Daily Post 1493
FACTS IN MEDIA & POLITICS
While everybody in these fields deal with facts only , the recipients are becoming more and more sceptical. Today we have reached a stage where it is my facts versus your facts. It has even crossed a stage further. It is my truth vs your truth. The difference of thought and opinion so inherent to our democratic existence has brought us to a level where nobody knows facts. And even if few do, who wants to listen to them. They would be last persons to get public space. Beyond truth and beyond facts is the status in which we live. Getting an opposite opinion is fashionable and taken as an indicator of transparency.
The fact of the matter is that more often than not both the viewpoints touted as facts are wrong. The beauty of this state of mind is that nobody can change it. Why should they, when gain out of it. *Hearsay is the main mode of information and who do your hear from?* Your close ones, near and dear to you, with the same state of mind, same thought process, and for sure they churn out the same version of the facts. The social media filter, social media bubble and echo chamber are modern terminologies of a deep seated malaise, which predates the mass usage of social media.
The motley mix of media that we have, as vibrant as our democracy, of different hues, colours and shades have also found it difficult to hide their ground level interactions with the people of Bihar. What translates into votes is different story and for what reason, is not the topic of research today. What is important is the stark reality so beautifully captured by the state of art cameras and beamed on smart TVs across the country, it outright negated in the political campaigning. If the raw pictures of the Bihar landscape or unedited live interactions also don’t amount to facts, then the facts have become a mirage and is lost forever.
While one channel is fighting its own self created battle, the multimedia display on all others, with smart anchors, journalists and technologists to enhance the video and stylish captioning gives us feeling that Lag Vegas is having elections. With so much of real data all around on Human Development Indices, Sustainable Development Goals, the per capita income or unemployment etc, it has not been able to find its way into any of the debates, political or journalistic. The people are not at the centre of the elections, it is pivoted on political parties, their leaders, their well being and their strategy. Some claim that the actual election will be post election. People are thought not worthy of a dialogue. It is a one way ticket to the moon.
A DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY CAN ONLY BE BASED ON FACTS. CAN FACTS BE THE ONLY AGENDA?