Free Media?
“Media is claimed to be the fourth pillar during a liberal democratic society. Through the last five years, majority of Indian media houses seem to have immersed themselves in loads of braggadocio. This article seeks to discuss the issues which current Indian media faces.”
The first quarter of a new decade of the 21st century has drawn a new reality into the lives of ordinary people. The society has been directed to stay at home in self-isolation including maintaining a social distancing protocol even with the family members. Several television channels have started airing old soap operas, some classic old movies, some historical sport matches to keep the common public immersed into nostalgia and involved. Apart from these soap operas, historical matches or classic cult movies, there is another section of media which is been extensively viewed by the public primarily during the current, pandemic situation which pretends to enlighten the common public with current affairs and keeps them versed. But is it the truth?
“News” is considered as a source responsible for reaching out to common people irrespective of their social standing or ethnicity with the undeniable current news and revelations of the society via different media like printing, broadcasting and electronic media. The news is presumed to cover the general domains like education, health, environment, economy, business, sports, entertainment and politics. Though it appears like the media in India has added a distinctive field in journalism which seems to be unapologetic jingoism.
Returning seafarers and explorers through the older times managed to deliver the news to the regions via word of mouth which was before the printing press invention. As the news used to be communicated to the citizen of mainland via word of mouth and ancient correspondents oftentimes recorded the information. The authenticity was profoundly unreliable, so once the printing press was developed the oral message media of news transmission soon faded. “ Avvisi” or newspaper was first been introduced to the general populace during the early modern era, the Avvisi were manuscripts which used to convey political, economic , and military news throughout Europe and more specifically in Italy. By the title , “Gazette de France” and aid stretched by Louis XIII, his physician Theophrastus Renaudot established France’s first newspaper. However, the publication was subject to pre-publication censoring and served as a medium of propaganda for the monarch. Several European nations have various timelines where they had prefaced newspapers to the general public for their understanding and keeping them awareness of current scenarios. Anders Christensen Boarding, a Danish poet and regarded as the father of Danish Journalism had preceded a state newspaper in 1666. During the early days of Danish news media, the censorship was handled by university officials. Denmark had grown as one of the first countries in the world to provide press independence in 1770 but had ended by 1799. The Danish press led by intellectuals and civil servants from 1795 to 1814, spoke more about the oppressed tenant farmers against the old aristocracy. In 1834 the first liberal newspaper was introduced which championed the revolution in 1848 in Denmark resulting in a new constitution in 1849 which liberated the Danish press. The press enterprises had flourished in 2nd half of 19th Century and initiation of mechanical machines in the printing industry was made in 1900. By 1901 the number of dailies were 5,00,000 which had doubled by 1925. During the Nazis in control, the German occupation had induced informal censorship , and much offendingnewspapers houses were blown up into ashes.
“ Hicky’s Bengal Gazette” under the editorship of James Augustus Hicky was an English language newspaper printed and circulated in Calcutta (now Kolkata) during the 1780s which is now considered as the first newspaper in Asia. Latter on by Pt. Jugal KishoreShukla a newspaper by the name of Udant Martand was printed and circulated in Calcutta from 30th May 1825 onwards. As India was going through the British Raj phase the Anglo Indian newspapers majorly propagated the British interests , whereas, two English newspaper that is Times of India and Statesman founded by and Englishmen Robert Knight promoted Indian nationalism. India has seen hard time throughout the British raj and print media and journalism had played an essential role in the freedom struggle of the state. Payem-e-Azadi, a publication in Hindi and Urdu was started in 1857 calling upon the people to fight against the British Raj though soon confiscating the newspaper Lord Canning restricted newspaper and periodicals under the Gagging Act. The newspapers had impersonated a vital role during the struggle against the British Raj. “Hindi Patriot” by Girish Chandra Ghosh had become quite popular and Neel Darpan a play which was issued in Hindi Patriot had urged the people to stop cultivating yields forwhite people which followed in the formation of Neel Commission. The paper used to actively oppose the British government systems and demanded Indians to be appointed to top government posts. Apart from these newspapers, other publications like , “Indian Mirror” and “Amrita Bazaar Patrika” were quite critical on the British government. 1927 was a year when India saw a substantial development in the media industries and Radio broadcasting had commenced and later on was renamed as “ Akasvani” and became a state’s responsibility. In the year 1959 limited television broadcasting was initiated followed by complete broadcasting in 1965. “ Doordarshan” controlled and managed by the Ministry of information and broadcasting remarked a new revolution in the episode of Indian Media.
