Fuel for Media

Media such as T.V., Newspapers and Radio, show occurrences of what happened at Virginia Tech campus this Monday. Though what happened was tragic enough, media and politicians will take the situation and use it to their effect either to get attention or benefit out of it. Whatever happens currently gets the spotlight for the moment until another news crop up. No matter what channel you see on T.V. or what station you tune in on radio, you will pretty much see or hear the same stuff over and over with an addition (sometimes) with the latest development. Since Monday, news was aired regarding the massacre in VA Tech campus, followed by ‘who the killer was’ on Tuesday. I am sure people want to know what happened but not to the point where all you hear is just that.

A week back was the week of spotlight for Don Imus’s issue. At that time, he made the news and all the channels were airing what he said about the Rutgers Women’s Basketball team. While it was bad regarding what he said, it was not required that he be fired from his position. But his news became the most watched. Polls were open in all major news channels for people to vote on making a decision on whether to fire him or not. Discussion forums were created for people to share their opinions regarding him making the comment and what the outcome of it should be. If the incident on Monday in VA Tech had not had happened, (it would have been better if it had not happened) then Don Imus’s news would still be in the spotlight and the same wave would have continued this week as well.

Prior to this was the news on Anna Nicole Smith's death. They were showing what had happened and what caused Smith’s death. While there were other pressed issues throughout the world, Smith’s death took the spotlight. She was just like anybody else. There are thousands of other people who commit suicide or die throughout the world in a day but her death was somehow important for this Nation. This was followed by never ending battle news on her child’s custody and who the father was. The latest in her news was that her former boyfriend, Larry Birkhead was proved the father of Dannielynn, daughter of Anna Smith. Do I care who the father of the Child is? No. Maybe, the way things were heading, (Anna Smith’s body was not even put to rest because the mother and others were debating as to who should get custody of the body and child) even the child would go careless about knowing who her father was. Media took advantage of this (or did the affected party take advantage of the media?) and they were airing the interviews and their findings about the news in every channel plausible.

You can take any part of the world and the media always covers the news that brings attention to them. Take for instance, Shilpa Shetty, Bollywood actress. Months ago, she was the talk of the news because she was the victim of racists comment made to her in the show ‘Celebrity Big Brother’ in Britain. There were protests in India because of this and effigies of Jade Goodall were burnt because she was the one who made the comment in the show. You could see any channel in India during that time and all you would see was how Shilpa was the victim of the racists comment and Indians would not tolerate this.

Months later, Shilpa Shetty was a speaker in the AIDS awareness campaign in New Delhi along with the guest speaker, Hollywood Buddhist Richard Gere. He happened to kiss Shilpa on her hands and cheeks but in public in front of the cameras and this became an issue and effigies of Shilpa and Gere were burnt. This incident became the headlines currently. The same person who was applauded months ago because of her stance against the racist remark became the person to be looked down upon for being kissed in public by a Westerner. Leave alone the fact that she is the same person who wears skimpy clothes and kisses the hero in the movie she acts based on the character she is playing, which is well received by the same public.

No matter who makes the headlines, good or bad, it is only for the time being and the dust of hubbub will soon settle down until it is disturbed by another storm of what is new. As long as there are people on this planet, media will never have the shortage of news to air and entertain or keep us informed of the latest. We only hope that there are good things to be said and shared rather than incidents like what happened at Virginia Tech campus or who made racists remarks on others.