Much Ado About Media

Shoot out at a school. Blame it on media. Women victimized by a crowd. Blame it on media. Actor commits suicide. Blame it on media. Sania refuses to play. Blame it on guess who? Looks like, Akon could jolly well re-write his chartbusting lament as "You can put the blame on media". Why is it that every time something goes wrong, media is most conveniently made the scapegoat?

Media surely didn't cook up a Sania controversy out of thin air. It wasn't media that had objections to her playing in short skirts or shooting at a mosque. Media was just being what it is - a medium for people to voice their views.

Now if someone doesn't agree with the views of those who don't approve of Sania's sartorial sensibilities, and criticizes media, it is only a classic case of shooting the messenger!

"It's the orthodox thinking that's to be blamed. Few opinionated people try to hog the limelight. They just wait to get enough fat to fry an egg. None of them realizes that such opinions could disturb a player's constancy of purpose and kill the joy of playing," says veteran cricketer and commentator Navjot Singh Siddhu.

He sympathises with Sania saying, "Tennis is already such a high pressure game, and it can get unnerving for any player to be the target of constant nitpicking. Sania is being pelted with stones, but remember, it's only a tree laden with fruits that's pelted with stones." Point taken Mr Siddhu!

This time the proverbial stone-pelting came from Bhopal based "flag advocate" RK Pandey who filed a PIL against Sania for dishonouring the Indian flag. And mind you, RK Pandey is no newcomer to the limelight zone. He had filed similar PILs against Sachin Tendulkar, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Mandira Bedi, M.F.Hussain and the list doesn't end there! So this time if he decided to add Sania to his glorious list of disrespectful Indians, why malign the media?

If we do some honest soul searching instead of simply heaping all the blame on media, lot of us as media consumers and curious Indians (not in that order always), would find ourselves responsible too.

One bad performance by Mohammed Kaif and his house in Allahabad was under siege by the locals. One defeat at 1982 Asian Games by Mir Ranjan Negi and his wedding ceremony was jeopardized. Is it media or we, who gave in to such spasmodic, irrational acts of vandalism?

The voyeurs that we are, let's not be hypocrites at least! Don't we ourselves derive vicarious pleasure in prying into others' lives, and react in utmost illogical fashion when our expectations are not met?

"People derive a morbid pleasure in miseries of others" says Atul Wasan, former Indian cricketer and commentator. Regretting such a sadistic scenario, Wasan puts the onus on fans and audiences even as he doesn't completely absolve media and celebrities. "Instead of crying foul, celebrities also need to grow up and act more mature," says Wasan.

Media is not some unknown, undefinable Matrix conrolling our lives and reactions. We are not awaitng a Neo to unplug us, and make us see the reality! When it comes to media, we are the 'One'! So if Sania refuses to play, let's not put the blame on media. For once we (including celebrities) could be honest in saying " You could put the blame on me!"