Information is available everywhere, even when you aren't looking for it.
There was a time when we relied heavily on the morning newspaper. It was printed at midnight and delivered at dawn.
Today, news is served everywhere. WhatsApp brings us “breaking news”. Reels bring us headlines. Social media constantly tells us what is happening.
One day it is an MLA scandal. Another day it is news about a Big Four CEO.
But when information becomes abundant, who controls what we actually see?
Sometimes, control does not mean stopping information. It simply means deciding which information is easy to see.
“Breaking news” can be false. Narratives about billionaire CEOs donating money can sometimes look very different once we understand who is presenting the story and why.
“If journalism is good, it is controversial, by its nature.”
— Julian Assange, 2011
Think about something as simple as the formula used for babies. If a report tells us that something is harmful, whom do we believe? And how do we know whether the publisher was paid to remain silent?
Sad to say, you can't.
You cannot always know with certainty whether everything you read is true.
But that does not mean we should completely let go of news. It means we should take information with a grain of salt.
Especially when it concerns medicine, food and health.
India's Union Health Ministry has banned the manufacture, sale, and distribution of all oral formulations containing Nimesulide above 100 mg due to liver toxicity risks (Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, 2025).
We are less informed than we used to be because of the proliferation of “Free Information.”
Algorithms decide what appears in front of us. Wealth and power influence narratives. And blind trust can itself become a health hazard.
Public relations can sometimes make exploitation look like innovation and toxicity look like nutrition.
What we need is clinical scepticism.
Check what is inside your medicine cabinet. Question the narratives you consume. Ask who benefits from the information being presented to you.
& That’s What Shrie Said!!!
