Rogue Journalism & Dementia of the Fifth Estate: Rajdeep Sardesai going Rogue not just Wrong
1. Personal view / opinion / bias surfacing repeatedly in the work of any journalist makes him counter-productive for the audience / consumer of news. Since in the name of Freedom of Speech there will never be any regulator for taming rampant misconduct of media professionals, such conduct will DEFINITELY make the people full of dislike for such so called professionals who are not only indulging in such conduct for DEFINITELY some gain (why else they would risk compromising their professional stature. Come on no one tell me that ANYONE is so committed to his beliefs that he will risk his career or standing). When such professionals become mad and full of themselves with an existing political axis and become too full of themselves, they run into psychological problems of not being able to accept the change.
2. Once the so called Godfathers of such professionals are no longer Gods, crisis erupts in the life of such professionals.
3. Fine, we do have Freedom of Speech, but no one said it can be practiced irresponsibly. Try out hurling abuses in a traffic snarl up and you will know what one means by responsible freedom of speech.
4. So whether a journalist or a non-journalist each has a RIGHT to Freedom of Speech & must be practiced responsibly. Some Journalists taking a poetic license too far and terming new phrases such as Freedom of Press are living in a Fool's Paradise.
5. When a democracy has collectively elected a leadership, for any journalist to remain in a pre-election mindset and continue to "paint" his ranting and diatribes as either news or editorial views is seriously damaging, unsocial and totally unprofessional. Why as a Citizen Rajdeep Sardesai had 1 vote and he may or may not have casted it. What right does he have to deride my democracy?
6. To keep singing a stale song of Godhra is ridiculous again and a clear breach of the law of Contempt. If Supreme Court decided on the matter, everyone must accept it. If anyone is an interested party then ONLY one can go to apply for a revision to a Higher Bench of the Supreme Court. All other ranting and particularly by highly visible media is total disregard of the law of land. Such a behaviour is contemptuous of the court on one hand and displays a level of arrogance no civilized society will tolerate.
7. When mis-use of power (media is a potent form of power & influence) is no longer backed by power, frustration sets in.
8. To indulge in a street-fight under any situation is a clear sign of psychological problems.
9. Tapes clearly show who got physical first.10. Tapes also show RS said, "You are an arsehole too". This clearly suggests he lost his head beyond the limits of logic also apart from civility. Such a statement from him if taken literally means he admitted in the first place that he himself was an arsehole.
11. Atop all this the sheer chicanery and debauchery of having taped something and bragging that it’s good to have captured the idiots on tape and to show the idiots is good is a total collapse of Rajdeep Sardesai's personality. This is hypocrisy beyond limits. Shame.
12. India Today a respected media group MUST FIRE Rajdeep Sardesai Immediately for abuse of his position, unprofessionalism, unethical conduct and for being a ROGUE JOURNALIST.
13. If Media Industry deserves to restore some of its respect it should stand up together and condemn this gross misconduct of Rajdeep Sardesai and ensure that he is not employed by any media house. Just because there are some creatures like Rajdeep Sardesai who have hood-winked the "system" so far and gotten away with it does not make it a birth-right of the media industry and the birth-right of every other media professional to either support such creatures so as an aspiration that the FIFTH ESTATE will continue to beseech power over the minds of the masses. LASTLY & MOST IMPRTANTLY: TO every Media PROFESSIONAL: Public ka khaate ho, public ki bajao mat. Jis thaali mei khaate ho usme gandh mat karo. Be respectful of people. It is the masses who made you to be stars in the first place by having respect for you and if you have become a victim of your own creation to believe that you are going to be able to brain-wash masses ad infinitum then you are at a total loss of realizing a fact that India is no longer going the path of becoming a Banana Republic. Some rogue journalists who did not fulfil their DUTY to be WATCHDOGS of democracy and aided as mere tail-wagging dogs the conceit and treason perpetrated by the Banana Republicists are going to be in for shock after shock.