Media Reporting.. Quality or Marketing

As I was writing my previous post, could not resist the extra post, that was quite incidental to the story. I normally read the TOI, since some time, have moved to the The Hindu, and the story that I read (Sahara Pulls out of BCCI), was just a coincidental comparison of the two.

Of late have noticed the TOI versions are simply maverick attempts at grabbing headlines. It is not limited to politics or sports,  but to every facet of reporting. For instance Sahara pulling out of BCCI, I read both the Hindu version and of course the TOI version.

The quality of reporting is simply incomparable. Of course, both have their own styles, their own positives and negatives, but what has often been a downer for me for TOI has been the commentary allowed. Quite often on stories, the allowance of absolute derogatory language by the readers, right up to having our not so infamous local desi swear words, literally pasted all across, simply puts one off from reading.

Does bring to the question, as to whether there should be guidelines and do the media really care as to what people post. No doubt, freedom of expression is necessary, but to me, to the extent one can manage. It was like some one trying to compare the Jerry Springer show with our desi JS ape, Rakhi Sawant's, Rakhi ka Insaaf. Not to say either one is better, but having watched both, my personal opinion has been that Jerry Springer has a much better control process when things go out of hand, and more important, as the Anchor, he never goes derogatory

Question begets, why do we promote such nonsense? Time and time, we have tried to copy, of course, not knowing how to paste. Another prime example was the "Minute to Win It" game show, and of course the "Are you smarter than a 5th grader". Both were copied to our desi versions, both turned out to be flops. Were they badly managed, or were we simply not good enough to manage standards that are managed by real professionals who know their job.

The topic started with news reporting, ended with shows, but both being media, found the comparison inevitable. Will I stop reading / watching both.. Probably not, may reduce the lower quality reporting though, as both in their own way, are teaching experiences...

PS: This is not an advertisement for either the Hindu or Jerry Springer, of course, for TOI, RS, definitely apply..