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What a News and Analysis!!!

Sanjay Dutt was released from Yerwada jail and every bit of detail regarding this was flowing on almost all news channels. I was casually going through few channels and got tired of the repeated coverage on all of them. However, one channel’s analysis on Dutt’s arrests and releases made me wait on that channel for sometime. And I was really surprised with the content quality, topic for analysis, and details covered in that news piece. I really pitied that channel, which probably struggled to get any fruitful news or anything that is actually news. I wonder what a correct definition of news is.

The news and analysis was something like, Sanjay Dutt’s arrests and releases, and the differences in his appearances at respective times. In 1993, when Dutt was released he was thin, with long hair, and he was greeting people with a ‘namaskaar’ pose. However, now in 2007 he was strong, well-built, with short hair, and a beard. Amazing news, and what an awesome comparative analysis. In 1993 he had people around him but in 2007 he walked out alone with a plastic bag in his hand. In 1993 he appeared tensed, worried, and frightened but now in 2007 he walked out strong and confident.

I kept wondering isn’t it quite natural for such changes to happen (thin to strong/broad, nervous to confident, hairy to bald, and so on) in a span of 15 years. What was so meaningful about all that information? Was it news at all? Sanjay Dutt released! Is a news ofcourse, but his physical/mental/emotional changes – do we really need to know all that. There is no control on what is shown to us, and it has become like – “public ko kuch bhi dikhao, bik jaata hai”

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