Goa - the media’s latest spoon

Over the times I have observed that Goa is never short of an issue. From the time of Liberation Goa has amply satisfied the media to grow to an extent that in a populace of over 15 lakh we have four English dailies with the latest one of them with a national presence, one Konkani Devnagari newspaper, a marathi publication, and a few weeklies. Add to that the growing local television channels ( without any standard though) and the news bulletins of aspiring TV journalists on cable TV and one wonders whether Goa has too much on its plate.

However one must say there is no dearth of news nowadays in Goa. National television in days gone by used to ignore Goa and its news was considered inconsequential, often not worth reporting at the national level. And so while we pulled our ears and widened our eyes in front of some tired looking Doordarshan news readers of yesteryears, we never heard Goan news popping out of their mouth barring the occasional shower of a goan holiday.

However now there seems to be news aplenty. Goa seems to be in the thick of things that drives television channels here almost on a weekly basis. While our politicians are always engaged in a rampaging circus to catch attention of the sleepiest joe’s, their children and their closest foes and their advocates seem to have joined the bandwagon.So mysterious foreigner murders, hefty drug trades, sleazy sex stories etc in Goa, have caught the imagination of people all over the world . The media has added the much wanted spice to what was earlier the mere Goan gossip wheel. Add to that Draconian regional megaprojects, under hand SEZ deals, stormy gram sabhas and essentially the vigilant Goan has been feeding the news reels with requisite masala to prove that the news quotient from Goa is indeed positioning itself in terms of value.

One only hopes that this media interest is indeed in the interest of Goa. One must however acknowledge that during the opposition to the regional plan 2011, the coverage given by a couple of news channels did help to exert that extra pressure on our” Babus” to roll back their nefarious plan.

Here’s hoping that the media is indeed proactive with the cause of Goa and Goans.

Xittuk Goencar