The Media & the Moolah

Now that the Indian batsmen are flopping in a way that John Kerry would be partly proud of, the media has decided to get their knives out. Last week, prominent newspapers and TV channels pulled out calculations to see how many runs the big batsmen were making per their salaries. Which I find absolutely disgusting.

Most people appear to be scandalised by the wages the cricketers make, and are annoyed by the numerous ads these players appear in. It's all swept aside when the national team wins, but otherwise more fingers are pointed at income statements than in the IT department. I find it repellent because the cricketers are not salaried employees of the tax-payers; if we give our money to them indirectly, we do so voluntarily by watching the sport and buying products that the companies believe they help to sell. We are welcome to take our interest & our cash elsewhere if we chose. I don't understand what right any T, D & H has to self-righteously wonder if these guys are worth the money they make. The BCCI pays them what it thinks is reasonable, so do the companies whose products they endorse. I understand that there is a national stake in cricket and its interests must be protected, but I don't see these interests being sacrificed by the particular argument of how much money players make. Ultimately, how much money the BCCI makes will depend on how well the team plays. Remember also that cricketers aren't taking money away from other sportsmen, for the corporate rupee will go where the corporates decide.

I wonder how no one asks how filmstars get paid equally obscene (if you consider it that way) amounts for mostly low quality products and most importantly why people don't debate with more fervour the appalling working standards of our political representatives & government servants where indeed it's our money being squandered. Cricketers continue to remain soft targets for the media who get more and more obnoxious each passing year. They like to fuel astronomical expectations and play jealous executioner as well. I'd like each reporter to end his report with the salary he's making, to give me a chance to work out if he's really worth the words-per-rupee he's making, and if not, to make a racket about it.