Democracy
indicates a government where the representatives are elected by the people, for
the people and of the people. It’s a system where the representatives of the
people delegate the terms, ways and functions of the government. In such a
system people have the right to live, learn, get entertained, practice and
therefore grow. It’s a political system that guarantees its citizens freedom
and provides them with opportunities to grow.
There are
three basic pillars in a democracy: Legislature, Executive and Judiciary. In a
democratic setup media is considered to be the four and one of the most
important pillars. Media acts as an interface between the common man and the
Government. It is a very powerful tool with the ability to make and break the
opinion of people. It’s a means of forming public opinion by the means like
agenda setting.
Advertisements
from IDEA cellular network and TATA have send strong message in the audience
and stood out among their contemporaries as the thought provoking ads which not
only talk of their respective brands but also educate the masses.
Three things
that are important for any democracy are transparency, accountability and mass
conscience that can be built only when the masses are well informed. Media
plays a very important role in this process of informing and educating the
masses and therefore forming a public opinion about various existent issues.
Media thus play the role of a watchdog in the society and stands at a very
powerful position. It has the power to critique and comment on any issue or
working of any authority in the country. This puts media on a delicate platform
where it has to walk on a balance by being non-discriminatory in analysis and
objective in approach. Media has frequently been critical of various popular
personalities in the field of politics and entertainment. It has many times
wrongly over-talked of certain issues on one hand giving them unnecessary
coverage; while some other times it has under talked of many important issues,
as a result of which many important stories have gone unnoticed from the public
eye.
Anushka
Sharma’s cosmetic surgery was in the news for a much longer time than the
Defense Budget demanding better equipment for the Army Men. Similarly, Indian
Cricket Team is highly applauded when it wins a match or a tournament. On the
contrary, the same team is highly criticized when it loses a match. Such
sensationalism has gathered wide denunciation for the media itself where it has
been selectively critical time and again. Likewise, some politicians have been
much talked of and treated like ‘demi-gods’ in case of the Indian politics
while on the other hand some other politicians have been discarded and
disgraced to be a blot. This has raised serious questions on media.
There are
many theories answering this debate. One of the prime reasons for this
‘selective - sensationalism’ is often connected to the media ownership trends.
There are many media organizations in the country that are owned and controlled
by a wide variety of
entities including corporate bodies, societies and trusts, and individuals.
Information about such organizations and people is scattered, incomplete, and
dated, thereby making it rather difficult to collate such information leave
alone analyze it. The sheer number of media organizations and
outlets often conceals the fact there is dominance over specific markets and
market segments by a few players. The absence of restrictions on cross-media
ownership implies that particular companies or groups or conglomerates dominate
markets both vertically as well as horizontally. Political parties and people
with political affiliations own/ control increasing sections of the media in
India. The growing corporatization of the Indian media is manifest in the
manner in which large industrial conglomerates are acquiring direct and
indirect interest in media groups. There is also a growing convergence between
creators/producers of media content and those who distribute/disseminate the
content.
There are
ample examples to support this, particularly in the south where regional
politicians and their family members have launched television channels that are
used for political purposes. Channels like Sun TV, Kalaignar TV, and Makkal TV,
which all launched since 2000 and which are owned by local politicians or their
families, have used news broadcasts to provide favorable coverage to one party
or another. Some of these channels have also refrained from coverage of issues
that may where regional politicians and their family members have launched
television channels that are used for political purposes. Channels like Sun TV,
Kalaignar TV, and Makkal TV, which all launched since 2000 and which are owned
by local politicians or their families, have used news broadcasts to provide
favorable coverage to one party or another. Some of these channels have also
refrained from coverage of issues that may cast the party with which they are
affiliated in a negative light. For example, during the run-up to the last
major election, in 2009, Sun and Kalaignar avoided coverage of alleged
atrocities against Tamils in nearby Sri Lanka, in an effort to shield from
criticism the regional party to which they are tied.
Another
important aspect to be considered is the large corporate firms having stakes in
the media houses. According to research conducted by Dilip Mandal and R.
Anuradha, that has been published in Media Ethics (Oxford University
Press, 2011), the boards of directors of a number of media companies now
include representatives of big corporate entities that are advertisers. The board
of Jagran Publications has had the managing director (MD) of Pantaloon Retail,
Kishore Biyani, McDonald India’s MD, Vikram Bakshi, and leather-maker Mirza
International’s MD Rashid Mirza; besides the CEO of media consulting firm
Lodestar Universal India, Shashidhar Sinha, and the chairman of the real estate
firm JLL Meghraj, Anuj Puri. The board of directors of HT Media, publishers of Hindustan
Times and Hindustan, has included the former chairman of Ernst &
Young K. N. Memani and the chairman of ITC Ltd Y C Deveshwar. Joint MD of
Bharti Enterprise Rajan Bharti and MD of Anika International Anil Vig are a
part of the TV Today’s Board of Directors. The board of directors of DB Corp
(that publishes Dainik Bhaskar) includes the head of Piramal Enterprises
Group, Ajay Piramal, the MD of Warburg Pincus, Nitin Malhan, and the executive
chairman of advertising firm Ogilvy & Mather, Piyush Pandey. NDTV’s Board
of Directors has Pramod Bhasin, President
& CEO of the country’s biggest BPO, GenPact as a member of its board of
directors.
Under the
circumstances, paid news and advertorials have become a common phenomenon. Most
media houses have their loyalties towards some specific corporate houses and
political parties. What the masses get is not the truth but the version of
truth that is custom-made for them and served to them. Commercialization and
lack of a proper framework for media has resulted in corruption of media where
the watch dog itself needs some serious taming.
