There are people who criticize media for its coverage of events. They say media ignores real issues like poverty, price rise, illiteracy and unemployment and gives importance to trivia. Farmer suicides are ignored. Death of Dev Anand and retirement of Rahul Dravid get prominence.
Those critics do not know what news is. One person dying is news. Thousand persons dying is statistics. When farmers die every day it is not news. Terrorist strikes in Kashmir are not news. When Anna Hazare fasts it is news. Irom Sharmila fasting is not news.
People like Dev Anand do not die every day. Dev Anand was in the film industry for 65 years. His films have entertained a large section of people.
Cricketers like Rahul Dravid do not retire every day. He played Test cricket for 16 years. He had the record of highest Test catches. He was second in the number of Test runs.
The job of the media is to report. It is not the job of the media to do social service. However media should not glorify crime and criminals. It should not publish or air interviews of criminals.
Media reports did not stop starvation deaths. Same is the case with malnutrition, child marriages in some parts of India and other problems. Media can make some difference but cannot work wonders.