Indian Media - Has It Lost All Credibility?
“The media are not the holders of power, but they constitute, by and large, a space where power is decided.”
#opinion
In the 21st century, media has emerged as one of the most dominant tools to ensure the proper relay of information. In a democracy like India, with as many opinions as people, this broadcast of information becomes vital for survival. The political situation in India, which is highly volatile even at the best of times, calls for a safe platform for people to debate and express dissent.
Ironically, this very same source has transformed into a propaganda machine that churns out biased information. Of late, Indian media has undergone severe scrutiny, and has been accused of having lost its true purpose of reporting facts, catering instead to the interests of specific groups.
Media and Politics
Since media acts as our main source of information, it can pretty much shape public opinion regarding any major issue. However, in India, there has been a worrying trend in recent times, when media has spun the narrative in favor of hidden agendas of influential people and drifted away from its true purpose to relay information.
The association of power with media goes back a long way. It is a very useful tool in manufacturing public consent and amassing support. And over the years, multiple attempts have been made to establish control over this flow of information. These include direct control by imposing strict laws and legislation that limit the scope of what can be reported, influence through state funding such as for advertising, or covertly by the way of owning the media.
Media Owners and their Political Links
With the giant leaps in technology in the last few decades, the face of Indian media has changed significantly. The media industry has seen a severe boom, expanding in unfathomable proportions, in terms of the number of outlets, whether in television, radio or newspaper. While this is an impressive trend for market growth, it poses several challenges.
The people who are in power have also been able to influence the propagation of information through the media, by partially owning these outlets. This makes the news presented highly biased, prepared so as to present competitors in a negative light while simultaneously painting themselves as saints. This significantly affects the perspectives presented in the reporting and bias becomes unavoidable in such circumstances.
Many media owners have direct or indirect links with politics. The sheer number of politicians and political parties in our country makes it difficult to even analyze the situation correctly. But it is evident that media owners with political links control a sizeable share of viewership/readership.
Take the case of Rajeev Chandrashekar, the pioneer of Republic TV, which constitutes a commendable portion of the English news segment in India. He is also a member of BJP, the ruling Bhartiya Janata Party and is their representative in the Rajya Sabha. After he secured his seat, he formally resigned from the management board but the channel has never been able to shake off its perception of being a BJP-friendly television news channel. His company also owns many regional news channels as well.
It is starkly evident that media is owned by those people who have direct access or are in close proximity to power.
Government Advertisements in Media
Media houses these days are highly dependent on advertisement revenues. Since a majority of their advertisements are from the central and state governments, it is another way to get them to toe the line and cover up any blemishes of the government. With the sudden increase in the number of media houses, the conscientious, socially accountable reporting days have been left behind, replaced by a profit-driven race to the finish without an ounce of moral responsibility.
This dependency on government funding ensures that media always produces favorable coverage for the government and spread their agenda. The financial struggles of several media companies, especially smaller Hindi newspapers whose reach is quickly dying out, make them more vulnerable to such dependencies and therefore control mechanisms.
Apart from the official advertisements, there are also political parties’ advertisements. The BJP is the biggest advertiser in the past five years. The party had 22,099 insertions (number of times an ad is aired on TV) in less than one week (between November 12 to 16, 2018), which was almost twice as much as the second-largest advertiser in the country — Netflix. The BJP ranked number two for the preceding week, while the Congress party did not even feature in the top-ten list. This causes less coverage of the opposition party, and much of the limelight is fixated on the ruling party and state governments only.
Why there is a pressing need to oversee media regulations?
The increasing control that the government and political parties have on the media is nothing short of suppression and limiting freedom of speech and opinion. It has also, on multiple occasions blinded people from matters of real interest.
Take the instance of the farmer protests which occurred after the ‘anti-farmer laws’ were passed by the Indian Parliament in September 2020. These acts were met with widespread criticism and protests by farmers. But most of the Indian media turned a deaf ear to these pleas for help, some even labeling these farmers as anti-nationals and terrorists (there was a time when they were called the backbone of our nation). The very few news channels that did report the issue did so half-heartedly, merely to fulfill an obligation to the opposition’s protests.
Social Media Platforms and their Interference
As the issue escalated and our media continued to neglect their duties, social media platforms soon showed up, vocalizing their support for the cause. Social media platforms gave voices to the common people of India who were being marginalized and sidelined. Many international celebrities spoke up for the farmers, thereby letting the public know both sides of the story and helping them choose their sides by themselves.
Social media is redefining how people connect, communicate and influence one another. Most of our country’s youth rely greatly on these platforms to know about issues and have started forming their views on political events, even influencing the decision-making process.
Political parties have even started conducting social media campaigns, targeting the younger demographic. The Aam Aadmi Party in the 2013 and 2020 assembly elections, and the Bhartiya Janata Party and Indian National Congress in the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections, are a few examples of successful election campaigns through online platforms.
“The thing about social media is that it is anonymous, so it can be much more vitriolic and extreme than normal media and yet it is there for everyone to see. It is kind of like electronic graffiti. The political process is accelerated and intense in a way that I don’t believe it ever really has been before”
-Tony Abbott
But obtaining news from social media platforms has severe drawbacks. Since these platforms offer anonymity and zero accountability for any news shared on it, facts may always be distorted, thereby worsening the situation. The multiplying spread of information across numerous social media platforms also makes it impossible to exercise any control over the information.
Also, social media platforms rely greatly on the time you spend using them. They could manipulate your screen time by showing you the news they presume you’d like to hear. This often results in you being unaware of both sides of a pressing issue and becoming unknowingly biased.
Both ECI and Social Media platforms are taking action in restricting fake news, hate discourses, and disinformation because if left unchecked, this can undermine democratic processes in our country. This is where the role of proper news platforms becomes crucial. If there exists an unbiased flow of information to the public, news channels that only report facts, and all the facts at that, then people wouldn’t need to resort to social media platforms to obtain information.
Today, there are no regulatory safeguards against political control over media in India. But the need for such policing has become necessary for our democracy to thrive. It is high time that Indian media fulfill its real purpose of serving the people, holding true to its code of ethics and professional integrity.
Disclaimer: We are a platform which allows all views to be represented without bias or discrimination. This piece is not to be judged upon as the final stance of MUNner’s daily or MEC MUN Society.
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