Who is to be blamed?

It is rather surprising how priorities have changed today. Go through the newspaper or one bulletin of news on any television channel and one can find shocking evidences to this revelation. Only recently as one of my friends on Facebook commented on the issue of Sania-Shoaib marriage making the front page news while an important news of Sino-India relationship having to calmly subside on the sixth, it was really something to think about. Newspapers, today, are filled with news of heinous crimes – murder, extortion, rape, kidnapping and so on. One can also find a lot of celebrity news - their new relationships, breakups, candid cam photos and stuff. There is no scarcity of news highlighting blatant remarks of sycophantic yes-men who love to be in the limelight.
But who is to be blamed? Is it the media or the readers/viewers at fault? Is the media more concerned about the frivolous and less important issues or are we giving them the chance to behave the way they do?
I believe the media is nothing more than a sheen picture of our priorities and thoughts. As viewers and readers we are the ones who should be questioned. A news of some celebrity appeals to us more than something as important as a nuclear agreement or policies of the state. People ask questions about the idea of having newspaper pages filled with the news of murders and suicides or trivial stuff but don’t we enjoy a charade of ‘Sansani’ (a TV show on Aaj Tak that covers all sorts of crimes committed all over the country, claims to be a crime patrol for the aam aadmi) or talk about the grandeur of TV9 (a news channel which has exemplified the concept of trivialization of the media) news? Perhaps a rhetoric of mockery, we still give these media people the idea that such shows are celebrated and popular among the audiences. ‘The Hindu’ has lesser readership than ‘The Times of India’ because its content is more serious and it does not entertain sections like ‘Hot Klix’ and ‘Celebrity news’.
The people who run the media know that some new findings about Shoiab and Ayesha would interest a larger mass than something like ‘India’s stance towards the US-Pak nuclear deal’. We don’t generally talk about how India should have handled ‘The Summit on Climate Change, but ‘Should Aishwarya Rai marry Abhishek Bachchan?’, why not, bring it on! There is a plethora of such examples. We sensationalize the stuff they show and give them the reason to act this way where intruding the privacy of an individual or sending wrong messages to get the people talking and spatting is nothing immoral or irresponsible to them.
Maybe a few of us are actually interested in the more-important issues going on in the world today, but TRPs don’t only cover these people, you see! It is not only ‘this’ lot that follows the TV or surfs through the morning newspapers, a rickshawwala or a grocery vendor also likes to keep himself aware (perhaps not on the same issues!). And with the competition growing exponentially every day, I find no fault with media persons trying to up their TRPs or readership ratings, means matter not. Media is a business today and profits drive businesses after all!
Don’t you think so?
Cheers,
Piyush.