Is Saleability the only bottomline?

Is it just me or is the world around me going cuckoo? Correction… `Change’ is what they call `going cuckoo’ these days… It all began with an early morning conversation with my friend Ashish. Ashish, by the way, is a dear friend whose opinions and views, though not always in tandem with mine, are ones I respect. We were discussing the Salman tapes and the media’s attitude towards it. I mentioned in the passing that I respect Indian Express as a paper because it has not given the news any importance in its reportage. And I was quite impressed by the stand. While I understand the vicarious pleasure that most readers derive from news these days, I think one should applaud any paper that decides retain its values despite being in the race to be `saleable’. But Ashish didn’t agree. He said Indian Express had a miniscule circulation and so was irrelevant. Of course my vehement arguments that circulation was not the yardstick for quality and that credibility should account for something fell on deaf ears because he said `Either something’s a hit or a flop and anything that does well is quality…’ he also insisted that the definition of quality had `changed’ (Oh that dreaded word again!) since the time I knew it. And it struck me like a bolt that he was reflecting the view of a whole new generation… Of course he was from the chosen few of the old world who had `accepted’ the `change’… But if all that doesn’t sell is trash then do we write off all of Guru Dutt’s films since they didn’t do well when they released? Doesn’t quality feature anywhere in the scheme of things? Obviously not… Especially in the media… That’s why a rag like Bombay Times carries a story on the alleged break up of a producer’s son and his wife without a single quote even from an unidentified source… There are no incidences to corroborate the conclusions and of course there is no attempt to contact the people concerned… But it is still printed on the front page, read, discussed, mulled over and then of course spat out as soon as the next sensational story was out… And we thought `Stardust’ was bad… But that’s what an average reader is today… Someone who enjoys the thrill of reading others’ perverted sexual escapades… Every piece of sensational news has become the next `release’ that we read and discuss… My friend Ashish feels Indian Express is direct and almost vulgar in its reportage while Midday is wicked which is why it’s palatable? So stories of people dying in a war with pictures is vulgar but spicy stories of old people being slashed is justified because it’s depressing but not depressing enough! Ha Ha!… Is that what we have come down to? Is news another form of entertainment? And like in films and television one just has to find ways of entertaining no matter what you are doling out… More vulgarity… more explicit visuals… more blood… anything as long as you can drag eyeballs. The other day, Midday carried an interview with a chain snatcher who was discussing the modes of chain snatching as if he was discussing a recipe he has invented… And readers are interested… because that’s what reflects in its readership and circulation every month… It’s all very well to `accept’ this fact and applaud the people who are `successful’ But has anyone given a thought to what precedent we are setting for the future generations? That success, especially commercial success, is the only success existing in the world? `Whatever sells is good’ is the refrain one hears from most quarters… In that case should we start by legitimizing the sale of cocaine? Since it will sell well and hence will be `good’?