Tuesday, September 16, 2008

The murky depths of injured egos

I 'had' a lot of respect for Markha Butt. A respected TV Journalists with a fan following that rivaled that of some film stars. But it’s been a long time since a Kargil or an Earthquake. Photo ops are getting rarer and the lady is getting older. For someone who made a name as a field journalist, reporting news from dangerous terrains and conditions, the newsroom doesn't give her the mileage that a bunker on the border did in the past. The lady is getting fat and past glories are getting dimmer. The pleasant smile is a little tight and the lady showed a short fuse when a blogger reportedly wrote about her personal life. The result? A stung Markha decided to take the blogging community head on. Her program titled “Should blogs be regulated?” was perhaps the stupidest programs she made in her life. The program exposed her intent and quite surprisingly, the people she had handpicked to appear on the program, debunked her hysteria leaving her looking like a fool. Watch the program and see how see hops from expert to expert for support, only to be left bereft and exposed as a hysterical woman in need of a strong tranquilizer.

The forced smile and condescending laughter and nervous movements were too tale telling. This was a vendetta program! And for a vendetta program, she played her cards all wrong. Right from the experts she picked, who turned out to be very mature and level headed and well informed, to her constant and persistent attempt to elicit some kind of damning comment on bloggers left her agenda exposed! What a come down for a reporter of her repute!!

As an experienced journalist she should have waited to cool down before she launched her tirade against bloggers. Acting on the spur of the moment has its consequences. And I don’t need to spell it out. We have all learned these lessons during our teen years. Impulsiveness is best left out of the camera eye unless you are planning on committing a national faux pas. I guess her record and standing as a reputed journalist must have prevented the program from scrutiny before airing. Because no news channel worth the mention would allow such a program to go on air! I am surprised the blogging community missed this. Or perhaps that’s what they think of Markha Dutt, as an also ran not worth bothering about.

As a public persona, Markha has to get used to the public having their opinions about her. She has to get used to being written, discussed, dissed or praised. After all film stars go through it every single minute of the day. You don’t see them asking for regulation of film magazines do you!! And suggesting regulation on a medium for something as harmless a gossip, shows that the lady has been stung badly. What is pathetic is that she gave credibility to the rumors with her back lash! Sad!

But then programs like these can have repercussions in the future. The government that is trigger friendly when it comes to shooting down liberties that anyone with a couple of slogan shouting demonstrators ask for, can turn the clamps on bloggers and then many bloggers will have to shut shop, because everything and everything we write will be hauled to the courts, when threats disguised as comments don’t work!

Full video is here!

26 comments:

Sriram said...

First comment.. will read the post presently :)

Sriram said...

I hate these rapid-fire speaking journalists and reporters! If anyone's gonna moderate blogs, boy they're gonna be shot through the bottom. enough said :D

mathew said...

I dont think the blogging community missed it..but then it was obvious hogwash on her side and didnt make sense at all..I used to admire her a lot until that show which i saw online..She made a poor loser out there..

mathew said...

If I remember right all the attendees of the show themselves had lashed out against her after the show in their blogs..But the good thing is that blogs are here to stay!:-)

Deepti said...

She has definitely lost her charm.Intially her journalism looked so fresh, now she appears forced and rather narcissist. Her recent coverage of the Delhi blasts looked like she wished she was back in Kargil . The blogger based show was so lame , that I am sure I could see the bloggers sniggering on her face with a " I told you so grin" :D

Philip said...

Haven't yet watched that video, so I won't comment on that. But if she really wants blogs to be regulated, I have only two words to describe it - immature and juvenile (ok, make it 3 words).

I mean, if you were to replace the word 'blog' with 'news channels' or 'books' these people would be the first to cry out in protest. What makes the case of blogs any different?

silverine said...

Sriram: She is just hitting out, using her position to take personal vendetta! So I don't see a threat to us in the near future! :)

Mathew: Well I didn't see much hoo haa. I myself read some discussions...I think it was because she saved her face by saying that she will reply to rumors and slanders by starting her own blog. She was thoroughly outwitted in this program! :p

Deepti: True! Did you notice something about this show? It was like a bunch of adults trying to convince a kid standing on a chair on spotting a mouse to come down. It wasn't a discussion at all but more like people trying to allay her fears and refuting her allegations! What a farce of a program!

Philip: Immature and juvenile aptly sums up this whole exercise.

The one who has loved and lost said...

Everything that I wanted to say was covered mostly in your post and then completely in the comments ..

