Creative Producer: Kunal Mehra
It's been an unprecedented year for the world and Indian news. As we battle a pandemic, an economic crisis, large scale unemployment, a border crisis and more, our news seems to be looking the other way.
Blame it on the race for TRPs, a voyeuristic audience or political pressure, while we urgently need information on the actual news around us, it is safe to say that is not what we are seeing on our TVs.
Begging us to ask the question - KYA AAPKE NEWS MAIN DECENCY HAI?
It’s an important question, especially in light of what we have been seeing on the news these days: targeting and vilifying women, whether as a distraction from actual news or just because they are one part of a story.
It’s not surprising if put in the context of the all the pervasive sexism that has existed in our society since time immemorial. It is still surprising though because the news, the press, the fourth estate, is expected to work with an inherent need to pursue the truth, the facts, be inclusive and most importantly ask the right questions, to the right people.
And since news is in the service of janta janardhan, perhaps we also need to ask more of it.
Because if we don’t, who knows, we may end up falling into a trap of not being worried about things that actually matter, of not asking why journalists are indulging in high speed car chases, of believing that just because the same thing is repeated a 100 times, it must be the holy truth and stop expecting basic decency from those who bring us the news.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)