Media and Governance
With the advent of the New Government in the Centre the expectation of the general ‘media-consumers’ was heightened that appropriate steps would be taken to bridle the uninhibited dominance of the Media which had particularly been relentless in trying to project untruth to influence the mind of the people.
Recently, Mr Prakash Javdekar, Hon’ble Minister for Information and Broadcasting stated that the new Government does not want to control the Media. He went ahead to express the desire of the Government to eventually abolish the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting itself to leave the Media to act responsibly and with a mechanism for its own accountability.
It is a very noble way of reposing confidence on a ‘pillar’ of Democracy. It is also a noteworthy approach to meet the proclaimed standards of ‘Minimum Government’.
The Media (especially the ones with an agenda based approach) would be very happy. People Like Barkha Dutt, Sagarika Ghosh, Rajdeep Sardesai, Arnab Goswami have not found time to report this or initiate debate on this subject. Why should they be bothered?
There are a few arguments that, of course, need to be kept in mind before the Government sets off in this noble path without considering the impact of such a decision and action.
There are four pillars of Democracy, namely, the Legislative, the Executive, the Judiciary and the Press.
Legislative functions under the parameters of the Constitution and attendant Rules of the Parliament and Legislative Assemblies. The Executive also functions under the parameters of the Constitution and the attendant Rules and Regulations. The Judiciary functions under the Codes – Penal and Criminal besides the Case Laws and Legislations enacted by the Legislative. All these three pillars are bound by the checks and balances of the Constitution and other applicable Rules and Regulations.
For the Press, there is no such laid down reference that could enable the Law of the Land to keep the unbridled monopoly of the Press under check and prevent it from being misused. One could argue that there are Laws that can be resorted to. But, having seen the way the Press has become habitual of disregarding any of the laws it is unlikely that there would be a change of heart in future to become sensitive to the sentiments of the people.
In a recent conversation, some leaders of a community were trying to explain that the inter-faith tensions are more a result of the slanderous reporting by the Press and their undesirable focus on some personalities of doubtful characters projecting them as representatives of a community even while they actually do not command any respect or Leadership status of the community.
‘ Press Jisko Chahe Neta Bana De.’ We have seen them create social opinion about Cricket, Valentine’s Day, Police, Governments, Cinema and Screen Personalities and above all Spiritual as well as Religious Leaders of a certain community. Relentless attacks on well-established cultural beliefs to change the way Society behaves has been a routine for long.
If it has to properly perform as an Independent Pillar of Democracy, there ought to be a set of Rules and Regulations that are framed under the august umbrella of the Constitution as is the case with the Other Pillars.
The important difference between the objectives of the first three pillars of the Democracy from that of the Press is that Legislative, Executive and Judiciary have governance as its objective and not profit. Press, however, runs with an Objective of Profit. Any profit making attempted by any functionary of the First Three Pillars is considered to be an act of Corruption. In fact, the whole theme of the previous election was serial corruption during the UPA government. If such is the sanctity of the three pillars of Democracy, why should the Fourth Pillar be exempted from the same standards of Morality?
What does the Press do? Does it do anything different from what Education does? It informs people. People take social , professional and even individual decision based on the inputs from the Press just as they draw the inference from Education. It makes or breaks Character of the People by influencing the minds of the People. It unites or divides the society by its reporting ( read information) about sex, caste, creed, race, colour. It is as powerful in altering the Texture of the Society as Education. Perhaps, it is a shade more effective because Society has a limited-time exposure to Education but the exposure to Press is continuous and perennial. People who have not had Education ( as it is still optional) do not escape the exposure to Press. It has become pervasive in today’s society.
If Education can be a Government Controlled Activity why should Press be exempt?
Recently, we have also heard that the Government is contemplating allowing 100% FDI in Media. This would be a very good decision if the Government lays down the Regulation that Press cannot be run for Profit. It can be run only for information dissemination. If Profit remains a motive behind running Press we are progressively going to see more and more biased and paid reporting.
I wonder how many Media Houses would like to continue in the noble profession of ‘journalism’ if Profit is divorced from the Industry. And I also fail to understand how a Pillar of Democracy can be allowed to have Profit as its objective ! It is also surprising to see that much of Mainstream Media and many Governments ( especially the earlier UPA government considered) Social Media to be worthy of Censor while Social Media truly runs without an Objective of Profit.
The Government needs to consider the facts of the case before taking any decision and be cautious in uttering such needless ‘nobility’ statements.
- Debt and Other Traps - July 8, 2014
- Media and Governance - June 11, 2014
- Suggestions for Education - June 10, 2014
I know writing a post in measured word & at the same time not being controversial is not a joke.
The writer has done very good job in the given condition.
I liked the writing.Thank you.