By Shweta Lohia:
The media is also known as the watchdog of the nation and it plays a very important role in communicating to the masses the fact that ‘with great power comes great responsibility’. However, big powerful media houses which are responsible for imparting true and correct information to the public have started to take their duties casually.
Navin Jindal, the Member of Parliament (belonging to Congress Party) and the Chairman and Managing Director of Jindal Steel and Power Plant revealed the ‘tricks and traps’ of the media industry. The former released a tape exposing the real face of the media. It showcased the Zee News members asking for cash for not airing the sting operation conducted by the TV channel. Later, Navin Jindal revealed the details of the meeting held at the Polo Lounge of Hyatt Regency in New Delhi on the 17th of September. He said “In this meeting Sameer Ahluwalia and Sudhir Chaudhary claimed that the deal amount will be Rs 100 crore, they further said that if our company agreed to pay their company a total sum of Rs 100 crore, they will not telecast any program concerning us and further they will improve /repair damage already caused to our company and its management due to the said programs.” We are shocked to see how the watchdogs of our country are only concerned about their benefits than their services! The Broadcast Editor’s Association (BEA) suspended Sudhir Chaudhary and a criminal extortion case against Zee News and Zee Business has been filed by Navin Jindal
The Zee group however denied the allegations put forth by Jindal and Punit Goenka, the Managing Director and Chief Executive of Zee Entertainment Enterprises in his defense said “This kind of allegation has happened in the past and may happen in the future. It doesn’t make any difference to us and we will stick to the truth. These are all pressure tactics“. Chaudhary and Ahluwalia further added “the footage released by him (Jindal) was edited/doctored. We see this as a deliberate attempt to malign and to defame us”.
While the ‘tu tu main main’ between Jindal and Zee News continues, an important issue seems to have surfaced; India is not only corrupted as far as politics is concerned, but the people who unleash these scams are themselves corrupt. It does not matter whether you happen to be a politician, a media house or an aam aadmi, when one acquires power, corruption accompanies it and then money seems to take over the mind of the person entirely. Media, like other institutions has also succumbed to the vice known as corruption. It has now become a big business which is fed by nefarious monetary deals while humanity and ethics have taken a backseat. These days, the media houses think about their profits and then do their services accordingly. News is just the name, profit is the game. Therefore the accountability of the press and the need for regulation is nothing but essential.