Media - the Holy Cow

I saw a video in which Mr. Arnab Goswami said that "Media exposes corruption without seeking any benefits for itself" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlzkGrvqNv0)

"Media exposed CWG scam, 2G scam, Devas ISRO scam, Adarsh Kargil scam. We have fought against corruption we have taken risks and questioned politicians. We do it every night and we don't do it so that we can fight an election and become an MLA, MP or Chief Minister."

Prima facie it looks a good argument. There is no doubt that corruption scams highlighted by media have increased pressure on government to take action.

But There are some concerns:

1. Was 2G scam exposed by media?

The ground work was done by others most notably

• An NGO Telecom Watchdog files complaint to the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) on the illegalities in the spectrum allocation to Loop Telecom.(4 May 2009)
• Mr. Subramanian Swmay: HC refuses to direct the prime minister to decide on a complaint by Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy seeking sanction to prosecute Raja for his involvement in 2G scam. (18 August 2010)

Media highlighted it but appropriating all the credit for it?

2. Does media follow up scams?

It is obvious to all that  media moves on from one sensational news to another without tracking actions taken for their key story item of previous day.

CWG scam has seen no conviction.

3. Media selflessly exposes scam

It would take a stretch of imagination to assume media altruistically does it. A more reasonable explaination is "News is infotainment not just information in the cut throat competition" So media highlights scams to grab eyeballs.

It is as simple as that. But of course just like "Politicians are in politics for serving the country. Media is in business to save the country. No questions asked?" We understand. :)

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2G_spectrum_scam

http://beloved-brands.com/2012/09/22/does-the-sacred-cash-cow-still-exist/ (Cash cow image)