Have things gone so far that media makes the menu for what you should view and read?

The fourth estate today is largely a bog of intrigue and wilfulness and an overall arrogance. We decide the news, its level of importance and mastermind what you should know. Never before has the dispensation of news per se been so unilateral and arbitrary. If Geeta the girl from Pakistan has gone back, or is in a home or even with her mom and dad, who’s bothered? We have decided it is now a non-story and it has run its course. Not 10 days ago, the highest in the land were eager to be photographed with this young woman. Now she is of absolutely no relevance. The feeding frenzy that was Indrani Mukherjea and a brutal murder has faded away into a sort of shrug of the shoulder fugue and she is equally irrelevant, for all we care. No one even knows where the case against her stands. [caption id=“attachment_2424134” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters[/caption] Chhota Rajan could be back in Indonesia and no one would know. Nary a peep about him when, at one time, we were getting updates on the hour. We made such a song and dance over OROP and our bravehearts and when 2,000 of them got together to give back their medals (not one was burnt, contrary to reports) last week, the media decided, “Ho-hum, these guys have canteen facilities and keep getting pension reviews, this story won’t sell. Spoilt bunch the lot of them, drop it.” Remember the dainty woman minister in MP who kicked a 10-year-old beggar? What was the aftermath? No clue. Amit Shah’s disastrous utterings that got Bihari egg on the BJP face. Has he been chastised? The dogged VK Singh and his comment: Did he get his knuckles rapped? Was he fined like cricketers are? Or was it a two-day salute to general shock and then let go because life sucks anyway? Not that anyone stooped to ask the beggar’s name. And the General, well, he soldiers on. Have Delhi’s Arvind Kejriwal and Lt-Governor Najeeb Jung kissed and made up? Are they all buddies now with the prime minister? Have they collected all the garbage and killed the dengue-spreading mosquitoes? Last heard, they hated each other enough to destroy Delhi. Where do they stand now? The echo answers, “where?” Where are all the people who raped little children, some of those victims not even a year old? Do the arrested ever go on trial, does anyone chase the story? Did anyone indict Kailash Vijayvargiya for this display of brilliance on rape? He had said in 2013: “One has to abide by certain moral limits. If you cross this limit you will be punished, just like Sita was abducted by Ravana.” Andhra Pradesh Congress president Botsa Satyanarayana described the Delhi gang-rape as a “small incident.” No action is taken against them, no pressure put. Keen not to be left behind in this bizarre dispatch of moral wisdom, Banwari Lal Singhal, a BJP legislator from Rajasthan worked out all by himself that wearing skirts in schools led to sexual harassment. Can anyone recall that incandescent genius and Khap Panchayat leader Jitender Chhatar who told us that to his understanding, consumption of fast food contributes to such incidents? Chowmein, after all, leads to hormonal imbalance evoking an urge to indulge in such acts(!) Why has Salman Khurshid been given the ‘pass’ slip after his needless statements in Pakistan and why has no action been initiated? How many more people have to be killed in the Vyapam scam and their bodies found near railway tracks before justice is fast-tracked? This story cannot die, it is too big but it seems to be in a coma. I can go and on but it is against this canvas that we hear now that India leads the way in censoring Facebook with governments make the maximum number of demands to remove content. The report says: “Notably, there has been a three-fold increase in such demands in the first six months of this year as compared to last year.” “According to the data released by Facebook in its biannual government requests report, India made 15,155 demands, outnumbering 92 other countries in the list.” Sure enough, that is three times what it was over the same period last year. So, what is going on? Selective media overwhelming the synapses with white noise and numbing their viewers and readers into unquestioning submission, and making out the menu for the mind. You eat what we tell you to eat. True or exaggerated? It’s your call.