Well we all know media loves sensationalism and that’s a very big survival strategy for them. The media rides on sensationalism and news that create sensation. It’s a jargon actually in the media, “A dog biting a man is no news however a Man biting a dog is news”. And in today’s competitive world with over a dozen odd news channel floating around on air, the competition for sensationalism and the race for being the first to grab the TRP horse by the neck, just got hotter.

And it is also a habit of the media to somehow cross link various happenings and give a different interpretation to it. Now with the recession setting in, TV Today Group, the one behind Headlines Today and Aajtak news channels, thought of doing a story on how “Recession affects those husbands who have to pay maintenance to their litigating wives.” Accordingly, the group correspondents contacted the Save Indian Family Foundation members in Bangalore and told them that the theme for the show was to project how husbands who are forced to pay maintenance to their estranged wives view recession affecting their situation.

As such, the recording was arranged and the bytes of the members were taken by TV Today Correspondent on the 16th Jan 2009 in Bangalore. The show was finally, after editing, aired on 18th Jan 2009, all day long on the Headlines Today channel. But it was a shocking disappointment for the interviewed members to see the way editing was done; the show worked against those poor husbands who had gathered spirits to speak before the media.

The TV Today group had voiced the views of a Women’s Rights Activist who quoted that men are making an excuse of recession to flee alimony / maintenance. She also told that men ditch their wives and then want to escape alimony / maintenance giving excuses like recession. Save Indian Family Foundation receives 250-300 weekly calls from men who are not only tortured by their wives but are also forced to pay maintenance to their estranged wives based on the false cases of dowry harassment and domestic violence that these disgruntled women file on their husbands. These extortionist wives enjoy the patronage and pamperment of radical women’s organizations, the Government, the laws, the judiciary and the biased anti-men media who want to squeeze every possible drop of sensationalism from the fulcrum of the family.

In wake of the above facts, the message that, “Wife-ditching husbands want to flee alimony citing recession” directly invalidates the pain and agony of those innocent husbands who are forced to pay maintenance just because their wives managed to shed a few tears in the courtroom. These innocent husbands are the real victims of misuse of women-centric biased anti-men marriage laws in India, also called Legal Terrorism and the way the show was aired it has made life more difficult for these husbands and will create more hatred for them in the society. The media needs to sensitize itself on these issues before being the forerunner in the race of sensationalism.

TV Today Group has committed a grave act of felony and breach of trust by not communicating the theme of the program truthfully to Save Indian Family Foundation. The NGO providing them with victims for their show and when they had an idea to showcase expert opinion on the matter then it was imperative, had they been professional in their approach, for them to take the experts’ opinion from Save Indian Family Foundation as well, which champions men’s causes. However TV Today Group chose to commit data theft on Save Indian Family Foundation. It has taken data from us and passed off its agenda on the carcass of the data.

The Group needs to realize that sensationalism and money is not everything. There is something called a basic sense of ethics, which stops one from getting sold in the market themselves. Or is it that the feminists, having spoken one after another lie about men, are now so afraid to debate with us on any issue that they have resorted to hijacking shows. We openly challenge any feminist to debate with us on any issue they want, provided they have the spirits to call a spade a spade and not resort to hijacking tactics.

This article is a note of caution to the readers before believing TV media people. They can stoop to any extent to get a ‘sensational news story’ and raising their TRP even by 0.01 points above their competitors. Now you know exactly how Aaj Tak Channel manages to gather the awards every year. After all the money they gather from the feminists, has to be spent somewhere.