Slide and fall of Indian media

Media and judiciary are generally viewed as the strong pillars of any democratic country. Traditionally, judiciary and media in India have maintained reasonably good standards and have gained considerable public support.

Unfortunately, in recent times, judiciary has been subjected to much criticism and several of the judgements have been received with skepticism by the people.

In the same way, Indian media, both print and visual media, are rapidly losing their credibility. The sad fact is that most of the Indian media have now come under the ownership and control of business houses or political parties or religious bodies. In such circumstances, the content of the media are often seen to reflect the views and priorities of the owners of the media, who want to run them keeping their narrow interests in view and not so much to reflect the national priorities and larger national good.

With the print and visual media multiplying in number as several vested interests have got into the act of promoting them or taking over them, there is also intense competition between them to get their space. Therefore, sensation has become the priority for the media and in the process, inevitably , doubtful matters are given importance considering their sensation value and paid news are increasingly suspected to be happening. The editors and other journalists serving in most of the media are not allowed to write as per their understanding and views but are forced to write as per the directives of the finance and advertising departments, who need to net the revenue and the owners whose vested interests have to be reflected in the contents of the media.

There are also repeated and credible rumours that even some journalists often indulge in unprofessional behaviour, for the personal benefits and seek favours from the government and business houses.

In view of the motivated approach of the media run by the business houses or political parties or religious bodies, several news items are suppressed and some news are given prominence. Misleading titles are being put.

Now, such slide and fall in the standards of the media have become so obvious that people’s faith in the credibility of the media has rapidly declined. As a result, the circulation and viewership are falling, though media barons do not admit this. The media are increasingly now dependent on advertisements for survival rather than circulation, which again mean that media has to keep the advertisers in good humour and sometimes this makes it necessary for them to compromise with what is being published.

In such circumstances, people are increasingly looking forward to social media for honest news and knowledgeable interpretation and analysis of the developing situations. We now see several matters appearing in social media, which rarely appear in print media or in television.

A new job opportunity now have happened in business enterprises known as media managers, whose primary job is to keep the media personnel in good humour to get fair space in the media. Obviously, corruption goes along with the trend.

After Narendra Modi taking over as the Prime Minister, most sections of the Indian media have been using vituperative language against the Modi government and giving huge publicity to any matter that brings disrepute to the Modi government. One can see that several of the good and praiseworthy initiatives of the Modi government are not given prominence or discussed knowledgeably. Probably, the media management of Modi government is poor and inadequate !

N.S.Venkataraman

Nandini Voice for the Deprived