Media that runs after celebrities

At a condolence meeting held a fortnight later there were her former colleagues — some long retired, others still teaching. There were friends, relatives and students she had taught as far back as 1953. Everyone it seemed wanted to speak. The memories were varied but invariably about the same qualities. Speakers recalled her warm generosity, her honesty, her sense of fairplay and her sparkling integrity. There were anecdotes and stories about her eccentric but tremendous concern for others, her sense of humour and her openness to all points of view regardless of the age or the experience of the person in question. And everybody had something to say about the way she had influenced their lives and imbued them with a love for poetry. That Sunday I sat with four newspapers and a measuring tape and conducted a little exercise. And this is what I found: Of the nearly 20,000 square inches of editorial space available in leading publications on that day, 17 per cent was devoted to covering people. I did a littlemore arithmetic to determine who were the kinds of people deemed worthy of publicity. Film stars or personalities related to the cinema scored highest with 37 per cent of people space. While Bollywood stars featured prominently, just less than half the space was given over to their colleagues in the West. Thanks to the fact most readers of English language newspapers that Sunday would have known what actors like Winona Ryder and Meg Ryan had been up to in the previous week and also that Titanic star Kate Winslett had given birth to a bonny baby and was contemplating retirement for seven months from her acting career. Readers would have also had the good fortune of seeing what the young winner of the Mr. Grasim International 2000, Aryan Vaid, looked like and to finding out all about his exciting week.

They could have seen Malaika Arora dancing at the same contest, read about socialites watching a Polo contest or freaking out at an MTV party. They could have checked out what Shehnaz Treasurywala likes and dislikes and what Noyonika Chatterjee is all about. And they could have gasped in admiration as they witnessed Ritu Beri making her debut on the catwalks of Paris. With 28 per cent of people space being taken up by assorted models and socialites there wasn’t understandably much space left over for anyone else. Yet, politics managed to occupy a substantial segment (12 per cent). The stories though were far from political. Greetings and wishes sent to the ailing prime minister was one major story covered by some of the papers. Soli Sorabjee merited a profile for undergoing his knee operation. Chaggan Bhujbal’s birthday put him in the news while `sensuous sadhvi’ Uma Bharati’s rebellion cum romantic revelations landed her in the spotlight. And in view of her possible impact on the government perhaps someonehad done an astrological reading of Mamata Bannerjee’s future. There were a few people who did not fit into any of the above categories. They were: pop stars Falguni Pathak and Milkit Singh, an activist couple talking about their marriage, the maker of Kaun Banega Crorpati, Khushwant Singh, a banker turned `computer savant’ who features routinely in the Press, a classical musician and a fertility expert. A majority of the people covered were young. A very large number of people covered were beautiful. Almost every single person covered was a familiar name and face in that he or she had been featured not once but repeatedly in the media. And they will feature even more often — if that is possible — as `celebrities’ now become the focal point of all sorts of stories whether they are about social trends or lifestyle or even about politics.

It seems almost absurd to protest about the complete and utter trivialisation of the media when no reader/viewer seems to be complaining. Perhaps nobody minds. It seems odd to wonder why people of achievement live in anonymity and people of little talent are smothered with fame. It is a time perhaps for glamour and showbiz. And who am I to argue with public taste? But could we please, at least now stop asking that silly question: why are there no worthy role models in society today?

It seems absurd to protest about the complete trivialisation of the media