A Facebook post was made by a man named Barun Kashyap who claimed that he was harassed by cow protectors in Mumbai. The mention of cow and protectors in one sentence made the eager beaver journalists in the mainstream media lap it all up.
They made stories with several sentences of outrage, liberally used, to drive home the point that India is an intolerant nation that harasses people for the cow.
The post has been deleted but we took the screenshot. Here you can read it:
And soon the outrage began:
This boy who was targeted, Barun, is a friend and colleague. The gentlest, most soft spoken kid. This is shocking! https://t.co/UwupHSwOeD
— Raghu Ram (@tweetfromRaghu) August 21, 2016
The problem with the story is that first, any random post made by anyone can be lapped up by the mainstream media, provided it suits their own ideology.
The 4th pillar of our democracy has gone rogue.There is no accountability, no shame.
SM can only expose the lies.Who's going to take action?— Smita Barooah (@smitabarooah) August 21, 2016
Secondly, why is media trying to prove that the cow protectionism is spreading based on a Facebook post by a random guy?
This story of a man being harassed by an auto driver and his ‘smoking under the tree but cow lover’ friends is making its way splashed across different newspapers without any checks, is what makes the issue problematic. Could it be fake? Could it be a case of sour customer-driver experience? Yes, it can be any of this too, but then media will not even think on these points.
The fact that the high and mighty in the media have neither apologized nor taken down the story on this alleged cow vigilantism shows the utter disrespect that they have towards the readers to whom they promise to serve without any bias.
Ok, I am told both @htTweets and @timesofindia ran stories based on this. Congratulations! pic.twitter.com/jJb3fcfs7z
— কাঞ্চন গুপ্ত (@KanchanGupta) August 21, 2016
Cow story helps in branding India ‘intolerant?’
In short, the readers today are actually made to read personal narratives of people of a specific ideology as ‘news.’ That these people may have a specific ideology or an agenda to boost does not make anyone worry in the media. And why should it be worried? The mainstream media is the big daddy who cannot either be held responsible or be asked to be cautious while reporting because then this would be shown as an attack on the fourth pillar of the democracy, again, in an ‘intolerant’ India!
That, in a hurry to get more views, mainstream media is selling to us unchecked stories to build an atmosphere that is making our society feel disenchanted, suspicious, and stifled, is being conveniently forgotten.
It is not wrong to state that it is the mainstream media which is responsible for making people lose their faith in journalists by bringing half-baked stories with no head and tail like the cow vigilante one.
However, for a change, we must demand that the government of Maharashtra should investigate the cow vigilantism story now as the reputation of its hardworking auto drivers and also the state is at stake.
We must also demand that the mainstream media stop abusing its power if it wants to stay relevant because in the age of social media, in any case, people have little patience with those who cannot provide them with unbiased facts and reporting.
This cow vigilante story should become a pivotal point and media must refrain from peddling personal narratives without ensuring whether the story is true or not. In the age of breaking news, perhaps our mainstream media should consider slowing down. It will help.
