This from the DNA in “Why are we comfortably numb in a violent decade?” on violence in media and on whether it numbs us.
It starts with a ‘quote’
‘Violence repels us but violence also attracts us;
Violence alarms us but violence also entertains us;
Violence destroys us but violence also protects us.’The above lines are taken from a report by the World Council of Journalism and epitomise the times we live in today.
Guess what, the World Council of Journalism doesn’t exist, except in an article by the DNA. What made me google it – well, something about ‘council’ set off my alarm bells. Councils govern. and no self respecting journalist ought to be a member of a council. An association yes, a club yes. a council …. i seriously don’t know.
So I googled the quote – the bit on violence attracting & entertaining. there is one source for the entire quote – A Book called “Art therapy and Political Violence” and the quote is attributed to the World Council of Churches.
It is possible that the World Council of Journalism exists in a ramshackled old shed somewhere and doesn’t have an online presence. In which case, I apologise. But, i have this terrible feeling that a source has been manufactured and not very intelligently.
The piece contains other gems such as:
Even music, the medium of Beethoven and Chaurasia has mot been spared the lyrics of bloody mayhem. Genres like death metal, and to an extent hip hop have used violence to lure the youth to their corners.
Ahem, music is not a medium. sound is. air waves are. radio is. music is an art form.
God! Too much of cooking up?
-Nikhil
That was quite shocking, actually! Raises alarms in our minds about how credible the news that we really hear is.. 🙁
That was quite shocking, actually! Raises alarms in our minds about how credible the news that we hear is..
Just a small note to say…you are absolutely right…it was a big blunder on my part as one of the journalists who wrote the pice..not to have mixed up with the two…..it is indeed world council of churches…
Believe me, nothing else in the article is cooked up….and I am sorry if you got that feeling.
You moron, you obviously aren’t a writer or a ‘journalist’. When the writer wrote about music as medium, he/she was reffering to a medium of communication; not the medium you’re referring to, you half-wit.
I have no love for journalists, but what I hate more is you effing dumb asses, with the intellect of a gnat, trying to one-up them from the basements of your parent’s homes. Good call on the council though. Kudos.
@joanna – glad to hear it.
@ moonbark – thank you. being a journalist doesn’t mean that you are incorrect about basic. if you read the line there is a confusion between medium, genre and content.
and seriously, how many indian homes have you seen with basements 🙂 atleast get your metaphors right 🙂
this post’s comments section is sure exposing some suppressed violence 🙂
@ joanna – the longer answer 🙂 .
firstly, welcome to this blog. sorry it had to be under such circumstances.
secondly, this is not personal.
thirdly, there are a whole bunch of people in a paper who are supposed to check this sort of stuff, – they are called editors 🙂 – using instinct rather than a spell or a grammar check :). so don’t take the onus of the blame just on yourself.
and lastly – i believe in good, independent media, and good journalism. a journalist has to be like ceaser’s wife – above suspicion. What you (and i mean all journalists) write, i need to be able to take as something that is as close to the truth as possible. It becomes difficult when stuff like this happens.
best wishes
harini
@nikhil – 🙂
@amruta that is unfortunately the problem 🙁
@ anu – truly 🙂
The contents of your post did not surprise me the cynic that I am, but Joanna owning up her mistake, sure did!
There is some hope after all! 🙂
I know one journalist, who surely makes it up and is honest about admitting it. Visit his blog at http://www.fakingnews.com
@ rada – completely. nice to see someone with courage….
Harini:
Good call. I read everything with ‘caveat emptor’ lights on. Calling people out on ‘facts’ misrepresented, misattributed and misquoted however has not made me any friends 🙂 Joanna at least is honest enough to admit her mistake here. Most simply get thuggish. Treating their blogs like their empires like you had put it once in a comment (that of course has stayed with me). Beauty and knowledge may be skin-deep but ugliness (like in violence) and ignorance are deep-rooted.
The disease is widespread though, not just a monopoly of Indian media. Kalafudra recently called out an art critic suggesting that Che in Evita is Che Guevara and somehow Evita had an affair with him. Now that is an error of context, of interpretation, not just of citation. Alas many editors are just sub-editors and if you write an article that seems (!) free of grammatical errors to them, it goes into print. This is caveat lector.