Poor Journalism will MURDER the Right to Freedom of Expression

there are days when i can watch tv for 10 hrs straight. they are called weekends. last time, i did something like that on a weekday was 26/11 when i was totally glued to the tv set. couple of weeks back, when 13/7 happened, i didnt switch on my tv in the evening. or to catch the late nite update. i didnt watch the TV in the morning either. i followed the whole thing on twitter and avoided everything in the english electronic news space that irks me.
yes, i am bothered by my insensitivity. there is a certain guilt associated with a sense of auto-pilot that took over when i heard abt the blast. quick sms to family n friends, share important numbers, and get on with life. a lot has been said abt the getting back to work and spirit and how no politicians are killed in bomb blasts and flying diamonds and insurance claims and of course, the human interest stories.
in retrospect, among many things responsible for my indifference to news the top reason is poor journalism. not just from earlier attacks, but even the day to day news reporting leaves a lot to be desired. the level of news and its treatment is well below mediocre. anyway, my universe for electronic news is the three english news channels, which have their own brand of journalism and identity in treatment of news. i dont know why i dont follow hindi news channels, but i think the name Prince has something to do with it.
poor journalism is a creation of our own greed. to state the obvious, the pressure to run a 24hr news channel is obviously showing on all the news channels. there isnt enough content at a national, international and regional level. fresh out of mass comm instt and desperate to get screen time, the young reporters are not adequately trained or educated nor equipped to handle the news in a mature manner. the emphasis on reporting is so low and on giving an opinion is so strong that the bloody news is lost.
the pressure is back on the news room. the anchor, usually a senior person, and the supervisor, must truly understand what exactly is the news from the blabber. yes, updates are welcome, but thats what the ticker is for!!
a friend went on a junket to europe and discovered that he was the youngest reporter there. apparently in the west, a college grad would travel the world, take a stringer assignment, do a course, work in the newsroom for couple of years and then get to do some research on a story that a reporter / correspondent is working on. it usually takes a decade to get your own thing. it could be a factor of low population there, but in our booming population and ever more blossoming media industry, we end up putting raw kids out in the zone who have grown up seeing some sort of distorted and sensationalist reporting of late 90s till now. and thinking thats the gospel, and believing that imitation is best form of flattery, they continue that same vile brand of poor journalism.
i am not saying we must follow the west. but we need to (a) hire the right people with maturity, world view and sense of responsibility; (b) incubate them and train them for a sufficient amount of time in the newsroom, so they get the just-out-of-masscomm-to-set-the-world-right steam off; (c) look at features content on news channels so that "breaking news" genuinely is taken seriously; and (d) pls pls pls not speak english like they speak in hindi news channels, with wrong pauses and unnecessary emphasis?
there are many things i would like to say abt the night shows too - but now i look at them more as substitutes to the soaps and in-betweens in commercial breaks.
i will go to doordarshan news soon. have fond memories of the night transmissions where the newsreaders were sober and sensible.
you know, after a killer day, i dont want to watch some anchor pouncing at some guest on the show and raising the blood pressure of the nation.