Do Newspapers Really Carry News?

A famed stand up comedian of Indian origin recently paid a visit to India. The media went into frenzy as his arrival was well-timed with the release of a Bollywood flick where he shared screen space with a few other Bollywood stars. The producer of the movie is another Bollywood star who now finds himself dunked in hot soup.

‘Athithi Devo Bhav’ . Literal translation is ‘A guest is like God’. So this stand up comedian got all the respect and glory that befits any guest of his stature to India, especially in starry eyed Mumbai.  But if this guest God speaks in a manner that offends the resident God of Bollywood then all hell breaks loose. The comedian happened to pass certain reportedly ‘funny’ comments on a self-proclaimed and PR driven numero uno actress who piggy backed to fame on the shoulders of certain important men in the industry. She finally latched on to the GOD of Bollywood in the best possible manner. By marrying the GOD’S ‘unrising SUN’. 

At first, the media carried reports on how the comedian had snubbed Bollywood and degraded the women in the industry. Then they started equally publicizing how hurt the ‘industry’ is due to this daring comment by a comedian who doesn’t understand India at all. Now had the media held its reins in the first place this would not have blown out of proportion. Secondly, the fear seems to stem from the fact that the GOD of Bollywood is somehow involved in this drama. In between the raging war of words between the fans of the snubbed actress who condemn the ‘athithi comedian’ and a few others who voice their opinion about freedom of expression, the common man is left wondering if after all this was a PR exercise, well managed by top PR Company???

So whatever you read in ‘newspapers’ need not necessarily be news. It can be ‘created news’. So you either read it as ‘time-pass’ news or rationalise which you take seriously and which you just skim over...