By Devina Sethia (M11047)
78 people died and 136 were injured in a rail crash in Europe. It was one of the worst rail crashes in Europe. UN’s Refugee Chief said that countries like UK and the US may be asked to take thousands of Syrian refugees due to civil war in the region. Closer home, five states namely, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Uttar Pradesh, Uttrakhand and Himachal Pradesh were severely affected by floods. Rain in Uttarakhand once again made rescue operations difficult. However, the media over the last few days gave little importance to these stories.
Prince William and his wife Kate gave birth to a son in London. The media went all reported anything and everything there was to report about the baby. Why? All because the baby is blue blooded, he’s a royal baby. All sorts of stories including how an Indian doctor had assisted in the childbirth to how happy Selena Gomez was because she shared her birthday with the royal baby were carried. Every second tweet on Twitter was about the royal baby. Some people tweeted with excitement while others cracked jokes, some even lame ones. Rakesh Satyal tweeted, “Hopefully, it’s a Belieber. #RoyalBaby”. Another tweet said, “Prince Williams heir is falling out”. “No word yet on which house the Sorting Hat has placed the Royal Baby.” But the royal baby could not be ignored even on social media.
‘Good news’ for all Bollywood fans happened. ‘Karan’ and ‘Arjun’ hugged each other at an Iftaar party. According to the media five years of rivalry between Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan had ended. They reported with an urgency and excitement as if the rivalry between India and Pakistan had ended. This story was featured in the exclusive section of the news channels. Experts (including the likes of Dolly Bindra) were called to comment on the two Khans finally ending their feud. Zee News went to the extent of having an expert to read the body languages of the two actors. If the hug was just to be polite to one another, they could have just shook hands. Was the hug real enough for us to believe the fight between them had ended? This is the primary question asked. The hugged was discussed and talked about at social gatherings and on social media. people joked about how they would not believe the fight had ended till a sequel to Karan Arjun was made. How will the Food Security Bill affect the farmers? Will a common person afford a meal in Rs. 12? If yes, what will the meal contain? Are we interested in these questions?
Why do the media give so much importance to these stories? Obviously, because we are interested and it increases their readership. Why are we interested? Anything and everything about celebrities tends to excite us, from their professional lives to their personal lives. It is in our nature to gossip and be interested in other people’s lives. It’s almost like a need, a desire that needs to be addressed every now and then.
On the other hand, maybe these stories caught so much attention because they were a refreshing change from UPA bashing Modi and stories of Modi bashing UPA. Who said what and who accused whom of what? After sad and disturbing stories of the floods of Kedarnath and the Ishrat Jahan case, maybe the royal baby and the end of the fight between the two Khans were a refreshing change. Happy news of sorts.
However, the media and the audience need to realise that there is a issues beyond the Baby and Bollywood.
The Squibbler 