Sunday, April 29, 2012

Social media: not the only culprit


Though Abhishek Manu Singhvi’s associate got an injunction from the High Court, the CD, allegedly depicting him and a female lawyer in an inappropriate act surfaced in the social media- not just surfaced, as most of the media described it, it ‘went viral’.

Justice Katju condemned the irresponsible social mediaand wrote to Ms. Ambika Soni asking her ministry to take appropriate steps to restrain social media from indulging in such reprehensible acts in future.  "It is obvious that the adage 'be you ever are so high, the law is above you' does not apply to any social media," lamented Abhishek Singhvi.


Agreed. The social media uploaded the disputed CD, violated the High Court order and manifested its irresponsibility. But if the social media where control over content is in the hands of users/ viewers/readers at large is irresponsible, how did the mainstream media where a trained, ethical editorial team scrutinizes the content behave?

18 comments:

  1. Media is all about sensationalism. They would do anything for it!!!!

    From:www.sriramnivas.com

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  2. Sir, you have me flummoxed here! Whose side shall I take: (1) Abhishek Manu Singhvi’s (2) Justice Katju's (3) Social Media's (4)Print/Broadcast Media's....

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    1. I would like to leave that decision to you. I have just looked at one angle viz. why only social media is being blamed when mainstream media is equally a culprit.

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    2. As they say, Blame it on Rio!

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  3. திரு. மார்கண்டேய காட்ஜு இதற்க்கு கண்டனம் தெரிவிகிறாரே, கபில் சிபில் கூகிள், யாஹூ, போன்ற நிறுவனத்திடம் சோனியா மற்றும் மன்மோகன் போன்றவர்களை பற்றி உள்ள தகவல்களை நீக்குமாறு கூறினாரே, அப்போது அவர் எங்கே சென்றார்..சமூக வலைத்தளம் இல்லையெனில் நாட்டில் பலருக்கு நாட்டு நடப்பே தெரிந்திருக்க வாய்ப்யில்லை

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    1. You have a point. Katju makes selective condemnations.
      However in this case even Kapil Sibal's views intrigue me. Is there any rivalry between him and Singhvi?

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  4. Uh oh, this comment form had not appeared when I first viewed the post and so posted mine on The Daily Hoot.

    Agree with Shekhar here. My comment is on similar lines too.

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    1. Thanks. I saw your comments in the hoot also. As regards the morality of the issue I agree with your observations. Regarding 'We the people', I was just commenting on the format viz. participation from people. If in execution, there is a bias the same needs to be condemned.

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  5. Hariharan Sir

    I totally agree with you. Social media cannot be controlled and any attempts to do so will take us back to the era of Indira Gandhi with the IB ministry acting as the propaganda ministry not unlike the one run by Joseph Goebbels for the Third Reich...

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  6. EXACTLY. how does the mainstream media behave?social media is no different. no need to crucify social media here

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  7. it is not media but the politicians who are above law.

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  8. A little token of my appreciation
    http://solitudesublime.blogspot.in/2012/05/happy-singh.html
    :)

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  9. Every wanna make a law for everything,,if we start from self. everything would be fine..

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  10. Social media is one of the places where unedited and uncensored news is available. One which does not curtail / hide true news. Hence, these things which cannot make it to mainstream media find their way onto Social media.

    As you rightly pointed out, rather than curbing social media, it's important to ensure these people don't indulge in acts which enrage people more.

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  11. Thanks Ms Chibber, Rohu, Ruchi and Vishal for your views.

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