The Indian media loves bad news and that is making everyone negative – this is what well-known cricket columnist and commentator Harsha Bhogle thinks.
Harsha had been in news lately after being dropped from the panel of commentators for the ongoing season of IPL. Many in the mainstream media had linked his removal to “rising intolerance” alleging that he was dropped because he was not someone who’d say “Bharat Mata Ki Jai”.
Your average celebrity will milk such a situation and play along with the media, trying to be in the thick of such controversial and negative news for as long as possible, but Harsha Bhogle believes otherwise. He believes in being positive and making others feel positive in the process, and wishes the Indian media could also feel that way.
Recounting his visit to Mussoorie on Wednesday for a corporate speaking program, Harsha Bhogle said that he could see “immense positivity” in the corporate India.
“People are planning big things because they believe they can be achieved.” Harsha shared his observations on his Facebook page.
“And yet the media is still telling me how wrong things are. Maybe it is the people they invite; people who need to say things are bad. Maybe they should invite hard working Indians and ask them if they are positive about India,” he further argued.
“I am not asking for a saccharine view of things but a perspective from people who are doing remarkable things too,” Harsha clarified, but reiterated that “Twelve people screaming simultaneously from caged windows isn’t the only picture of India.”
This is not for the first time that Harsha has come up with such observation. In December last year too, in another Facebook post, he had pointed out that many journalists were obsessed with negativity and confrontational approach.
Harsha’s observations are important because a large section of media is indeed hell bent upon portraying an image of India where nothing is going right.
While it’s the duty of media to report and highlight shortcomings of the society and the government, we’ve seen that often they are resorting to half truths or plain lies to push a particular narrative. Our media lies list is where you can find plenty of such examples.