Role of Media

The press today as a medium of dissemination of information has bypassed it conventional uses. The press today not only informs creation and dissemination of public opinion but also entertains. It is originally seen as a guardian of public interest, witness to hold the state accountable to the public.

It is to be a bridge between the people and government to create an alternate feedback system which is free from the influence of the bureaucracy and the politicians. It is to make the state aware of the demands on the nature of policies the public wants from them. A fair honest objective press is the most important constituent of what the west today calls good governance, so much so that the French statesman Talleyrand said “without freedom of press, there can be no representative government”.

For freedom of the press to be possible in reality, it cannot be subservient to the interests of the politicians, bureaucrats and industrialists. It has to be a neutral unifying force inculcating the ethos of the times with the ethos of our freedom struggle.

Historically the press paid a big part in the Indian national Freedom struggle, in which we had great leaders like Tilak,Maulana Azad and Mahatma Gandhi as editors of newspapers. Mahatma Gandhi himself edited the Indian Opinion, Young India, Navajivan and the Harijan and can be said as the most influential journalist of his times. The press in India acted as cornerstone of democracy ,a place where grievances will be heard by the rich and powerful of this country. But as more power came to the press so I might dare “the wolves have arrived too and in number”.

Today we have more than ninety thousand publications running in this country (the exact number is 93,985 registered publications, 850 permitted TV channels under news and current affairs category and 437 under non-news category). The Doordarshan which some of us feel has lost viewership itself runs 37 Channels. Besides, there are over 250 FM radios stations and numerous internet websites. Such numbers gives us a reason to be proud of the diverse Indian media industry but today media’s integrity is being questioned, the very basis of its existence to provide a medium between the public and the state has seen to become corrupted by vested interests.

Today media is plagued by problems of paid news which hit epic levels in election years(considering next year is an election year , it will be good exercise to watch for fabricated news this year).

 On January 15 this year, the Election Commision found that Madhya Pradesh Cabinet Minister Narottam Mishra “failed to lodge his accounts of his election expenses in the manner prescribed by law.” He faces possible disqualification. The EC’s notice to Dr. Mishra concerns 42 news items about him during the November 2008 state elections in Madhya Pradesh. These, it believed “read more like election advertisement(s) in favour of you alone rather than (as) news reports.” The EC names four newspapers in its notice: Dainik Bhaskar,Nai Duniya, Aacharan and Dainik Datia Prakash. Dainik Bhaskar is the second most-read daily in the country.What should be done to such newspapers and such reporters. The author believes that EC should ban such newspapers if found guilty of paid news.

 

We have three documents that highlight the issues mentioned in the table above. The first is a 2009 report by the Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI) at the instance of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on ‘Cross Media Ownership in India’. The second, February 2013 Consultation Paper by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on media ownership question. The third is a report on ‘Paid News’ made on May 6, 2013 by the Parliament’s Standing Committee on Information Technology. They together tell a truth that many would not like to hear.

The 300 odd news channel cannot get enough advertising revenue then when the question of survival versus ethics, how many do you think that in today’s time ethics would come on top. The coming of big business into  media and the resultant concentration and market domination are best summarized by the TRAI chairman’s Rahul Khullar comment during the discussion with a senior executive of Bennett Coleman and Co. Limited ( refer http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/media-crossholding-in-cross-hairs/article4743586.ece) pointing to another participant, who had moments earlier said “3 or 4 media houses” control everything, Mr. Khullar shot back, “There is a large body of Indian citizens who feel that way. Wake up and smell the coffee.”And we do need to wake up and smell the coffee due to the growing political control of media today, from Shrimoni Akali Dal’s to DMK nearly every political party is involved in one way or the other to control information given to the public. The question that whether media censorship happens is one which is yet to be proven but so has been charges against most politicians in Indian courts.

The Article above has the TRAI listing out examples. Sun TV and Essel Group have interests in print, TV, FM as well as distribution platforms like Direct-To-Home (DTH) and MSOs. The Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group is present in all media segments as well as DTH, while Star India has interests in broadcasting and radio, as well as distribution platforms. Ushodaya (Eenadu), India Today, Times Group, ABP Group, Bhaskar Group, Jagran Prakashan, Malayala Manorama Group have interests in all three media segments — print, TV and FM radio.

Corporate India can easily influence policies and gain mileage in the name of broadcasting news. Recent case of Zee News Executives asking for 200 crores from Jindal Steel is just one example. The case of declining values in Indian Society is endemic and this is affecting all parts of it. The magnitude of this has been highlighted by the TRAI paper , It drew a direct link between “uncontrolled ownership” and “paid news, corporate and political lobbying by television channels, propagation of biased analysis and forecast both in political arena as well as corporate sector and irresponsible reporting to create sensationalism.” It points to the “even more lethal issue where the ownership/control rests with entities which have both business and political interests.” The paper concluded that regulating media ownership is “essential in the public interest as a guarantee of plurality and diversity of opinion.”This is direct threat to the democracy of India. It has or will lead to an elite capturing of the information system which values GDP growth rate and repo rates over nutrition, IMR, education etc. The debates on television these days over the Food security bill are more about the cost of bill rather than understanding the benefits of such a scheme highlights the capitalistic nature of our media.

The need for media regulation was highlighted by News of the World Scandal that hit the Rupert Murdoch group and let to closing of an iconic paper (the author wishes sincerely that the same tragedy fall upon some of the newspapers in India doing paid news and irresponsible reporting which has led to extreme harassment to the people of this country).

In conclusion I would like to quote words of Walter Lippmann, perhaps the most renowned and respected American journalist of the 20th century. “There is no higher law in journalism,” he wrote, “than to tell the truth and to shame the devil - and remain detached from the great.”

The Ideal of detachment of the press from the politics and unethical corporate lobbying is a worthy ideal expressed and should be strived towards replication by the Indian Media Industry.