Media Moaning

There is a serial which my child loves called Karan and Kabir. It is about twin boys and their Mother. The mother works and lives in a hotel. The episodes are about the trouble the children keep getting into or the pranks they play. The boys are adorable. The good part about this serial is that it is not slap stick humour. It is not disrespectful to anyone and it does not encourage bad habits or value systems. I do believe that the value system in children come from the parents. But the society has to be responsible which also means the kind of content shown on TV.  Today in the name of liberalism, the content of children's programs has really gone down. The humour is crass and mannerisms and behaviour is sad. 

Like in the radio channels in Mumbai, they all have a section on a Mumbaikar. One of the channels calls it 'Mawali Bhai'. His Hindi is absolutely gross. No one in Mumbai speaks like that. His language is filthy. What the radio channels are doing is using bad words and acting or showing as if it is common parlance. Children then use it because they feel it is okay as it is heard on the radio every day. Bollywood is doing the same with Hindi songs by using sexual innuendos.  The newspapers are using filthy language and sensationalising scandals. Every sexual activity of a rapist or molester or victim is vividly described. Mid Day and Times of India take the cake in this work. The Bombay Times publishes affairs, extra marital affairs and cheating stories of Hollywood and Western Sports people. Again this is produced along with some pics of them in bikinis or kissing.  Why would they not produce the same of Bollywood stars?  Because there they get paid by Bollywood. So only goody goody stories about Bollywood stars. There is a constant attack on the children of our country by the media. We as a society have family values. The good of the society is more important than individual happiness. A country works because it has boundaries. Our rate of rapes or divorce or crimes is lower than most other developed countries in the world. The media is doing an onslaught on us middle class that sleeping around is cool, extra marital is the done thing, being gay is the new cool, adultery is the new cool. etc. Basically you get the drift. I know that the internet is there and children can access all kind of information that they wish to see or read. My concern is with the TV serials and Newspapers.  Why are they bombarding us with their biased views. Systematically, all stories have a certain tangent. In the name of making people aware, they are pushing the Western hedonistic views on our society. This is to tear the fabric of the family which is so strong in India. Censorship issues are sensationalised but no one is allowed to censor the biases.

When we were in school, we were told to read newspapers everyday. We had to order an English newspaper because my school did not accept news in Hindi or Gujarati. Dhanbad had no English newspaper. We used to get one from Kolkata which would be delivered home in the afternoon. Now I  get scandalised by certain graphic language and pictures in the Dailies. These newspapers are selling porn in their thought and content. Educated people are falling for it. I wonder which parent wants their child to be without moral values. But where do we have a voice? This is the first time I am having difficulty in expressing myself while writing. I do not want to mention the kind of filth which is shoved down our throats through newspapers, radio and television channels.  Yet we need to realise the gravity of this slow onslaught. I always felt that radio channels and newspapers had ethics but well that is not so.  I know it that I do not need to buy newspapers and listen to radio. I try my best not to, but my worries as a Mother and as a citizen, does come up.