INDIAN MEDIA: QUO VADIS?

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THE CONTEXT: Since liberalisation in 1991, the audiovisual media has undergone a massive transformation. From the freeing of broadcast media from government control to spread of internet have prompted an explosion in the quantity, if not quality of media offerings. In the process, Indian journalism have changed in style as well as substance drastically as well.

ISSUES

• Privileging sensation over substance: Currently media is driven by the “breaking news” culture and competing just for sensation and rating points. Media has given up any pretence of providing a public service and privileging sensation over substance.
• Social media: Social media with its culture of unverified fact and viral opinion compounds the problem as it offers a ready platform for material that pass without any scrutiny.
• Print media: Matter are not much better in the print media as well despite its ability to provide context, depth, and analysis that television cannot provide. As, with rise of social media and relentless 24×7 breaking news cycle pressurise print media to publish without the traditional recourse to fact-checking.
• Rush to judgement: In a rush to air the story, media has fallen prey to the inevitable rush to judgment. In this way it serves simultaneously as witness, prosecutor, judge, jury and executioner. Media has become an agent of malicious allegation and charges are reported uncritically which cause the irreparable damage to innocent people’s reputations.
• Distortion of facts: There has left no distinctions among fact, opinion and speculation, reportage and rumour which has blurred the relevance of today’s Indian media.
• Affects democratic structure: The media’s obsession with the superficial and the sensational news trivialises public discourse. It turns down the media responsibility in democracy as it serves as a weapon of mass distraction from the public from the question of accountability.

THE WAY FORWARD

• Ensure free press: An independent press and news-media press act as an important check on Government and Administrators. Therefore, there is a need for free and professional media which is honest and efficient to serve as both mirror to society and to probe wrongdoings.
• Enforce culture of fact verification: There is a need to promote a culture of fact-verification and accuracy that the industry currently appears to lack. Journalists should not feel pressed by their employers to “break the news”, but empowered to hold stories until they are sure their facts and accusations are accurate. The rush to judgment on the basis of partial information must stop.
• Training: There is a need to insist on better journalistic training at accredited media institutes that emphasise values of accuracy, integrity and fairness in their students. These standards should extend to media organisations when misleading statements are published, these outlets should issue retractions with equal prominence.
• Ensuring diverse perspectives: There is a need to welcome different perspectives in our newsrooms and not allow them to become echo chambers forcing an opinion onto their viewers. Newsrooms must be required to maintain a more diverse journalistic environment and must be required to provide some space for the alternative view.
• Welcoming feedback: The journalists must welcome comments and feedback from their viewers and readers, to generate both an environment of trust between the consumers and the media. For example, The Hindu is one of the newspapers to have a Readers’ Editor who serves as an Ombudsman for the newspaper and acknowledges mistakes of fact or emphasis in the newspaper’s coverage. This helps drive a natural cycle of loyalty and engagement between the paper and its readers.
• Laws and regulations: The government must introduce laws and regulations that limit control of multiple news organisations by a single business or political entity, thereby encouraging an independent and robust press in the country.
• Independent regulator: There is a need for an independent supervisor or regulator for print and television news companies, as recommended by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India and the parliamentary Committee on Information Technology. It would help limit the power of corporate and political over our media and help promote media standards.

THE CONCLUSION:

The media which is referred as fourth Estate have slipped from its true place in India is a serious concern for democracy.  For India to emerge as a responsible global player in the world and a model for 21st-century democracy, there is need of accountable and responsible media serving as the fourth pillar of our democracy.

UPSC PREVIOUS YEAR QUESTION

Q.1 Examine the scope of Fundamental Rights in the light of the latest judgement of the Supreme Court on Right to Privacy. (2017)

Q.2 “Recent amendments to the Right to Information Act will have a profound impact on the autonomy and independence of the Information Commission”. Discuss. (2020)

MAINS PRACTICE QUESTIONS

Q.1 Free and independent media are the lifeblood of our democracy. Discuss the significance of the statement and suggest measures that needs to be taken to ensure the freedom of press.

Q.2 The free press is both the mortar that binds together the bricks of our country’s freedom, and the open window embedded in those bricks. Comment.

SOURCE: https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/indian-media-quo-vadis/article67753206.ece