PS: A girl friend was at my place when I was watching this video... she was a big fan of Markha Butt.. And then half way through the program she is like "Why is she forcing the people to say what she wants.. I don't think I want to be like her"..:-)
That summed up the show for me.

thomas said...

Hehe, I can't believe she acted so stupid. Well, I wasn't a fan of her though.
P.S. I have only DD at home now, so I don't keep track of these things.
P.P.S. I'm a fan of Karan Thapar though. (Some people might lambaste me for saying this).
:)

Unknown said...

as one member of her studio audience said, "making a mountain out of a molehill"..

Rajesh Mohan said...

I never felt so when I had watched the show. But after reading your blog and watching it, yes, I did feel she was kind of prejudiced and her view on the topic was obvious. She should've taken a neutral stand, trying to get different views from the participants.

On one of the other shows I remember seeing her tell N.Ram that "The Hindu" was a "boring" newspaper. She had that contemptuous smile on her face.
That says it all.

Deepti said...

Actually I read some of the people she interviewed and she was trying to portray that many single women blogs are read because they write about their social lives and thats so not true. It just showed the world how insecure she is :)

scorpiogenius said...

well, why take all these things seriously anyway? There are more losers around us screaming more nonsense...Just because Markha told this doesnt make the blunder reasonable.

silverine said...

layman; Even she noticed it!! I guess it is very obvious that this was nothing but witch hunting!

tom: Karan is good I admit, though I hate his put on accent!

Jackson: Yep! Thats what it was, but then she is taken seriously by some!

Rajesh: The audacity!!! The Hindu is perhaps the only newspaper that has credibility! She is getting too big for her boots!!

Deepti: You are right. She was dissing blogs and bloggers!

Scorpiogenius: If I didn't take her seriously I wouldn't blog about it. Isn't why we all blog? So that we can voice our concerns! We cannot ignore, people of her repute. She can change policy decisions! Thank god for the participants who saved the day for us bloggers, or it could have become a national debate!

Praveen said...

Another one bites the dust. I had the highest regard for this lady until now. I din't hear about this program before reading this blog. Dint know she could stoop to such levels.

BTW, have u got the link of the blog on which comments against her appeared?

scorpiogenius said...

Bingo...I wasn't contradicting YOU..:), just opined in a general tone for all the comments..:)

Renu said...

I beg to differ partly.Blogs are an outlet for voicing opinions. true we have a democracy and freedom of speech, but freedom with itslef brings lot of respnsibilities also, as a responsible blogger we must voice the opinions and nobody wud be angry, but we must not have any agenda about maligninging anybody. If we are writing about third person, we must be decent and write only what is authentic, no rumours.

Anonymous said...

I think she played her cards well.. She is not dumb.. the discussion proceeded the way she wanted to.. Of course she cant convince the world to put regulations on blogs, which destroys its entire purpose.. But in the end, she conveyed her purpose - that the allegations against her are false, with her stance on the issue.

silverine said...

Praveen: Unfortunately I didn't bookmark the links!

Scorpiogenius: I've had two good friends stopping blogging because of comments like "whats the point in writing this". So I am touchy and grouchy about that right now. :)

Renu: How do we decide what is responsible blogging/writing and what is not. It is open to people's interpretations. What may be right for you will be wrong for others. So celebrities like her need to chill and accept criticisms, gossips etc since they are in the public eye. Thanks for the input!

Rosh: You are right! And that is what I was trying to say, that she exposed her intent. But I don't know to what extent people believed her! Thanks for dropping by :)

ritu.. said...

marka ??? i thought her name was barkha Dutt??

The one who has loved and lost said...

@ritu - :-)
Heard of Sanmohan Mingh?? Gaurav Sanguly?
Kalman Shan?

or for that matter

vilserine? :-D

silverine said...

Ritu: That was to avoid any repercussions like "Should Silverine be Banned" on NDTV!

the layman: LOL!! And thanks! ;)

ritu.. said...

Opps that was amazing... good job :)

kochuthresiamma p .j said...

hey come on. i think u r over reacting.
I could see only a little bit on u tube, and thought she was her usual self.
she has moved up v high in her organisation-hence not so visible - like p roy etc

kochuthresiamma p .j said...

@ tom
watch k Tharpar's latest Devil's Advocate Prog. Kapil sibbal outsmarted him completely

N!$#@N^# said...

Markha "Butt" thats a "down" to earht name... :) nice post..