The media is known for its cloying admiration of institutes like IITs. It has a habit of presenting a salubrious picture of the placements every year by selective dissemination of information. The media seems to lack the will or ability to ask inquisitive questions. The very fact that none of the publications mentioned cared to ask how many students are yet to be placed – while reporting that more than 1000 have already been placed –is telling. The IITs do not stand absolved in the wrong message being propagated either. Look at the official note released by IIT Kharagpur on its website. The note, quite smugly, announces the crossing of the 1000 mark in the placements. However, that is not the most misleading part of the note. The notes also states that the range of salaries offered to the students falls between INR 12 lakh to USD 125,000. Most graduates from IIT would be able to vouch that the average package must be closer to half the starting range mentioned in the note published. From what I have seen, it is more likely to find a student earning one fourth of the starting salary mentioned than find a student in the range published.