The story of peanuts and monkeys
This article has an incident - a small proof of why the media is in such a mess today with no unity among themselves, and no integrity or truth in the content that comes out - be it television or online or print. Paid Media is a deep-rooted problem - deeper menace than any of us can imagine. Earlier, in 2000s, it was one person, one reporter here and there, demanding 500 rupees for a TV byte of 20-25 seconds or more, and more for a story. It was also the live telecasts in favour of political parties for some favour to the reporter unknown to the rest. Cash, laptops, car, even flats and other stuff. There are tales of reporters cashing on scandals of politicians -crores of rupees. The colour of reporting changed in accordance with the gains. Clicked by me during one of the trips to my hometown. Symbolises the situation. Then came tele-programmes, soft in nature (cookery, fashion, astrology, cinema, health) but the guests had to pay to appear in such programmes. The probl