We Are The Same Everywhere...

In his blog, Seth Godin, has pointed out the following 12 points/traits that are commonly seen in Cable news shows in the US-

1. Focus on the urgent instead of the important.
2. Vivid emotions and the visuals that go with them as a selector for what's important.
3. Emphasis on noise over thoughtful analysis.
4. Unwillingness to reverse course and change one's mind.
5. Xenophobic and jingoistic reactions (fear of outsiders).
6. Defense of the status quo encouraged by an audience self-selected to be uniform.
7. Things become important merely because others have decided they are important.
8. Top down messaging encourages an echo chamber (agree with this edict or change the channel).
9. Ill-informed about history and this particular issue.
10. Confusing opinion with the truth.
11. Revising facts to fit a point of view.
12. Unwillingness to review past mistakes in light of history and use those to do better next time.

Indian readers going thru the above points will have a sense of Deja-vu. All these traits are currently seen in our Hindi News channels....Makes me wonder, whether we are the same everywhere. At least, the journalists and reporters working in these channels do share the same traits.....