The Media In India Media Essay

The Media In India Media EssayLooking at the narrative of word of honor insurance reportage of the contend and internal crisis situation, it is quite evident that the intelligence from the ara of operation has al sorts inte remnanted the mankind. Media these days has now presume a status which it had seldom enjoyed earlier. Starting as an institutionalized access to generate awareness and inform masses, media has become an instrument to govern our lives. A close scrutiny and study of Mahabharata would expose to us the nuances of battle that went on between the two adversaries and till date it remains a long testimony to what the quality of battlefield reporting learns was during the epic period in India. If we were to identify a war correspondent in correspondingly advanced India, possibly William Howard Russells name could be the first one to be cited as he reported upon the first war of independence in India in 1857.The coverage of the war and internal crisis in set up day scenario has interpreted an interesting turn with the near real time to live coverage of the purgets showing pictures from the crisis zone instantly. Media has been mashing a vital link to the rest of India on the ongoing insurgency/militancy in Kashmir and North East.Media coverage took an upward surge almost nearing a deluge during the Kargil remainder. Twenty quaternion into seven channels began churning the battlefield in a scat for not all the latest stories muchover a series of stories eclipsing the antecedent one thereby arousing unexclusive interest and forming opinions. Never had there been so much support to the war effort in the recent floor as was evident during the Kargil conflict. Why did it happen the way it did-did media diarrhoea a authority in it? Do we expect the media to be as corroboratory during future operations as it was during Kargil? Would the part of media that is controlled and financed by lot from exterior the verdant continue to p lay the b all told the way it did during the Kargil conflict? Today, the images of war, for that count peace, canister decisively draw the contours of a rural areas public opinion even before the authorities can confirm or repudiate the au thuslyticity. Therefore, it is all the more essential to critically analyse the role media can play and how take up can it be optimized with forbidden compromising any of its essential elements. vex council of India1. Press Council is a mechanism for the pres to regulate it self-importance. The raison detre of this unique institution is root in the concept that in a democratic society the fight contends at once to be free and reasonable. If the press is to attend to effectively as the watch follow of public interest, it must rush a secure license of expression, unfettered and unhindered by any authority, coordinate body or individuals. entirely, this claim to press liberty has legitimacy only if it is exercised with due sense of respon sibility. The press must therefore scrupulously draw together to accepted norms of journalistic ethical motive and prolong high standard of master copy conduct. Where the norms are b attained and freedom is defiled by unprofessional conduct, a way must exist to check and control it. But, control by organization or official authorities may prove destructive of this freedom. Therefore, the best way is to let peers of the profession, assisted by a few discriminating layman to regulate it through a properly structured de regularizey impartial machinery. Hence, the Press Council.2. The Press Council of India was first set up in the social class 1966 by the Parliament on the recommendations of the First Press kick with the objective of preserving the freedom of the press and of maintaining and improving the standards of press in India. The present Council functions infra the Press Council Act 1978. It adjudicates the complaints against and by the press for violation of ethics and for violation of the freedom of the press respectively. The Press Council is headed by a chairman, who has by convention, been a retired judge of Supreme Court of India. The council consists of 28 other members of whom 20 hold the press and are nominated by the press institution/ discussion agencies recognised and notified by the Council as all India bodies of categories such as editors, working journalists and owners and managers of intelligence operationpaper, five members are nominated from the two houses of the Parliament and represent cultural, literary and legal fields as nominees of Sahitya Academy, University Grant Commission and close off Council of India. The members serve on the Council for a term of three old age. The Council was last reconstituted on May 22, 2001. The Press Council of India has the following function-To help the newspaper to maintain their independence.(ii)Medium of MediaRole of Media2. Role of media is that of mediation between the government an d the throng of the nation. Due to its responsibilities, media is the fourth pillar of the democratic India. After 63 years of achieving independence and quest towards becoming effect one power of the globe by 2020 through economic growth, the role of media is twain(prenominal)what uncertain and pose a question mark on the Indian journalism. Before woful ahead we need to ask ourselves and think as to is Indian media play the role for what it has been cause sexn that is the fourth pillar of the state? If not then what role media should play? The intelligible answer to this question is that the media should be fair, reliable, impartial, dead on target analysis/reporting and work in an integrated manner towards the general benefit of the nation of the nation. As far as news is concerned, media should analyse the news in a in truth rigid manner, how it has happened and what is the very instauration of the news to go to the root cause of the problem instead of cosmos bias ed to any facts and figures available of hand or floated by anybody. But the fact remains very often rather going belatedly into any problem, journalists are blindly accepting the news as fair play which is being formulated and carefully manipulated by the evil elements and disseminate the kindred publicly. Well, the entire community of journalist s cannot be placed under suspicious category for the inappropriate reporting or misdeeds of few journalists.3. Medias canonical role is to inform, influence, entertain and help develop economy of state which involves news