T.V. Media: Journalism or Advocacy?
I was 8 years old when my grandfather inculcated the habit of reading newspapers. We would read it the first thing in the morning and then watch the news on T.V. in the evening. Back then watching news meant a sign of maturity, that watching the news would make our minds grow and expand our thinking. A decade later, today, I wonder what went wrong with T.V. news.
The news broadcasted on our televisions is barely any news. We are made to watch what the government or the channel editors want us to see, not what we need to watch. Words are thrown around carelessly on live tv with no responsibility, while the truth gets buried deeper and deeper with each day of successful TRP (Television Rating Point). TRP that is given to them by us, the viewers. No doubt, T.V. journalism has become a source of memes and jokes for us, but what we oftentimes forget is that these jokes give them what they want. We, as the audience, are to be blamed for the joke we are shown in the name of journalism. Have we, the public, forgotten what news is or have we blindly started accepting anything that comes our way without questioning. It is hard for me to believe that they care about what the viewers think of their news or what impact their journalism has on anybody except those who give them their paychecks.
But why is it the way it is?
What happens behind the scene is a fact most people are unaware of. India once prided itself of its free press. Press had a strong role in democracy, after all, it is the 4th pillar of it. All of that has sharp come downhill over the past few years. Since 2014, censorship of media has been continuously increasing to a point where today, anchors are made to defend the government instead of questioning them. The wrong in it? The citizens of a country largely depend upon the media to know the whereabouts of their government, which is why the press must be unbiased. When the media itself becomes a PR agent for the government, not only does it endanger the role of the press in a democracy but the democracy itself.
Money. It plays a very important role in all our lives, just as it does in the lives of T.V. journalists. I once read an article about good journalism that said ‘You can either be rich or be a journalist’, of course, our T.V. anchors have proven this to be wrong. Big media houses need big bucks to run, this money indirectly or directly comes to them by the government so it shouldn’t be a surprise when anchors forget their journalistic ethics and become advocates trying to defend their client.
T.V. Journalism has no future. A journalist cannot be a hundred per cent true to their journalistic ethics until and unless they are independent, which in this case seems quite impossible. Our hope lies in journalists who fearlessly question, but when those journalists are murdered for doing their job, it makes me wonder whether India will ever see independent press ever again.
“I will do what I can & I will say what I should. These intolerant voices find strength in our silence. Let them learn to argue using words instead of threats.” -Journalist Gauri Lankesh.
