Commentary: The Return of Yellow Journalism

Is the Koodathai case the first criminal case the state has ever witnessed? The way some media houses have handled the case is what that has triggered the aforesaid question.

Certainly, the state has witnessed several criminal cases in the past, especially of the same nature. Then, what is special this time? Why this case has attained much more media attention than what it actually deserves?

The answer hides beneath the present political climate of the state. The state is about to witness a crucial election in few days. The coming election has the potential to influence the next Assembly Election in the state, which is likely to take place within two years.

For the last few days, all the media hours in the state, especially the broadcast media houses, have been expensively covering the crime.

What the extensive coverage of the crime has reduced is the space for the covering of the social discussions on the upcoming election.

That fact gives an impression that something, somewhere, is wrong. It is felt that someone wants the social discussions on the election stay submerged under the crime story.

This is not the first time a crime story has been used to divert the people of the state from the actual politics.

The same happened during the previous State Assembly Election, with the infamous Solar Scam.

It may be for the rating purpose. But, what the media houses do is mocking.

What it shows is the slow return of the yellow journalism. This time, the only difference is that the return is through the television broadcast platform of the state.

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