Greg Chappell, India's newly appointed coach, is a worried man these days. He seems unable to come to terms with Indian media, who have lately projected him as a Tendulkar-baiter rivalling Wisden with their bogus top 100 innings.

The world's largest democracy has an overwhelming number of media outlets, all chaotically churning out, among other things, news catering to fans of its most popular sport: cricket.

But in this tsunami of news coming at them, fans would be hard-pressed to find a source that is consistently fair, accurate, or remotely loyal to the team. Here, we are particularly referring to the English-language media.

Chappell, who just a little earlier had the Indian media lapping up every word and eating out of the palm of his hand, found they were now biting the very same hand. Was this news, and had the media acted responsibly?

A crazy lack of logic and coherence is evident in articles about cricket in the pages of their most widely circulated media. They are directionless and unprincipled, looking to make a splash with sensationalized and irresponsible scoops.

There are hidden pearls to be found, but they are rare. Harsha Bhogle, the well-known commentator, is a journalist of consummate skill. Cricket legend Sunil Gavaskar, now the chairman of the technical arm of ICC, turns out insightful articles. The Hindu out of Chennai and The Telegraph from Kolkata are typically more reliable than the other media. But the majority of them need some elementary lessons.

Lack of Indian Perspective

Look at the sports media of any country, and by and large it will feel like you are reading something written by a member of their team. They will find things to be optimistic about: strengths of their team; weaknesses of their opposition; reasons to expect a better performance this time. They accentuate the positive and look for ways to play down the opposition. They encourage loyalty. They root for the home team, they rally the fans. Why else would you bother reading them?

With Indian journalists, it's the opposite. They will play down the chances of their own team, while playing up the opposition. If a player does poorly, they will enthusiastically rip into him. If he does well, they may exaggerate how well he did or look for factors out of his control to explain his performance. If our team wins, they may dwell on weaknesses, or short-sightedness, or lack of fight in the opposition. Whose side are these people really on?

Indian media likes to carry articles from western media, such as Reuters, AFP, etc, in their entirety. In so doing, they further their agenda, which is often in direct contrast to the interests of India.

Even when writing their own articles, Indian journalists will shamelessly ape their western counterparts. They will copy their phrases and accept their opinions as facts. Thus, Sachin Tendulkar is constantly described as the "little man", although it is difficult to find the equally diminutive past great Don Bradman referred to as a "little man" in either western or Indian media. Jagmohan Dalmiya or Sourav Ganguly are described in unflattering ways, much in the way that a BBC or Reuters article would portray them.

The tendency of English-language media in India to please outsiders is puzzling. They find it necessary to try to appear as "neutral" as possible. They feverishly scan foreign publications to find what they are saying about us, then generously allow their opinions to pervade our "news".

The content often includes western slang that means little or nothing to the Indian reader.

Perhaps the thing that rubs most fans the wrong way is the manner in which Indian media bashes our team. They are ruthlessly cynical and will adopt an unerringly negative interpretation of any performance. Rather than positively criticizing a poor performance in the context of being part of the team, they will take it to the cleaners with a joy and elan difficult to understand. In Australia, you can count on the vast majority of news outlets to back their team, spin things in a good light for the Aussies, and even bad-mouth the opposition. The attitude of Indian media is 180 degrees opposite.

Bias is not unknown in the media. But bias should be towards self! Indian journalists tend to denigrate their own, while placing others on a pedestal.

An extreme case of this is the foreign publication Cricinfo's unique spin: using a staff of cynical Indian writers to slam India.

Overboard

Our media is ever eager to sensationalize every act and every comment. They will exaggerate and generate controversies on the flimisiest evidence. Both positive and negative reactions are often overboard.

When a player underperforms or is out of form, few people will have a kind word for him. The media will try to exploit public disappointment by going to town on him, rather than projecting a mature perspective. In so doing, they display a woeful lack of responsibility. They will even go to the likes of Bedi, a crackpot with bizarre and unsupportive views on Indian cricket, simply for shock value.

Possible Reasons

What could possibly be the reasons for such irrational media coverage?

Lack of support and respect for the country's representatives can come from their lack of self-esteem, or their failure in professional life or career choices. It can come from jealousy of successful players putting on "airs", or of their high earnings. It may come from their own poor values.

English language media also like to ape westerners blindly. Opinion makers in India will copy from media in the west (the source of English); earlier they copied the style of the UK and now it is the Americans. This ingrained tendency of aping ideas and repeating them ad nauseum should be avoided at all costs. Words can be used as weapons, and we Indians have fallen into the trap of representing our own culture in words that reflect us negatively or inaccurately.

Manmohan Singh, India's PM, has noted this tendency and made the following suggestion to Indian journalists: "For India to be more meaningfully engaged with the world, we need an informed Indian view of world events and an Indian perspective on global trends."

Indian media is no more dishonest, incompetent or unprofessional than any other; but individually and collectively they simply don't have an Indian sensibility, perspective, or voice.

Our journalists and ex-players are reluctant to express an opinion on controversial events in which India is not involved. Thus, if Ricky Ponting comes under fire for using an aluminium-backed bat, or Flintoff appears to be chucking, or Murali is wrongly punished, our media and experts are completely silent on it. They lack an opinion. We fully accept others rights to comment on us, but find it difficult to comment on the acts of others or even compare it with our own acts that may have drawn penalties.

In addition, private owners of Indian media are short-term and bottom-line oriented. They will not invest in foreign desks or station reporters outside of India; instead they take the easy way out and use feeds from foreign news services or even editorials from foreign press and call it "news".

Basics

The quality of some articles is so poor that they often seem incomplete. There may be grammatical errors, or western slang used without a sound understanding of what it means.

Sometimes, articles don't have content supporting the headline. At other times, there is a lack of description and opinions, and an overabundance of dry numbers.

Our journalists often betray a lack of sufficient knowledge of the game. Analysis of the game can be immature. At times, even the presentation of essential raw facts is missing. The end result is an insult to the intelligence of readers that is almost offensive.

Solutions and Suggestions

It is incredibly important for Indian media to shed the western viewpoint. Think for yourself. Take pride in your country and your team.

They must take ownership of English as an Indian language. Use pithy new words, laden with meaning for us. That does not mean bad or lazy grammar. Make it taut and professional. Discard meaningless phrases.

Station journalists outside India, evaluate the games or situations there from an Indian point of view.

Dry and uninteresting style is a common problem in Indian articles. Their communication lacks verve. Ever hear a bus conductor or taxi driver bark shorthand at you? That's how journalists seem to communicate: in minimalist fashion, intended to get basic facts across.

Use Harsha Bhogle and Sunil Gavaskar and Rohit Brijnath as role models. Use imaginative and flowery language; employ impressive prose. It is not enough to merely provide bare facts. Impart meaning and context and depth. Speculate, but not nastily. Make your writeup a pleasure to read.

Quality is more important than quantity. Catching the eye with sensationalistic and misleading material is not journalism. Get people caught up with imaginative description and thoughtful opinion, not irresponsible speculation.

And in the end, always remember that you are representing India.

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