Today in a world full of technologies, comfort and “clicks” of a few buttons, it seems pretty easy to get access to anything and everything. But the question is that this power to “access” is there to guide us or to misguide us?
Now everybody knows how media channels try to keep us hooked to the screens in order to gain TRP’s. What we don’t know are the other malpractices prevalent within the sparkling world of “media”.
One of them is deviating the attention of the masses from crucial events that take place across the world every other day, as many media channels prioritise the content which will help them in maximising their profits. For example, during the Kerala floods that occurred in 2018, instead of making it a priority, many news channels were busy in covering the fashion week that took place during the same time.
Such platforms forget the very essence of media in a democracy which is to disseminate information among the people about the issues that matter. Moreover, politicians have started using many prominent news channels to spread their political propaganda. If you just sit for an hour and watch a channel continuously, you will be easily able to understand the political inclination. Also when they are not showcasing any politically biased news, they are often serving us with crap like “swarg ki seedhiyan” “bhukamp k jhatko me neta ka haath” etc.
Media is called the fourth pillar of democracy for a reason, as it is supposed to be unbiased while delivering information to the public; back in the day, it did have these qualities. For instance, during the days of the Emergency, there was an attempt to “censor” the press. However, many journalists protested against it by leaving blank columns in the newspaper, to show that if the government tries to control and censor the press, they will not simply bow down out of fear.
As the consumer of information, it’s also our responsibility to at least verify the news articles, clips, images that we come across, and not believe in everything and anything that is displayed on our screens. Remember being opinionated is good, but it’s even more important to be aware.