Our country is desperately short of commentators on all the areas that a developing nation should worry about - governance, law and order, economics, finance, etc. Most of the commentators on these topics i.e. those belonging to the media, generally lack a deep expertise in a field and hence, the public should be wary of their opinions.
The need for quality commentators can be felt most when critical issues arise that work towards making or breaking the Government. Let us consider the case when recently India faced the monster of Inflation which kept rising steadily to over 11%. In general, an Inflation over 4% signals a trouble for the Government. The UPA very wisely refrained from making any quick fix solutions to the economy that would cost us dear in the long term. But, the media and the opposition found fault in this approach. Most economists expressed that the Government was right, but there were 100 "Government is wrong" reports for every 1 "Government is right" report, simply because reporters outnumber the established commentators on economy by a huge margin.
If one were to browse some of the media reports, especially on channels like AAJ TAK, INDIA TV, etc. one would have been shocked at the apathy of the Government towards the aam aadmi. I sympathize with people who spend time watching such channels and I can't stop wondering how these channels get away with this. The impact of such channels, sadly, is to estrange the common man from the real economics of the issue and rationale behind the inaction of the Government, and this is just an example.
Non-expert reports find a way to the common man only because there is a lack of sound commentators on the subject. If thousands of Kiran Bedi's were available for comment on any and every act of the law enforcing agencies, would any newspaper/TV channel care to publish the thought of a reporter who is not an expert in the field? If every ex-Finance Minister of India (alive ofcourse) would comment on the quality of the budget presented, wouldn't the country stand to get a more balanced view?
If the real experts came out and discussed the 123 agreement in front of the common man, translating it into terms he can understand, the opposition does not have a chance to simply brandish it as anti-India and sway the minds of the common man. If sound commentators on good governance are in plenty, they can criticize the Government for each mistake and applaud it for each goal it scores. This would be of better use to the common man rather than an opposition party or a media reporter whose sole task is to criticize the Government, irrespective of a goal missed or a goal scored.
The point is not to take the word of these experts on face value, the point is that experts tend to explain the rationale behind their thoughts using the premise of sound logic, which can be easily proved or disproved. An expert worth his salt, will not risk his reputation to criticize something he does not believe in. Such an expert should consider playing the role of a commentator as a service to the society.
Until the time my country churns out enough commentators, each one of us should at least try and build a habit of questioning any and every comment made by any and everyone - i.e. test the logical basis of each argument before deciding anything. Remember, these decision help shape your opinion about people and Governments, and eventually these opinions go a long way in choosing the people who will rule us!
I dream of a day when no reporter would have the freedom to comment on areas in which he does not hold expertise - simply because an expert will just be a blog away for anyone who wants to know the truth!
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