evaluation, analysis and assessment and finally scattering. Newspapers fork up a dual role it is a quasi public institution and a free go-ahead and same holds good for the electronic media also. merely when the media overlooks its responsibility to the multitude of a nation and lays more emphasis on being free initiative that is the problem starts. Another problem is what news is worthy and what is not, and most grievous is what news need not be published or broadcasted is firm by whom? The journalist is neither to be con gradientred as a researcher nor a historian exactly as mediator in transportation its readers all slightly the event. Major General Winant Sidle of the US military says, The appropriate media role in relation to the government has been summarised aptly as being neither a lap dog nor an attack dog but, rather, a watch dog. Apart from acquisition, interpretation and dissemination of news, role of media can be summarised as to create public opinion and attitudes, act as watch-dog for citizens in terms of human even outs issues and abuses by institution of power, inform public with events that are balanced and finally maintain national morale by responsible news coverage.The Constitution of India and Press Freedom4. The Constitution of India, specifically in the chapter on Fundamental Rights, surprisingly, does not mention freedom of press. afterwards on, Dr. Ambedkar however had mentioned that being part of the guarantees of Freedom of mother tongue and Expression in Article 19 (1) (a) of the constitution it was not necessary to stipulate the freedom of press separately. Freedom of expression as mentioned in the Constitution implies all forms of opinions, thoughts, ideas and conviction and thus covers most of what is needed for the freedom of press. Censorship is no way covered in any provisions of the Indian constitutions. However during an emergency under the Indian Constitution, Fundamental Rights including Freedom of Expression and Speech stands suspended. The Article 19 (2) of the Constitution of India states that the freedom of the press can be restricted for reasons of sovereignty and integrity of India, preserving democracy and the security of the state, besides some other contingencies.5. Freedom of the media in actual facts is tempered by gruelling ground realities such as power and influence of the ownership on editorial policies, commercial orientation of the media, government control over pick up resources such as newsprint, communications and advertisements. Very often media misuses the freedom assumption to it and it is evident from a number of issues. Media these days are more active in dramatization of an event or news rather than reflecting the instructive part. More often, unnecessarily intruding into private lives/personal matters of the people and peculiarly focussing on the distress victims and their families. Media has been in highlight for being bear on in corrupt practices and favouring the publishers, political parties, business houses, religious institutions to name a few. Biased publishing, journalist and editor block some news slice highlighting others for the reasons of there own. There have been instances where media play up regional emotions leading to strong appeal and wide spread commotion. During reportage of war or any operations related to internal crisis situation, many a tim es media has show immaturity and is irresponsible in its reporting by sensationalizing and escalating the conflict. Police, politician and corporate can still be considered for double standards, but how can we expect the same standards from our journalist community. When one pillar collapses, the upstanding building is likely to fall down. Media being the fourth pillar need to be strong enough in breaking the ice and put forward news and make the truth distinct from ambiguous or falsehood which will entail death of social evil and the people of the nation and the state itself will live in peace. This is the responsibility than postulate to be understood and interpreted up by the Indian journalism. Now, how they are going to shape, direct and lead the new generation of India towards to a self-possessed nation as a whole is matter of time and the self awakening.Media ethics6. Media both print and more so the electronic media plays an central catalyst in shaping the public opinions , sentiments and dogmas by promulgating accurate and desirable training and knowledge. Due to the vast intrusion of television news in public life, it has the power and can create an enduring continue on society, culture and security of a region. These days media is generally facing a qualitative crisis pertaining to the news disseminated by it and it seems as the news channels in India have their respective doctrine charted out presenting anything as news which leads to an deviation from the ethical issues of journalism. They have metamorphosed themselves towards packaging of information and have adopted a policy of corporate culture wherein their basic motto has transformed from disseminating information to earning television rating points. With numerous news channels being beamed to our houses the inclination for the actual news by the public is not met due to wish of content, quality and authenticity which have deteriorated over a period of time. electronic media in India has been irresponsible in presenting news and sensitizing crucial events without brain and realising the impact and implications on the people and security of the nation. Investigative journalism is the in thing now where in the channels has become a self proclaimed investigating agency which to some extent is instrumental in bringing out the truth but slowly the channels are being used as a means of personal blood feud or gains by insiders as well as outsiders.7. Media used to be known as the voice of common people and a spiritualist to grab knowledge of the world. Media had over a period of time had strengthened some ethics which was appreciated but with the rapid development, mushrooming of news agencies and destiny of growth it is loosing its credibility. Print media compared to electronic media was known for its accuracy and its ethics and with course of time everything has become part of marketing and news turned into commodity. The so called free media talks the language of the agencies they are benefited from. The ethics which is being talked about is what should be written or shown and what shouldnt be. The overall aim