Electronic Media, culture and the Youth

Today we had the Inter Hall Debate. I had prepared for the selections but did not get selected finally. However, our team won the gold and that is what matters the most. Anyway, for the record [both mine and for others' benefit], I am giving the speech I had prepared for myself. The topic was "The House Believes that the Electronic Media is promoting the Commercialization of Indian Culture among the Youth." I was FOR the motion.

Current Mood: Elated
Current Music: Again on the thin client in my lab :-(

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After the recent despicable act of Zee news in airing its reality show ‘Gudiya Kiski’, Rajdeep Sardesai justified the story saying it was an act of great human interest, and remarked, "In fact, no one really has any business being overly self-righteous since all of us itch to redraw the ... journalistic ethics to suit our interests." Good evening, everybody, I, KPOWERINFINITY, firmly believe that the media has long forsaken all of its ethics and can always be seen grossly promoting the commercialization of Indian Culture, acutely affecting the Indian youth.

Since, the debate has already progressed to a great extent [I would have been the 10th speaker], I will skip the usual definitions, and directly come to my thrust areas. The first is FESTIVALS. The traditional Indian festivals, which once were a time when the extended family met and shared its sorrows and their joys, have been obscured to little more than times for shopping sprees and bonanza discounts. The respect to elders and love to peers, today, is no more than an Archie’s card or even a Yahoo e-greeting. Exasperated by the rallying campaigns by the media during Diwali a reader remarked in India Today, that the media, “reduces the festival and its significance to consumerist terms. We need to de-mystify and de-mythologize festivals in contemporary times, but reducing it to just a wish list may not truly represent the psyche of millions of Indians who celebrate it with a noble significance and a nobler wish list.” Pray, the media has even exalted the quintessence of Indian marriage to a Page 3 party. Being the cynosure of the media’s prying eyes, is the favourite pastime of the Indian youth today, thanks to the very visible electronic-media.

Then again, coming to the ARTS. Indian Music, both the Classical genre as well as the Old Hindi film music. In the Remix culture popular songs of the bygone era, are converted to a raunchy semblance of the same, with the scantily clad women and the titillating gestures et al. After listening to Vinay Sapru and Radhika Rao’s take on his melodious Kaanta Laga, Naushad Ali, one of the greatest exponents of Hindi Film music, and the original creator, rued, “It was such a melodious song, they’ve completely ruined it... They’ve spoilt the true meaning.” He even offered not to partake the royalty money only if his music was not treated with such disrespect. The electronic media, however, lead by MTV and Channel [V] dedicated umpteen hours of video footage to the hot-selling video. In fact, the award for the “Best Remix Video” in the MTV Immies went to Kaanta Laga.

Let us come to a very recent addition to our culture: CRICKET. From wearing Cigarette brands on sleeves, to noodle straps during the matches, Cricket is one area where everybody takes cognizance of the rampant commercialization aided and abetted by the Electronic Media. A world where Fair and Lovely is the title sponsor of an India-Australia series, and every once in a while a glamorous and sensuously clad lady purrs about the cuteness of the players does not find many takers among the cognoscenti. Add to that the cat-fights for the coverage of the sport, and the brouhaha surrounding the selection of the Chief Mentor, and you get the idea that the media turns wherever it sees the money. Coverage of other sports, including the national game, Hockey, is at best, pathetic.

The electronic-media has not even pardoned the basis of Indian culture: RELIGION. From long-distance salvation to television satsangs and electronic nirvana in virtual temples, the electronic media will not leave any stone unturned in its quest for TRPs, even if it may be disparaging the power of the Almighty above. Art of living has been blown out of proportions by the Indian electronic media, replacing the erstwhile coverage given to Yoga, Vipassana, and Pranayama, and all because the Sultans of Indian Business visit Sri Sri Ravi Shankar for his blessings.

At the end, I can only say that media continues to pollute Indian traditional culture -- its festivals, its family system, its attires, its rituals, its beliefs, its religion, its sport, its fervor and its basic fabric. It is high time, we ensure that proper checks are put on the media, because the way it is using culture to feather its own nest, given a chance, the media will make sure that we have none of it left.

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Readers' opinions solicited.