Media and Society: Who Should Change
Indian press today is over 200 years old. Indian radio is about 100 years old and Doordarshan is about 50 years old. In January 1780, James Augustine Hicky started the first newspaper, a weekly, variously called the Bengal Gazette, the Calcutta General Advertiser, or Hicky Gazette. He is still regarded as the Father of Indian Journalism.
Before Independence, the media was a mission. Its mission was to free India from the clutches of foreign rulers, the British. There were many restrictions on the media in the form of regulations. The infamous Gagging Act, which was brought to suppress the vernacular press, was one such regulation. After Independence, too, there have been many commissions, but these were intended to streamline the working conditions of journalists; categorise newspapers into small, medium and large; provide commercial orientation for revenue generation by radio; constitute the Press Council; establish national-level news agencies; and the like.
Radio in India, as an organisation, IBC is only a few months behind the British Broadcasting Corporation. Now, it is terrestrial radio or sky radio, reaching 100% of the geographical area of the Indian subcontinent.
Television developed from a mere local telecast of an adult education programme in 1959 to Krishi Darshan for agricultural extension education in 1967. From the landmark SITE (Satellite Instructional Television Experiment) in 1975, transmission was extended to all parts of the country during the Asiad Games and that too in colour. Now, it is DTH and IPTV, covering all parts of the country. Private channels are innumerable, with more than the required freedom.
If we look at the major functions of the media, they are Information, Interpretation, Education, Entertainment and Evaluation. The media informs people about what is happening around them. It interprets issues for the benefit of the people. It educates people on various schemes, plans and programmes of the Government. It entertains people through various art and cultural forms. It also evaluates the functioning of systems in society.
If we remember Gandhiji, he said, “A free press should be neither an ally nor an adversary… but a constructive critic.” The media is the bridge between the ruler and the ruled for the transmission of information. The media, particularly the Press, Radio, Television and Cinema, together or independently, have the potency to either reform or deform society.
But what is happening today? The media, which was a mission before Independence, grew as a profession after Independence and of late, is being criticised for becoming a business without ethics and without any social responsibility. This is because the owners of print and private electronic channels are often owners of either business establishments, industrial houses or financial institutions. News, naturally, in the hands of these businessmen, has become a commodity. News, which should be a bare fact, is now angled or slanted to make it marketable. The media wants stories in place of plain news based on facts. Editorials have become either dictatorial or proprietorial.
It is, therefore, often said, “Bad news is good news, and good news is no news.” We read newspapers, listen to radio and watch television to find a murder, the molestation of a minor girl, an atrocity, a celebrity’s divorce, an unholy alliance, a bomb blast, a vehicle plunging into the depths, an insurgent attack, an encounter, a political coup or a plane crash in which people have died or been injured or made to suffer, rather than news about development.
Very recently, an electronic channel captured an event in which a chain snatcher was beaten up by a mob, while a policeman tied him to his motorcycle and dragged him. It happened in Bihar State. Those visuals were telecast repeatedly, creating a kind of vexation in the minds of the viewers. In another incident, a celebrity shook hands with policemen, which led to their suspension because the incident was shown repeatedly. It happened in Maharashtra State.
Looking at the media from this point of view, we have to ask ourselves whether the media is moving in the right direction or going in the wrong direction and leading society along with it. The answer would be, “Society is the cause.” Any institution, organisation, mission or profession is a reflection of society and its individuals. The individual is a measure of society.
If society wants bad, the media shall be ready to supply it. If society demands good, the media shall make such arrangements. It all depends on society and its individuals and their tastes, as they are the consumers of news. Some experts visualise that very soon a particular medium or its programmes will be accepted if they are good and rejected if they are bad. But before that can happen, sufficient damage will have been caused to society.
Now the question is: Who shall change? Should the media change or reform itself to discharge its social responsibility? Should it change for the welfare and happiness of the public at large? Or should society change for the better?
For this, a set of values and a code of ethics are necessary for both society and the media.
The Press Council of India, which is supposed to enforce values and ethics, is said to be toothless. It has to be rejuvenated. The owners of the media will have to be oriented towards the adoption of values and ethics. Society, being a composition of many individual ethnic groups belonging to various cultures, religions and different levels of economic status, requires the concerted efforts of all concerned. Political leaders, social leaders, opinion leaders and religious teachers shall strive for the restoration of values and ethics in society.
Media reflects society. Contemporary media is reflecting society in its entirety.
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