should to add to society, nation building for a better tomorrow. Contrary to this, media coverage includes matters which are of no use to the citizen but surely for their own mileage. News is supposed to wed the world and not a soap opera in which media ethics, duties and single-valued function is lost.Reach of mass media8. It is important for a country like ours to know the capabilities of available mass media facilities, readership, listener ship and viewer ship habits of the people to gauge the reach of media. But do we know when it comes to the reach of dissimilar mass media individually and in combination among the diverse population in the country. There many question which arises like how many in the country are exposed to or read newspaper, view television, listen to radio, shop internet, etc? Which one of the available media and how frequently? How many and who all read more than one newspaper, which one and where in India? During what period of the day and how frequently do the people watch TV and listen to radio? What is the duplication/ lick of programmes between different media and many more intricate questions like such will determine the influence the media will create in the people of a nation and gauge its reach.9. In the year 2006, National Readership was carried out in India which is considered the largest survey of its kind in the world, with samples from 2,84,373 house interviews to measure the media perceptivity and exposure in both urban and rural India and obviously the readership of publications. fit in to the survey, today average urban adult is spending 44 proceeding per day reading magazines and dailies. Readership of dailies continue to grow as compared to the previous year however there is a decline in magazine readership both in urban and rural India. Satellite television has grown in leaps and bound and has a considerable reach TV now reaches 112 one thousand thousand Indian homes. Internet has also spread predominantly with a reach now exceeding 12 millions. Resurgence of radio cannot be disregard as its reach has increased to 27% of the population tuning in to any radio station in the average week, almost equaling the number of readers. This boom in media reach and penetration will play a vital role towards national perception and national security as such.Media Ownership and control in India10. In February 1995 in a bourn judgement, Supreme Court of India ruled that the airwaves are public property and no longer under government control. In 1996 a Broadcasting board was formulated and an autonomous Broadcasting Authority was vested with regulatory powers. The ministry of information and transmit in June 1998 allowed private Indian satellite channels to uplink from India. With the media being liberalised debut of inappropriate media was emin ent, now the question which comes to mind is do foreign media impact the policy decisions, a tool of cultural imperialism, western business and foreign policy interest in turn hampering national security. The positive side may be in favours of foreign media on the ground of plurality, tilt and readers right to know. Their influence will mould the perception of the population as they wield through their agenda.11. It is very interesting to know as to who controls the mixed media entity in India and obviously it will stem out from the ownership. A very popular news channel NDTV, is funded by gospels of charity in Spain which supports communism. CEO of this company is Prannoy Roy who is related to Prakash karat, the General Secretary of communist party of India. CNN-IBN is funded by Southern Baptist Church with its branches all over the world with its HQ in US. Times Group which includes Times of India, Mid-Day, Nav Bharat Times, Stardust, Femina, Times Now (TV news channel) and many more is owned by Benet and Coleman. Star TV is managed by an Australian, who is supported by St. Peters Pontifical Church, Melbourne. Birla Group owned Hindustan Times have changed hands which is presently owned by Shobhana Bharatiya and working in collaboration with the Times Group. English daily, The Hindu started over 125 years has been taken over by Josua Society, Berne, Switzerland. The Indian express in which ACTS Christian Ministries have a major stake. There are many other regional news print who are privately owned by Indians which have more reach and impact in the rural, semi-urban and to some extent urban population. Regional TV network like Enadu is controlled by Ramoji Rao who has connection in the film industry.12. The ownership explains the control of media in India by external agencies be it foreigner or Indian. The news will be biased by their owners and the product that filters down to the common man will distort. The result is obvious we are going to be fed with tailor made news by the companies who are holding the strings.Media responsibility13. Freedom of press exponent have potential unintended effect while engaged in the internal crisis situation especially when considering modern media as a rage multiplier. Many a times the media is in an awkward position when it is application terrorist events. Medias role to protect the societys right to know comes in direct conflict with the states (military, law enforcement and investigating agencies) mission is to protect and serve, and maintain order when viewing internal crisis situations. The precarious balancing act that the press faces while masking piece terrorist incidents is like having censorship on one side of the weigh master and freedom on the other side. During internal crisis situations, press needs to be always vigilant about balancing their freedom relating protecting the peoples right to know against their responsibility to play a constructive role. The more the freedom and accuracy goes into reporting, the more the coverage favours the terrorists and vice versa. Issues facing the governments and media outlets before, during and after a terrorist incident need to be closely examined by both the agencies towards dissemination of information which will strike a balance. The terrorist and governments agendas tend to dramatically oppose, while the media position is often judgment call. Media is a force multiplier stuck in between complete censorship and total freedom of the press. It is important that the media continues to play a constructive role during times of local and national crisis but it is also critical that the media be allowed to continue to provide a counterbalance.