Electronic Meltdown

Electronic Meltdown

- Abhijit Das Gupta

We know about the economic meltdown. How many of our journalists have heard of Ms. Brooksley Born ? If they are not in the know – Why blame them? Blame the system? The media owners? The Politicians? The money makers?

A journalist is one who can read in-between lines and who has the nose for news. How many of our TV reporters now-a-days care to read the morning news papers? I asked many. The answers are shocking. I’ve heard even seniors remark that what is seen on TV in the evening before gets reported in the news papers the next day. Forget the juniors. The inevitable is happening. Instead of reporters, we are getting much too many meaningless bite collectors and opportunists. They either create alliances for getting political big brotherly push or get sucked into the whirlpool of an obscure dilemma where they need to pamper the big boss – day in and day out. They don’t have the time, inclination or patience to do some home work. So they do the simple task of asking the interviewer to speak. The owners consider the looks of the reporters, the ability to speak and the connections they have. After all, most owners are here for business only. How many really love TV ?

In this scenario, the outcome is predictable. The bubble will burst. Some day, some one will begin questioning. Some day, the answers will run out of steam. The locomotive will come to a grinding halt.

In the USA, one lady Brooksley Born stood alone – she protested – she was “shut up” and “shut down”. She did not hesitate to write her resignation letter to the President of the USA.

She had said “ The excuse that the economic meltdown we are undergoing was unpredictable is bullshit. The meltdown was inevitable. There were several intelligent and morally sound people sounding the alarm bells for decades. Unfortunately they were silenced because they threatened the "casino" profits. Those who did the silencing are culpable and should...