Media critics fall over each to deliver a slap on the wrists ofThe Times of India for dumbing down Indian journalism with its accent on all things frivolous. In the process, ToI’s otherwise self-righteous competitors who are guilty of the same sins get away.
Santosh Desai in the latest Tehelka ensures they don’t:
“The arc of descent followed by media is a feathered one. Hindustan Times pulled out all stops for its Mystique of Luxury conference where people with French names come and talk about things no one buys. This is promoted editorially and otherwise. On the day of the event, HT ran a double page spread while Mint devoted an entire issue to this burning issue. Interestingly, the journalists themselves seemed less than enthusiastic about the whole thing.
“Priya Ramani’s editorial gave every possible reason why no one in the world was interested in the rich, before weakly recanting herself in the last paragraph. Renuka Narayan’s piece equated luxury with time and thus skirted the whole issue. Vir Sanghvi argued that luxury equals bags (of the Louis Vuitton variety) because rich people are fat and can’t wear designer clothes so they splurge on bags instead.
“Couldn’t agree more. We have clearly come a long way when newspapers take up the task of actively hawking things that no one really needs. Congratulations, Hindustan Times, you tireless crusader for absurdly priced things!”
Read the full column: If you can’t sell it, contact the editor
IJR 