I started watching the news in 2013, and I must say, the experience so far has not been what I was expecting. It was finally in 2018, after a long period of observing and waiting, that I feel the need to ask myself this: what exactly is news? All I have seen so far are adults in their immature, illiterate manner, nagging about how things aren’t the way they are supposed to be. What I observed is how ideas are strongly manipulated to sound favourable, much like how advertising works.
But what disturbed me the most, and made me question the existence of the concept of news is the fact that how this has become a platform for all global, economic or social issues turning political. What I mean is that news conveys a very political stand; be it in India or otherwise, news has deviated from its true purpose of information to misinformation. This I say as a representative of the youth, a common and now concerned young member of this society that is being tarnished by the misrepresentation of subjects through the media.
When I question the concept of news, I do not merely question its political stance but ask what really must news cover? It is a fact that the media and the news agencies have covered problems and events that matter less to the country while entirely discarding the essential issues. While media can thoroughly project the opinion polls during elections, there are faint attempts to cover sports achievements at the same time. The comments of certain party members are efficiently covered and debated upon while issues of poverty and welfare are trivialized.
Do they not concern the larger masses? In my opinion, the media agencies have become more economic, more profit-oriented and adhere to the mass mentality, feeding their requirements. Though there is a need to change the mentality of Indians, there is a greater need to facilitate journalism which is more neutral. There is a greater need to propagate awareness towards the mass. While media is the eyes and ears of a citizen, it seems to have worn blinders that narrow their vision and has put on earphones so that they listen to only what politicians have to whisper.