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There once was a
beautiful country, where people lived in harmony and fraternity,
where love and beauty co-existed in a natural manner. The subjects
were ruled by a just ruler and cared for by the ethics and
moralities of ruling class. There was shelter to one and all. It
so happened that in this perfect system there grew a section of
scrupulous individuals propagating malicious ideas and enflamed by
their initial successes in amassing for themselves
disproportionate assets clamoured for extra attention. They
tweaked information reaching the ruler to cater to their personal
agendas, day to day affairs o society were presented in such
manner that it appeared to the ruler that there is some deliberate
effort by unknown forces to shatter his kingdom. As a result he
took drastic measures to safeguard his powers and in this process
started hurting his own people. The national integrity fell in
doldrums and the beautiful nation disintegrated owing to the
concerted efforts of few.
WHAT IS YOUR VERSION OF STORY??
For any egalitarian
society to survive it is essential that the necessary ingredients
of good governance, democratic participation, social upliftment,
equality, fraternity co- exist in natural manner but the most
important of them all is good, free and unbiased media, for it is
upon this foundation that the success of above ingredients depend.
Media’s importance is such that only the foolhardy can afford to
ignore it, present are some cases:
CASE 1: Silvio Berlusconi is a man of multiple tastes, he has ruled the
politics of Italy for quite long time now, this despite his well
documented misdemeanours. What has sustained his stranglehold of
power is clever manipulation of his work, this has been made
possible by his ownership of top three commercial channels, three
pay channels and various newspapers. These act as his mouthpiece
and the people are made to believe that he is best for his nation.
While the nation slips in debt and abject poverty, Berlusconi’s
pet media blared all positivities about the events creating a
false perception of development.
CASE 2:
NEWS CORP'S (owned by Rupert Murdoch) group has 37 % share in
Britain’s national newspapers circulation. Their manipulation of
facts is well documented and partisan reporting especially during
the times of financial crisis has seriously dented the progress of
equality. A situation was created through concerted media campaign
that resulted in taxpayer paying the burnt of spoils created by
faulty business strategies of financial conglomerates. While the
real perpetuators of this crisis the erring decision making CEO’s
still took up huge purses pay cheques, the general masses were
made to pay by losing jobs and paying tax to bail the companies.
CASE 3:
False creation of extraordinary complexities and danger of
disproportionate magnitude to cater to the agenda of attacking
Afghanistan, Iraq etc.The
perpetuators of violence used the media in extensively projecting
extraordinary circumstances to serve as pretext for attacking
these hapless countries and serve their interest of favourable
government. The president of the errant nation ranted to an
enchanted audience in united nation about the dire need of
attacking the poor countries for some weapons of mass destruction
which they were never able to fnd. The media was found to be hand
in gloves with the efforts of the erring rulers and constantly
blared rhetoric to justify its actions and project terrorism as a
serious threat.
NEWS PACKAGING
For any effort to be
successful it is very important that it is supported in the right
earnest and belief. Packaging news is integral part of media
powerhouses. Any event caused especially in sensitive areas has
the potential to fare up into serious situation hinging on media
reporting of sporadic cases of violence. While the situation of
such fragile areas depends solely on the reporting, the media has
been found wanting in many such cases for example during height of
Punjab militancy problem the local press was forced to comply with
the diktats of local warlords to primarily develop a fear
psychosis in general masses and fuel the need to form groups and
support anti- social elements. The world scenario is akin to such
polarisation wherein a deliberate situation is created to project
mass terrorism as prevalent in society resulting in polarisation
and stereotyping of particular community. The unfortunate part of
the story is that all this is done basically to promote the
growing arms sales with the concerted mechanism of media
reporting.
Most of us are aware
of the so called weapons of mass destruction that were supposed to
be the pretext of attacking Iraq. Of course all of it was possible
due to relentless media campaign sustained by lies and blatant
lies. Another case in this point is the advertising gimmick
relentlessly followed by the corporate bigwigs. While it is the
product stability and performance that has the final say on
success of product, the initial euphoria created by outrageous
propagation of product knocks off the sensibilities of consumers.
A case in the study is the film promotion done by the producers
before the launch of any movie, such is the power of media
influence that a big budget movie with a bankable star is a hit
within a few days of its release even before the movie can be
analysed through the prism of art of movie-making. As a result
many a good low budget and technically brilliant movie loses the
plot to under-cooked but better projected movie.
With the sudden
explosion of so much variety of media reporting agencies and 24x7
news there has been found a tendency amongst the channels of
sensationalizing the news content. While this is not only
detrimental to our sensibilities, it also serves a negative and
malicious propaganda of eyeball grabbing and falsification of
genuine content. Of course media with such powers of persuasion
can perform positive works to create a egalitarian society.
Media can make
people aware of their rights and highlight instances of social
inequality as in the recent cases of tribal injustice in Andaman
and Nicobar. The newspapers provide instant national coverage for
aggrieved and acts as a deterrent for the perpetuators of such
injustices. It can serve the purpose of bringing to light the
ground reality of societies.
