Tiger of the Woods..An exaggeration?

Exaggeration sells and the media knows it. So to hell with "Responsible Journalism" or even reporting ethics. Tehelka was "Investigative Journalism" not the Liberhan report expose and subsequent name-calling. The sugarcane price rise somehow seemed a bigger issue to be addressed than a report over thirteen years overdue and in effect nothing more than a piece of paper. The associated costs of that report (over 8 crores of tax payer's money) and its beneficiaries seems a much better topic for discussion. Farewell newspapers and magazines...welcome tabloids.

It is alright to record a live footing of a girl being humiliated and paraded in broad daylight in Patna & doing nothing to rectify it. It is alright for the media to point fingers at the late-comers, namely - The Police. It is alright for the media to air that same video over and over again on mass-media for hours on end. It is alright to bemoan the burning of priceless tapestries when an entire city is under siege. It is alright as long as the collective opinion of a public debate is exactly that of its renowned host. The media is the king. Jai Ho!

With all the tamasha over Tiger Wood's morals or the lack thereof, I kept waiting for at least one article somewhere with a humane approach. From the actual count of Tiger's mistresses, to what Elin could get out of it, to Tiger's continuing relationships, to the loss of his endorsements, to the best divorce lawyers in the country, everything was covered. The only thing left out, was the impact on the Wood's kids. The trauma for a three-year-old and a ten-month-old over losing a parent and the news being splashed all over the place was happily overlooked. It is not tabloid, hence, doesn't sell. No doubt the media will find the best shrinks for these babies when the time is right.

Under what category of 'Maslow's needs' do we classify "Tiger's Itch"? Whether or not he clears the murky waters of multiple relationships, this Tiger certainly seems better suited in the Woods. To Tiger, I have nothing to say. What compels successful men and women at the top of their careers to commit professional suicide, I am yet to find out. But in a recent article of a well known Indian daily, a journalist supposedly asked a serious question. It made even a completely uncaring person like me, fume. The question was, "Do a few transgressions mean that one loves his family any less?". Well DUH!

The question is not about the respective differences of cultures or civilizations. The question is about right or wrong. There are certain generally accepted notions of right values and moral conduct, which hold good irrespective of which part of the globe we live in. I doubt if anyone would have asked this question if Elin had been the one to slip up. So my dear brothers and sisters of the media world, go back to doing what you do best - Exaggerate - and spare us the horror of your questioning the middle-class-morality.