The Indian TV News Channels, their irresponsible journalism

The only thing that seems to count for the countless number of TV News channels in the countless number of languages in India is the countable number of eyeballs they capture. Nothing seems to matter to them in their quest to score points over rival channels. Look at the recent coverage of the Terror strike in Mumbai.

The Channels first started popularising a catchy phrase ' enough is enough'. That is ok since this is what people have been saying for a long time regarding the Govt.'s inept handling of the terror menace. But then, for the Channels that is simply not enough. They decided to spread hatred against politicians as a class. The common Indian is already of the view that politics means corruption, swindling public funds, playing one community against another, buying votes, vote bank politics etc. Nevertheless, the common man has not lost lost faith in the system of democracy since he feels that he can still vote out an incumbent Govt. even if it results in replacing one set of corrupt and incompetent politicians by another set of corrupt and incompetent politicians. This is where the mischief of the TV Channels is beginning to alter the perceptions of the common man. The channels have started casting doubts on democracy itself. The underlying message of every Channel was that it would be better to place the nation's administration in the hands of the Armed Forces rather than in the hands of the politicians. In the heat and dust of the aftermath of the terror attack , no politician picked up enough courage to condemn this anti-democratic not-so-whispering campaign . But now that the passions have cooled down, it is necessary to bring a halt to the mischief of the TV Channels. Not just the politicians, but the viewing public who are not just eyeballs but have tongue, voice and cell phones in their pockets should start cautioning the Sardesais and Goswamys, Burkha Dutts and Vikram Chandas " Enough is enough. Do not cross the thin line between hatred for politicians and booting out democracy".