Media can give
publicity to individuals and organisation which are working in the
areas of securing human rights. This shall encourage them and
provide a positive impact for others to emulate. Moreover for any
media to share positivism is healthy on part of building optimism
in masses, for example the extensive coverage to Anna Hazare
movement was mind boggling, although the jury is still out on the
relevance of such outrageous publicity accorded to one man. The
interesting part is the lonely struggles carried on by some other
social activists like Irom Sharmila and Binayak Sen. Although the
need of the hour is not to accord extra attention on every
individual but at least positive and impartial attention can be
accorded to people like Medha Patekar for their humanitarian
efforts.
Media can provide
means and methodology to masses to fight their cases for example
relentless media campaigns in information about right to
information act have resulted in greater participation of people
and accountability. Campaigns in newspapers and televisions
promoting peace and values and criticising indecent behaviour are
necessary to develop the youth to inculcate positive values.
...there
were Three Estates in Parliament; but, in the Reporters’ Gallery
yonder, there sat a Fourth Estate more important than they all
burke
Media can positively
serve the purpose of link between the lawmakers of parliament and
the people. They can highlight the problems faced by the people
and create pressure for its implementation of necessary remedial
measures. The press gallery present at the parliament has the
important function of being a impartial observer and upholding
values of the house while ensuring that the parliamentarians
maintain ethos and moralities befitting their stature.
Media
can serve the purpose of positive consensus on issues concerning
humanities albeit following a different path, for example ‘AMAN
KI AASHA’
an initiative of leading daily has the intention of bridging gaps
between politically hostile countries.
More such measures
such as journalism with courage, unbiased reporting from sensitive
areas has helped a lot many individual and communities develop
into better contributors to society.
Media can play an
important role of mass sensitization for preventive measures
especially in cases of calamities, a good case point in this
initiative is the polio eradication programs that has seen
successes in past, more such initiatives such as dots and aids
eradication are being promoted and in the process of seeing
success. Programs on state run channels and privately owned ones
promoting child welfare, eradication of child labour and dowry are
necessary for general development.
Media can play the
greater goal of ensuring parity to the marginalized and deprived
society who otherwise are subject to subjugation. For any healthy
egalitarian society to exist in harmony it is essential that
voices of dissent must be heard and media can serve the purpose of
interpreter of such voices, for this priority to see success it is
essential that media plays a impartial and balanced view.
Media can bring to
light injustices and subjugation on humanitarian crisis and
develop a national consensus on futility or relevance of action,
for example the masses turned up against the war in Vietnam seeing
the reporting of humanitarian crisis unfolding in the aggrieved
nation. Unrelenting pressure on the government agencies in light
of media reporting of sub-standard conditions at commonwealth
games, 2G scams have resulted in high profile arrests in political
circles. This goes a long way in acting as a deterrent for future
defaulters.
Media can get its
together in bringing forward issues concerning the basic
development of humanity for example it can work towards
development of national consensus on implementation of
governmental policies such as national food bill and right to
education act. Many policies of the ruling class are unable to
achieve the successes they aspire to attain owing to lack of
coordinated efforts on ground level, media can fill in the gaps by
simply leveraging its clout on the basis of reach.
Media can develop a
systematic procedure that can benefit the neediest, on its
initiative lies the responsibility of exposing the under-belly of
any society. Efforts in the direction of bringing to light
atrocities must be coherent and organised without the intention of
creating sensationalization and majority backlash. Reports like
Sachar committee on minorities must be given due space in
reporting for if we continue to ignore and suppress such genuine
facts chances are heavy that we may end up in the labyrinth of
unending maze of violence and more violence.
CONCLUSION
The present
situation in world scenario calls for cautious optimism and
balanced viewpoint to establish an egalitarian society. While most
of the media in the world are big corporate owned, however the
mechanism of unbiased reporting and truthfulness of fact
presentation is still prevalent in most democracies like India.
There
are international watchdogs that ensure justice and equality, and
this goes a long way in providing the necessary support. The press
council in most democracies are very strong but the influence of
interest groups is also prevalent. In such situation it is
necessary that the self regulatory measures of media companies are
strong enough and power centralization should be diluted so that
individual influences are negated. Community participation is need
of the hour to promote a sense of belonging in this sector,
pluralistic media must be entertained to absorb different cultures
and inclusiveness. Newspapers in different languages must be made
available to promote equality and mass participation. The media on
its part must take up lead in being the impartial observer
reminding about rights and duties while maintaining its status.
Only on this path of truthfulness and equality can we get the
kingdom of yonder, where the just ruler will govern over his
subjects with patience and equality. The partisan reporters can
take the role of impartial observers and contribute to the system
of perfectness. The nation can renew its glory of justice and
fraternity including punishment of anomalies to how much it
deserves.
The writer,
Syed Asim Raza, is the 3rd year B.Tech student
at Aligarh Muslim University (AMU). The above article won the top
prize in
the National Essay Competition organized by the AMU in 2011.
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