Indian Media On Fire

In India we have extremely large
scale to choose what to see on the television
or what to read. We have more
that 500 satellite channels and 70,000
newspapers in different languages.
India–biggest newspaper market in
world, where 100 million copies sold
each day. From last 20 years we moved
from state owned broadcaster Durdarshan to 500
different channels, of which more than 80 are
news channels.
But this growth may come at the cost of perfection,
ethics of journalism and honour
The media has taken some flanks in recent
months for being shallow, inaccurate and sometimes
damagingly obstructive. Markandeya Katju
(former Supreme Court judge), fired the first
broadside, exhorting journalists to educate themselves
more. It provoked a sharp reaction from
Media.
Dr. Amartya Sen wrote in his recent articles that
there are mainly two barriers in the main stream
media.
One – professional laxity, which leads to inaccuracies
and mistakes.
Two – class bias, in the choice of what news to
cover and what to ignore. He offers unexceptional
solution to ensure accuracy, newspapers should
publish corrections and journalists should be
given more training. Reporter should recheck his
data before publishing and broadcasting. There
should be some gaps in story or fake names and
numbering. It helps you to develop the accuracy.
There are serious concerns about the trivialisation
of content and increasing concentration
of media ownership in large corporate
groups. There is the nonstop breaking
news culture.
Most seriously, there is curse of what is
called paid news. This involves influential
people. Many politicians, paying
newspapers and news channels for positive
coverage.
How do we stop this?
Journalists like Mr. Guha, who was one of the
investigation team’s members for investigation
against paid news. He argues for increased transparency,
self regulation and competition regulation.
Why are India’s media under fire?

Twisted Indian Media

The first article is about the “twisted Indian
media”. Written by Sourav Roy. In this article
he speaks about the Medias approach towards
Indian society. Indian problems are unique. We
are an over-populated nation with fractured identities
and massive disparities. The national debates
we have been having since Independence
have changed, and the arguments around them
have multiplied. Multiplicity of debates may not
be seen as progress. The fact is that we are slowly
turning into a bandwagon whose one wheel is
being galvanized and polished, while the other
has been allowed to rust into grains.
Unfortunately, we have evolved into a society
that believes that problems can be solved just
through arguments. Arguments do not necessarily
mean an evolution in thinking, especially,
when these arguments are driven by the media.
In India there are people who can afford to eat
daily in McDonald’s, they do shopping in different
malls every day. On the other side nearly million
of farmers committed suicide in depression
since last 20 years.
Media highlighted IPL series and T20 world cup
games where people who live in Chawls facing 15-
20 hours of load shedding in the same city
Further he stated that media
simply stopped covering unprofitable
leads. Yes, the media has
become the new Indian god, deciding
the fate and interpreting
the world for all. This twisted
approach to journalism insults
the intelligence of the masses.
The data manipulation in news
papers reached at alarming levels. In India scams
are systematically hidden.
There are business correspondents who cover the
labour leads; there is no more space in news papers
for agriculture thing. The 70% of the population
is neglected just like that.
Newspapers have heavy political bias in India. In
a recent survey by the CRI, among the 25 most
important English newspapers circulated in
India, 16 favours the UPA, 3 favours the NDA and
1 is leftist. Only 5 newspapers in India are unbiased.
None of these five are among the largest circulating
newspapers of India.
Propaganda has taken the place of news
across the media. In India, you’ll hardly find any
news of the seven North-East States, nor will you
find accurate news from Jammu & Kashmir. Very
little news on scientific achievements remains
covered. We read excessive news of cricket which
extends far beyond the sports section. Other
sports are simply not encouraged. When was the
last time we had a cover story on hockey or chess?
We are served with meaningless film gossip and
useless news about celebrities, which shows how
much the PR agencies of these stars are paying
the media. Newspapers today have turned into
fashion magazines and have taken us far away
from real issues.
I want to ask a question here, we seriously don’t
care about our society? Where are we heading?
We become nostalgic?
Knowledge is strength. And the
media is a way to get knowledge.
But is this really possible with
biased media?
So we have to work hard here.
Start asking questions. Start
spreading knowledge you have.
This is how we can start for the
change..... !