28/06/2020
Media is said to be 4th pillar of any democracy. But is Indian Media being 4th pillar or 5th column in current scenario?
Following are few of the key points that we discussed last week.
Question- Bismay, Can you tell us, why is media called the fourth pillar of democracy and since when this idea evolved?
Bismay- Apart from the three pillars i.e. Executive, Legislative and Judiciary, there is a fourth pillar required for any democracy. And that fourth pillar is Media. This idea has started since French Revolution. In Indian Constitution there is no specific right given to media. Rather media derives its rights from Art.19 of Indian Constitution only. Even RTI draws its rights from the same.
This media started in ancient times since the cave arts which were for future generations as well as for the local people to understand the society as the artist saw it. Since then it has evolved through various phases. From print media to modern one. But the sole duty of media should be to deliver plain information and what people draw from it should be left to the people.
In 1857, chapatis were spread to deliver information. In 1900s various patrikas played their role in freedom struggle. While at the same time in other parts of the world something else was happening.
Radio was widely used in Europe. Mussolini and Hi**er used it against Jews. As print media was there at that time but still radio was preferred because the information broadcasted through radio couldn’t be verified. As it is now happening in social media.
Now the trend of print media as well as radio is declining. Large media houses are acquiring the smaller ones. And there is lot of influence of business houses on media. Thus conflict of interest starts.
Question- Basant, What is the role of media in a country like India and is Indian media really following it?
Basant- The role of media in any country be it democracy or not is very crucial and important one. Because information is essential for a fully and efficiently running country. It is not only the media but citizens as well. Citizens should talk about freedom of speech based on which media functions. So in my view it is very important for media to present what is truth.
Question- Ujjwal, you come from a theater background and it is seen that people involved in films, music, theater and all have a deep impact on society. But nowadays a constructive ideal approach and society welfare is not seen in their works. Why so?
Ujjwal- Idealism has different aspects. A thing ideal for someone may not be so for the other. I believe that Idealism will be established when we take the middle path in information gathering, irrespective of our biases. If we come out of news and print media to explore its meaning then we will come to know that even Nukkads have a great role in this. As Bismay said, when Freedom struggle was going on, then in Bengali Theater people used to protest against the tyranny of British government. The government banned it and rolled out a regulation that until you get a clearance from the nearest police station on your script, you will not be allowed to perform any of your plays. Then the people there started performing Epics such as Ramayana and Jataka stories. In those performances people used to show that the foreign invaders are Ravan and the poor Indians are Ram. At that time we targeted to remove foreign forces from our land. So idealism at that had that definition.
But now the journalism be it media or Nukkads, has been interfered by ideologies. Everyone be it reporter, editor or anyone else has their own ideologies. And above all this there is marketing purpose. Now the industrialization and marketization of media has taken place. Thus more emphasis is given on profit maximization.
Question- Basant, The News Broadcasters Association’s role has been so dormant. Why?
Basant- I think any association or federation are not self regulated. Because media should be free from regulation or any kind of government interference. Because the government tries to cripple it. This regime has tried to cripple media time and again through various means . Therefore I don’t think that there is any effective role of NBA over quality of media.
Bismay- Media gets its revenue from advertisements. News agencies are bound to maintain their own expenses. Most of the advertisements come from either government, PSUs, or the big private players. When government pulled its hand out from supporting the media, the news channels were under tremendous pressure. As a result they threw out various journalists to cater to their pressure. Thus many new agencies such as Wire and Quint were formed. These newly formed channel do not advertise as much as their counterparts do. They earn their revenue purely from subscription basis and this is how we as citizens can support journalism by subscribing them.
As far as rumour mongering is concerned then I will tell you how it has devastated past civilizations. In 14th century there was Black Plague. In the Christian dominated Western Europe, a rumour was spread that Jews were kidnapping small children and were killing them. As a result large scale rioting took place. Nearly 5000 Jews were burned alive for rumour of poisoning the wells and killing children. Settlements in Germany already had anti Jews sentiment. Following this incident Anti Jews laws were passed by the governments of that day and the Jews were systematically removed.
Similarly in 19th century a moon hoax was created by a New York based Newspaper, The Sun. This newspaper was not subscribed to many but as they spread the rumors of Moon having civilization, aliens and all they became one of the top selling papers of the country. Although it turned out to be a hoax but the circulation of the paper never came down after that. Thus this way more people get encouragement to follow the same practice and earn profit.
Question- Ujjwal, Recently Ravish Kumar a popular journalist got Ramon Magsaysay Award. But he is widely criticized on every media platform. On the other hand journalists who have gone to jail even, I won’t take his name are followed. Moreover it is seen that every person who is liberal or intellectual is also been made fun of. Why?
Ujjwal- It has been seen for a long time that any political party whosoever it will be in power and those who are the followers of that party or ideology will feast upon that and the opposition will be crushed. But when the time will change the cycle will revert and the prey will become hunter. This cycle is running for a very long time. It must go on as well to keep the balance of the society as the evolution will become stagnant and growth will stop. Today we are having this discussion as we have all been witness of going on around us and is raising our inner voice. If we turn the pages of past then we will come to know that when the media used to keep the facts without any bias then we had taken it for granted as well. But now at chai stalls, webinars and at places as such discussions have started. This has opened new dimensions of our intellect.
Now we can see that commercialization has increased. To hide our holes we have patched it with a layer of glorification as well. For example: Jyoti of Bihar brought her father by riding bicycle for 7 consecutive days to home. Now every MLA, MP is praising her. I condemn all those praises except for the one given by Cycle Federation. Because the media has presented it in a manner that after some days even the girl will forget what pain had led her to that situation. Thus media today is killing the humanity and we glorified that and turned it to some other direction. Instead of showing the lacuna and lethargy of government of being unable to bring such people we glorified the poverty and neglectful approach of the government which forced the girl to do this hard work.
THE WAY FORWARD
Ujjwal- In my opinion media should keep all the aspects of any issue in front of public without giving regard to any bias. It should present the laws, policies, facts and historical incidents related to those. So that people can form their own opinion and take decision for themselves. Having said that media should also make their own voice and point of views strong.
Bismay- As citizens we see only those channels to which we subscribe. Rather we as citizens must act proactively and look at all the perspectives of any topic. This will be only possible when we support and those working with free media. It is futile to expect from government that it will help media as no government wants its criticisms. The whistle blowers must be provided protection. This should be done with popular pressure.
Basant- Mainstream media needs revenue to fight in the market. Thus it doesn’t care about anything but its viewership and TRP. The Indian Media market is biggest in the world. Thus a cut-throat competition arises. Until we identify the problems in the media and majority of viewers of that media organization don’t know about the ownership, political and industrial influence, we can not solve the problem. People should check media activity and act proactively.
Hope this gives you some insight and idea of current situation. For more details watch the video bearing the same title.
Link for the video is as follows
https://youtu.be/v4u0tJwPxC4
