and sports as TV sets
were far and few between. Newspapers had content and news.
80’s saw the introduction of video and
spread of color TV in each household thus again it was back to family viewing
ritual. Throughout 80’s it was only one channel but gave great serials like hum
log, chitrahar, Buniyaad, Ramayana & Mahabharata for families to watch together,
being govt controlled both TV and print had lot of social messaging and to some
extent a mouthpiece of the governments.
90s
saw the advent of private channels thus giving us a choice of sitcoms and
never-ending serials, 2000 saw DTH opening the flood gates for 24/7 news
channels and slowly the of erosion of values started. An acquaintance of mine
then had started a T.V. channel and his answer on viability was simple, set up
a small studio, buy content, do stings to blackmail and make money. Crass
commercialization had begun.
Around that time a friend of same acquaintance
who used to live in Dubai started a political party in an Indian state, again a
candid question and answer was again simple, use that channel for propaganda of
dummy candidates and withdraw them for a price, make sting on others, buy
stories, blackmail and do hawala transactions.
Politicians entered in media to make money, play games and exploit gullible Janata.
The advent of social media since 2010 has
thrown many avenues to gain & share knowledge, express freely and increase our
circle of influence but sadly the same is abused with fake news, paid & planted
news, paid write-ups & researches, rigged opinion polls & surveys. Now
the twitter handlers & rumor mongers, influencers & cyber bullies, phony
anchors & panelists, twisted analytics & hate spreaders control the viewers
mindset. We are now sitting ducks and easy prey for narratives & misinformation.
Now advertorials far outweigh the editorials
in print, When I google I get ogled, My Facebook becomes my history book,
Instagram gives me mental harm, Pinterest kills my creative interest, twitter has
more twits than tweets, third grade youtubers are hate spreaders, lousy podcasters
are doubt casters, Tik Toker’s are time wasters. WhatsApp university throws mindless
forwards and self-made experts.
I am now either a right-winger or a liberal,
andhbhakt or separatist, secular or communal, national or antinational, Hindu
or a Muslim as the media is either godi media or Lutyens media. On social media,
I am now reduced to be a liker, a follower, a subscriber, a viewer and or a
handler, while the liked and followed ones become influencers and make money. Please
like me, follow me, view me, subscribe me and get influenced by me otherwise you
are not a friend. I am in money making business at your cost.
Do you want to get manipulated, mishandled and
misguided by the media handlers or you want to use your intellect, understand
the games being played and make the right choice? Do not get influenced, use
them rather than get used. Be informed and not misinformed, please choose love
and not hate. Use your remote handle in hand, ignore button on laptops, switch
off/on button in mind and enjoy life.
I may be a technologically challenged person
but still I have made my choice, you too, choose or lose.
Satish Shitut
Jai Bharat
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