Diwali celebrations were in the air and are
still continuing in many parts of the country. It made for news headlines and
many shows. Understandable.
Narendra Modi was in Jammu & Kashmir on
the Diwali day to spend time with the flood victims. He was there to show
solidarity with the Indian soldiers in Siachen and the flood victims in
J&K. He held high level meetings and announced fund from the Prime Minister's
Relief Fund. It contributed to the second largest chunk of editorial planning
on the Diwali day. Understandable.
The Maharashtra political scene was not
clear on two fronts after BJP emerged as the largest party in the state but 23
short of majority mark of 245 in the Maharashtra assembly. One, who would be
the Maharashtra chief minister from BJP. Two, what price BJP would extract from
Shiv Sena to oblige the Thackeray party as the 'junior partner' in the
alliance. The newsmaking treadmill has continued unabated since then.
Understandable.
Black money issue has been an evergreen
fodder and was making for news headlines midst the reports that the government
was about to disclose names in the court. Though a damp squib so far based on
today's developments, the issue has infinitely immense potential to oil the
newsmaking machinery. Understandable.
A Shahrukh Khan starrer was to be released
and it did roaring business in the opening weekend and made for loads of entertainment
based content in media programming. Understandable.
Nitin Gadkari's helmetless riding was
caught on camera and transport minister of India along with his scooter became
the talking point on social media and in mainstream media. Made for good visual
story with scope for 'sorts' of debates on 'moral and ethical' issues over it.
Understandable.
Communal clashes broke up in a part of
Delhi and it threatened peace and harmony if not contained. A balanced
newsmaking approach to it was required. Understandable.
All these and many other developments were
adding to the foliage that makes for the fodder of the mainstream news media
content. And the supply has been copious. And the supply to product conversion
ratio has been in abundance making their outreach clearly visible.
On the Diwali day, news-reports came that
said six farmers in Vidarbha region of Maharashtra had committed suicide within
24 hours. Erratic monsoon and the resultant agrarian loss forced them to take
the extreme step. And mind you, these must not be seen as mere numbers. The
region, like many other parts of India, has been facing agrarian crisis and
farm suicides. According to the reports, the Vidarbha region has seen over
11000 farm suicides since 2001 and the figure this year so has reached to over
900. Yet, it did not make for the news headlines the way above-mentioned
issues/developments were picked up.
And this has been like this. The question
mark that it puts has been there for quite long. This time also, the trend
continued.
©/IPR: Santosh Chaubey - http://severallyalone.blogspot.com/
