Journalists -- Are they crossing the limits?

Can somebody cover all the events in the World and make news out of them? What qualifies as news? What news are we interested in? Who should decide what is news to us? Media has become too powerful and pervasive to leave our lives untouched. 24-hour news reporting has certainly created clarifications/doubts in our minds about every single entity around us - be it family or society. Are they true impressions? Are they ephemeral since the next news is already a history by the time current one sinks in?

Consider the following definitions from Oxford Dictionary.

News :- Newly received, or noteworthy information, especially about recent events

Journalism :- The activity or profession of writing for newspapers or magazines or of broadcasting news on radio or television

In a nutshell, News is a noteworthy information and Journalists are people who present it. There is no mention in these definitions about what can be regarded as "NEWSworthy" and who should decide that. So, in principal, Journalists should deliver news in terms of plain facts and not in terms of assumptions or assessment. They should capture the latest factual happenings and pass on the same to us without being judgmental in any respect. As a receiver, it should be left to us to pass any verdict or not.

The reality is quite opposite though. More than the news bulletins, the News channels air the analysis/debate shows of some kind or the other. Each news channel declares its show, its analysis and its outcome as the best. Often, they give a hint that the similar proclamations by their competitors are useless. Arnab Goswamis, Barkha Duttas, Rajadeep Sirdesais of Indian news channels have long lived on the premise of fooling us into believing what they assess and presume to be true. Yes, I hate the conclusions they make for us.

While I was in college, I had programmed myself to watch the 8:45 pm News Bulletin on Doordarshan. There were no other news channels so the choice was easy. Now, I can listen/watch the same news in different Avatars on different channels many times in a day. Now, when I compare the quality of that 15 minute nutshell kind of news delivery to the incessant dissection of any news item, I thank the college authorities to not beam these atrocious channels of today during those times.

Everything is a news item these days. Anything can be dusted, polished, extra-coated, debated upon by self-proclaimed experts

and then declared good or bad with a classic looking, teary or hair-clenching adjudication. Sample this from last year's general election campaign.

Rahul Gandhi visits a Dalit home in a Uttar Pradesh village, eats and sleeps there.

The news channels, barring only a few which I missed keeping track of, showed this item 15 times a day, debated on it in a special programme with experts and pronounced the following.

He will swing Dalit votes towards Congress.

We all know what happened afterwards. The question is not about how did they arrive at the outcome but why this debate in the first place on a extremely stupid activity. Take another really stupid item to be debated on Prime Time National channels.

Sanjay Dutt gets a 14-day furlough from Yerwada Jail.

Why in the world are we concerned about Sanjay Dutt when there are many criminals with more ghastly crimes to their names sitting outside? The Newshour on Times Now devotes two episodes to debate this non-issue? Who cares about this discussion when at the same time something more serious like terrorist attack on Charlie Hebdo is in news?

Talking about Charlie Hebdo, what paucity of news items in today's 24-7 world forced them to use Prophet Mohammed in a cartoon? How many prints did they sell more, how many advertisements did they get extra, how many actually enjoyed that cartoon, and many more such ROI questions. I am more concerned about the bankruptcy of ideas than the freedom of expression. They unnecessarily provoked a mindless, insane faculty of people to do what they did. And how did Charlie Hebdo respond? Another Prophet cartoon on the front cover. Whole of the Muslim world is burning with protests, from Nigeria to Malaysia.

Regulations on what should be termed as news item for public consumption should be put in place now. Exactly what those regulations should be, I leave it to my readers to ponder till I can take the subject further.