Blasted By News...
What's up with online news? Here are some of today's news headlines:
- PM visits train station where Gandhigiri began: (courtesy Rediff, where crazy discussions take place)
Gandhigiri??? I mean, that word is all right (I guess,) in things (can't call it news, right) like "What works? Dadagiri or Gandhigiri?" . I mean, this is The Place where The History started, not a place where a movie was shot...
Nothing against Munnabhai, that's a great movie, and containing for a change a good message (not to mention good songs). But when we are talking about a state visit to a place with historical importance on the world stage, shouldn't we be talking about Gandhism at least?
Why don't they just go ahead and call it "Gandhigardi" like "Gundagardi"? That would at least be very western-friendly (which is supposedly new trend in Bollywood). They don't pronounce the H in his name anyways. It will be easy to tell them to change the syllables in gundagardi, way easy to pronounce, right?
And the header on the news page reads, "PM at the place where Gandhi was pushed out". Gandhi was pushed out? Of What? From Where?
Are all English graduates at Rediff on a holiday, or are they trying to save some money stinting on reporter staff? - Dino Morea hasn’t achieved much: (courtesy Indiatimes Movies, yes I read it sometimes when I need a good laugh)
It's a fashion now-a-days to bash Indiatimes. But on this, I must give some credit to them on two points.
First: The headline is understated, and rouses people's interest in the news item (well, at least people like me, who want to see what this was about).
Second: This was a news to me, I thought that Dino Moria hasn't achieved anything in Bollywood. I mean, just name three of his movies for me please...
On the positive note, next part of W.O.M.B.A.T. is up you-know-where. Go and get yourself graded....
10 comments:
I agree. It happens.
You are talking about incomplete headlines? Even the complete ones are no better.
Y'day there were news "The Long & Short of it" & "No Lip Service", both appearing on same page. What do you say about that?
The first one is an article on sleeves in fashion & the other one abt an actress refusing to do kissing scenes.
"Monica Bedi gets 5 years for using fake passport".
Well, though it's crystal clear but after reading abv news, for a moment I thought she has been granted 5 years to use a faked one!! (earlier she was denied permission to travel).
Off topic.. now your blog doesn't show which of your linked blogs are updated?
@Cuckoo: Those headlines were funny. "No Lip Service"?? Those are definitely worth 5% of curious readers clicking on the link, but still...
5 years to use fake passport? I thought they were testing which countries it would pass ;)
News headlines are certainly crazy these days, at least online. They don't just readers on their sites, they want the people to click on headlines, so all these surprise, spin tactics I guess. They make a good change (and a good read) if used properly.
And as I said, unfortunately, blogrolling has some logic of their own which they use to show stars. :(( It's misleading, thank god Google Reader is back to normal in a better form.
I agree with you on the Gandhi'giri' one.. agreed that th term has been made popular.. but the appropriate terms should be use at times when required..
As you pointed out. That was a place which is an imp part of Hstory.. and no MOvie Studio..
Regd the Headlines - incomplete and hard to fathom - i guess they are made to do so..
i dont know abt anyone but i would love to atleast start reading what is the Long and Short.. its a different matter whether it is of my interest or not.. but it has caught my attention..
Blogrolling: it is showing ur main blog (i like the new look of it btw) as being updated where as ur talons were!!!
google reader is a nice alternative.. but u see these softwares - cant trust them.. ;) (this coming from a soft engg)
@Sid: True, the news item needs a bit more reverence, which was why I was peeved. I have found online news headlines are designed more for their potential to get people to click on them, than conventional headlines.
I don't know about blogrolling. Cuckoo's blog is not shown updated at all, dunno why...
And Google Reader saves me a lot of blog hopping, to see which ones are updated. But true, can't depend on softwares, they are created by humans ;)
"Gundagardi" is hindi word, which means acting like a "gunda", a thug or hired tough.
And these two articles were not in online news (I avoid reading them for obvious reasons). They appeared in Mumbai Mirror and I also excitedly peeped in to see what they were about ;)
After all, the headings were so inviting. ;)
@Cuckoo: Oh, online news are not so bad, they produce some gems (like and unlike abovement.) sometimes, you know.
Yes, the headlines are designed for that, they invite attention. Who wouldn't want to know why they are saying "No Lip Service", if accompanied by a photograph of the actress? Must say that was a nice play on words ;)
Hi,
Nice blog!
Why don’t you consider writing about some of the new “India 2.0” sites that are creating a little buzz as well?
Eg: www.ilaaka.com
www.onyomo.com
Thanks!
Rajeev
@Rajeev: Thanks for the comments... will surely look for the sites you mentioned.
And I won't mind writing for any sites, if they can afford to post it without getting a serious dent in their readership ;)
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