When the Indian Media was kick-starting into radio broadcasting and maturing its print media, a spectre of Nazism was conquering the German Mainland. Propaganda through various means played a crucial role in Adolf Hitler lead “The Nazi Party” to come into power. The pervasive use of propaganda had played a crucial role in maintaining power and implementing Nazi policies and was stimulated by the Marxist socialists who had a masterly approach on how to implement the propaganda into practical use. The Nazis comprehended that propaganda is a means , and it must be designed in such a way as to be competent enough in attaining its objective. The propaganda which was preceded by the Nazi party was not to investigate the truth objectively rather it centred more on one-sided inclination exhibited subsequently as per theoretical rules of justice. The Nazis also made it sure that any alterations made in the propagandist message should render the same conclusion in favour of a precise side only. From 1919 to 1937 Adolf Hitler had put the propaganda ideas into practice through the reestablishment of “ Völkischer Beobachter” in 1925 a German daily issued by the Nazi party. During this time most of the Nazi propaganda remained limited and focused mostly on Adolf Hitler and some other leaders. By 1930 Hitler appointed Joseph Goebbels who was a student of literature and history in Universities of Bonn and later obtained Doctor of Philology, as head of party propaganda. By 1933 Ministry of Propaganda was established appointing Joseph Goebbels as the minister. The ministry generated guidelines which were to establish mainly enemies into the mind of the general public. As per the Ministry, they hadcategorized broadly two types of enemies which were external and internal. The Jews were mainly positioned as internal enemies into the mind of German populace. During the pre-world war II era, the propaganda campaigned around the false flag on Operation Himmler to create an aggressive Polish appearance in the German minds. Anti-Semitism is defined as discrimination against Jews was well established within the minds of the German population , and spreading propaganda against them by blaming them of theft and resistance for physical labor. The propaganda asserted , “three vices” of Jewish Marxism which were Democracy, Pacifism and Internationalism. The Nazis had declared a movement with a mission to annihilate , “Jewish Bolshevism” or also known as “Cultural Bolshevism .” Nazi propaganda also targeted the hereditarily disabled offspring, resulting in the introduction of a law for the prevention of hereditarily disabled offspring in 1933. A special Euthanasia program was introduced in 1939, by the name of Aktion T4. The Nazisfocused on presenting other nations an impression that NSDAP has the complete and passionate support of the German population. Joseph Goebbels who was appointed as the minister of propaganda played a distinctive approach by changing May 1st from Labor Day to NSDAP day. An impressive step taken by Germany’s Ministry of Media during the Nazi time which was passing a regime in 1933 “Schriftleitergesetz” or Editor’s Law which became a cornerstone for the Nazi Party to control press and mass media. It represented to some extent of a system introduced by Benito Mussolini of Italy. The system noted that any individual selected for the position shall be based on experience, education and racial criteria. The journalists were required to regulate the propaganda following Nation Socialism as a philosophy of life , and as a conception of government.
Meanwhile when the past is past let us come to the present analyze the modern media and journalism domain in India. Few months back a distinguished news anchor stated in his expose revealing an ominous situation of degenerating newsrooms of India. The expose had revealed that the govt of India had employed 200 staffs to observe the media and send directions to the editors on how they have to report on the activities of Prime Minister. It has also been noted that the current political party at helm, BJP has been pretty discriminating in handing out TV licenses to new applicants. Currently, our nation has more than 400 news channels which are beaming 24x7 through your television sets in 22, official languages. Unfortunately, the Nation is experiencing a rise in new kind of news anchors who are rude, offensive and unapologetically nationalist. The news agencies seemed to have beaten out a new recipe which consists of panic and ambivalence which seems to be sweetening off by the means ranks. The news agencies quote controversies, disagreements and seem to have now pioneered into high decibel journalism. As the current scenario of the pandemic has shaken the media platform but in India, it seems that the news agencies have successfully converted a viral disease into a communal distress. For more than a week, all the highly rated news agencies are trying to pinpoint an ethnic group and convicting them for spreading the news. Targeting a specific ethnic group has become a regular practice of highly rated news channels to keep the common public indulge into judging the ethnicity. Through different prime time debates, it is now been observed that a specific ethnic group of people have been portrayed as a aggressive and repulsive towards the general public. By propagating the food habits, way of preaching, their religious beliefs, a spectre of hatred has been generated and spread in the minds of common people. When the nation is crippling with the health infrastructure crisis, the economy has gone into a tailspin and more people are suffering from hunger rather than the disease, these news agencies have decided to focus more on only the ethnic group and how to malign them. The Nazi war propaganda had mentioned that when the Nation is at war and is fighting for its existence, “to be or not to be” needs to be answered, all humane and aesthetic consideration needs to be kept aside must be prevented from entering into the struggle. The Nazis also mentioned that ruthless methods and quick decisions play a vital role rather than humane feelings. But the question arises that Are We at WAR? And if Yes, then With WHOM? Is It with Our citizen?
A glim ray of hope can still be seen from those news firms which are small yet blooming who comes up with reports, current news which benefits the common people in understanding the real administrative and financial scenario of the country. Nonetheless, they are also been targeted by giants judicially or by slandering them over the national media, but thanks to their determined commitments towards press we can expect fair journalism. The press plays an essential role in the society by educating and making the public aware of the prevailing situation but currently, however, more inclination is being observed towards the unapologetic nationalist media houses which are been tuned and governed by a specific political party but sooner or later the graph which has rapidly gone up shall also rapidly come down. Journalism with honesty shall again be seen in the television sets. The spectre of biased media shall be gone soon.
