Whether we should have a government without newspaper or a newspaper without government? Well, nobody would hesitate to prefer the latter.
At the current scenario, media’s integrity is being questioned; and media has failed to prove themselves right. Media and Journalism have had a great value from time immemorial, with regards to their existence and role in India. India as an evolving democracy requires the assistance, reassurance and validation by a free press that truly acts as the medium of interaction between the government and the public at large. The citizens of a particular country majorly depend on media for information. All they can trust on is the information given by the media and newspapers.
What if a friend in the exam hall gives partially correct answers and when asked for explanation says, “Pura galat thodi tha?” That’s the same way the viewers of the news channels feel. Half truth is worst than whole of a lie. But, media channels showing half-truth as headlines makes it worse for the viewers.
There are certain ethical principles of media and journalism:
· Obligated to deliver the truth
· Answerable to the public
· Verification is a necessity
· Independence
· Present significant and relevant news
Given this great dependence and faith entrusted on the media (both print and electronic) and journalists, it is only fair to expect that the media shoulders their responsibility and brings to its readers and viewers accurate information giving out an objective view without unnecessarily sensationalizing the events. But unfortunately, the press in existence today show blatant disregard to these expectations of responsible and ethical journalism and the shift is in favour of selling newspaper for maximizing commercial gains, and raising TRPs of news channels.
An example for the same is the current scenario of the news channel displaying Sushant Singh Rajput’s death mystery on a loop and completely forgetting about the floods, the GDP rate and many more important issues as such. This is not to suggest that the case isn’t important, but to continuously cover the same issue for half a day cannot be said to be an act of responsible media.
To be able to understand the detrimental effect of the current forms of relationship between politics/politicians and the media, we must tackle the issue of corruption. The fundamental thesis of this analysis is that media which do not serve the interests of the public are–corrupt. In saying so, we do not have in mind any specific media outlet or a specific journalistic practice but rather the media systems within which they operate.
A comparative view reveals that the current media situation in the countries analyzed is not solely a result of lacking or non-existent media policy, or lacking legal framework within which the media operate. It is rather a consequence of the political and economic system which literally forces media to establish “incestuous relations” with various centres of power. In this context, it is necessary to devote attention to the manner in which political elites in these countries created circumstances that enable a particular type of control over the media system. The concept of transition is not of much help here, and moreover, it may even distort the analysis of the situation.
It is leading to the hijacking of public interest. Two main ‘myths’ have now evolved. First, that the media works in public interest, and second, that media is not constrained by ownership relations.
In recent years the media and the majority of the news channels have entirely deviated from their responsibility as the fourth estate of democracy. Although there has been an increase in the number of news channels demonstrating to cater to the public by providing them information, there is a decrease in the public sphere or involvement of the public in these news channels. This decrease is resulting in the rise of elitist and socially conservative values. In the contemporary time, the quality of public discourse has been lowered by the mainstream media players.
India ranks badly on the World Freedom of Press Index with a rank of 142 out of 180 countries. This rank has been decreasing consistently in recent years thus proving that Indian news channels are not free anymore.
It should be understood that the media holds an enormous potential power to mobilize the citizens and use them as its puppets. The reason for granting such enormous power to the media personnel is because of the constitutional and moral trust, which the media holds as the fourth pillar of democracy. The media acts as a custodian of the public. It serves the public interest in a pluralistic democracy by expressing and disseminating expressions and opinions of all persons. This is the primary reason which differentiates the freedom of press from the content and ambit of any other freedom guaranteed by the constitution. Therefore, it is the public function that the media undertakes to perform and should exercise this function with the fullest sense of responsibility.
-Priyanka