Tabloid Journalism

The marriage of the decade is finally over. Yes, Abhishek Bachhan is finally (happily) married to Aishwarya Rai and I sincerely hope the circus will end here. I admit that a high profile wedding of the lady touted by the Indian media as “the most beautiful woman in the world” with the most eligible bachelor in the country calls for excitement and media coverage. But I must say that the media went overboard trying to get the better of each other and each TV channel claiming to show the so-called “exclusive” images of the gates to the Bachhan home in Mumbai.
Some might say that I could have easily flicked channels but then if I want to watch the news I cannot watch any other channel but a news channel and no channel no matter how serious an image it has tried to build till now could stay away from the gates of the Bachhan home with a camera. As was very rightly said by an intelligent person the only channels which did not show pictures of the wedding were “Animal Planet” and “Nat Geo” The journalists were literally camping on the road in sheer hope of getting an exclusive shot of the couple. In my attempt to get some news I flicked to a channel which had their correspondent outside Aishwarya’s home and the news reader at the studio wanted to know from their correspondent what was on the menu for the guests at Aishwarya’s home and if he could figure out the menu from the aroma wafting out of the cordoned area. Now what could have been more absurd? Of course I had a good laugh at the cost of the news reader and his sub-zero IQ. At times I wonder what kind of IQ these news readers have. Or maybe they have an IQ but have simply sold their souls for the sake of higher TRP and greater viewership. Maybe with liberalisation in India everything has been commercialised, and that too to such an extent that news too has not been able to remain untouched by this trend.
Well I guess this trend will not get any better now, we can only hope it does not get worse and yes I hope this wedding proves to be one of those “lived happily ever after” type of wedding. I couldn’t bear to see 2 more weddings of this kind. I mean Abhishek getting married to some X and Aishwarya getting married to some Y. The thought is enough to give me goose bumps. May this couple live happily ever after. Amen!