Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Disgusted with negative Commonwealth Games news coverage

Unfortunately the quality of jounalism in India tends to be oversensationalised and non analytical, with Bennet Coleman at the top of the trash heap. TimesNews, Times of India, Economic Times are virtually rags, constantly reporting highly sensationalised and mostly negative stories...notice how TimesNow has Saas Bahu (notorious afternoon soap on the battle between daughter and mother in laws, watched by stay at home daughter and mother in laws!) type editing and effects with the camera doing triple repeat zoom ins of the same spot with suitable "slashing" sounds to create a sensationalized effect. As these are pretty popular news media across India, the trash tends to be picked up and redistributed by people socially, cause India bashing are topics that get the reactions.

I had the good fortune of visiting the games village 6 weeks back. It is extremely well built and very beautiful (yes its the one above), with lovely gardens, nice architecture, very nice finishing, lcd tvs in each apartment, gorgeous bathrooms, superb fitness center, pool, etc (it will be sold as premium residential apartments after the games and if you are looking for property in Delhi it is highly recommended). It is built by an international firm, Emmar, the same people responsible for many of the beautiful buildings in Dubai (including the worlds tallest one). Check it out here http://www.emaarmgf.com/CGV/index.asp

The foot-bridge that collapsed was also being built by an A list contractor...

Today the Times (website) is screaming the headline "Roof Collapses", when you read the story it turns out a small part of a false ceiling came down due to heavy cables...

Go figure!

2 comments:

Meenu Handa said...

Rehan

Since you dont live in Delhi or the NCR area impossible for you to judge if the Times Group is exaggerating or not .... if you did live in NCR you would know the real extent of the mess that has been made in the name of CWG....

Most media houses do over hype or sensationalise news - why single Times group - and this one time - it is not overhyped. It is the truth.

RYK said...

As someone who lived and studied in Delhi; and still maintain a home in Delhi, I have seen Delhi much worse. Inanycase the media coverage I am talking about is not on Delhi's woes, but on the facilities of the Games.

Times has been highlighted, because in the last few years it has become ultra-sensational, far beyond it's peers at NDTV, Hindustan Times, DNA and Indian Express. Yesterday's headline when talking about the "filthy" facilities and the collapsed foot bridge screamed "National Shame"... it was outrageous, and it's peers carried the story in a very different fashion, not as the primary headline, giving a well rounded view.