On 26 April, HT city carried a diatribe against Virendra Sehwag (in a slot reserved for features) for keeping the media out of his wedding reception and other celebrations.
The article started off by saying boys in blue own something to their fans and the media. Shouldn`t that mean playing better and winning more matches than letting them peep into private celebrations? It also suggested that the players were making a mistake by giving more importance to corporate sponsors than the media because the sponsors would drop them like hot potatoes if they were not in the team. And there were snide remarks against particular people, which had a whiff of some personal grudge.
Titled "Running Down the Media isn’t Quite Cricket" the article indulged in some snivelling about the Press being "cordoned off in a room outside his reception" for high tea. Most journalists decided to forego the refreshments as a mark of protest, it continued. Protest against what? Do celebrities now have to invited the media en masse to their wedding receptions?
Rahul Dravid also kept the media out of his wedding and just gave one photo op. Sehwag even agreed to a press conference (at which both he and his bride appeared extremely uncomfortable with questions like what do you like most about each other). So what was HT City`s outrage about?
Surely it can`t be the media`s case that it has an inalienable right to intrude on people`s private moments. And instead of blasting Sehwag for "stretching the envelope of privacy too far", shouldn`t the media decide not to stretch the envelope of celebrity coverage too far? Do we really want to nurture the Western tabloid culture here?
Seetha Parthasarathy
New Delhi
April 27, 2004