Media strips itself

I was blog-hopping when I came upon an article by Ram Gopal Varma. The post, named “The accusation…” was an interesting one and going further into the comments section was where I got intrigued. RGV, as he is known, was only describing his recent visit to TAJ Hotel in Mumbai during the aftermath of the terrorists attack. “How his visit stirred so much interest in the media and the various speculations from them and actually why he went there?” was what he focused on in that article.

The post inspired me to read few other posts of his. This made me peep into his personal way of description of things. Though the posts are a little on the ruffian side as far as language usage is concerned, it was straight from heart, it seemed. The elements of a typical story teller are also there. The accounts are lengthy, exhaustively covered and captivating.

Coming back to my original point, it seems as though media glare is far too hot on this guy. They seem to have set an eagle eye on this one guy waiting for him to give them one opportunity when they can dig his grave in black and white. May be, RGV’s ways are like that – attracting constant criticism. Whatever characters he portrays on celluloid, though, pure fictitious and need to be kept at that, few seem to relate them to real life characters and tend to take them personally.

The one that caught my eye was his previous post, where he has shared his next venture on “Media-men” and the reactions that he received for that article. This seemed to have angered a section of the fourth estate and that emotion was vented on his recent venturing into the TAJ Hotel and in the comments for his next article.

A couple of excerpts by somebody named “media”:
ramu,
words of wisdom for you. Basically power game rules everything. Only try to attack something which is weaker than you. The strength of the platform of media plus the stupidity of those watching it is well above your reach.
ramu,
those who take sword perish by it. You used some reddy to do film with nag. We used you to get rid of cm. In your films you use resemblance to real life incidents so that movie goers will speculate and watch like sarkar and thackrey. We did nothing more.

I was shocked to see what the undercurrent of those comments conveyed. RGV, as a movie director, definitely has a moral and social responsibility towards the large segment of people whom he can reach through his larger than life canvas. But he is not bound by any. He is his own master and ends are of no consequence to him as far as social justification is concerned. But Media???

They are the backbone to any country and reflect society’s social and cultural attitudes. They are bound to citizens both morally and socially at least by a marginal degree. If these comments show anything, its vengeance, taking society for granted, placing self ahead of anything else and nothing more. What is the media coming to and where it is driving us all and for what? My imagination is taking me into the darkest of waters as answers.

I just hope I am absolutely wrong in my reading.