On September 17th, Rajasthan Patrika published an article by the former national president of a national party and the current home minister of the country. It was not about the country or its problems; it was a “birthday compliment” for India’s greatest faqir and our Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It’s great! I think the newspapers are also publishing “birthday wishes” for the PM by not publishing news on the recession—how positive are the papers! Now, who is greater than the Prime Minister anyway?
Rajasthan Patrika is one of the most well-known newspapers in the country. It does not need any introduction because it goes to almost every household in India and is read with the morning tea. Now, why do people read newspapers?
People read newspapers because there is new information in them; the information that is the bridge between the country and the countrymen, and the information that “well informs” the people. That means people can see the country and the world through the newspaper’s eyes. But when the same newspaper starts showing them only one side of the coin, it is a matter of concern—because India is the largest democratic country in the world (according to the people), so journalism should be done with all fairness here. But no one is ignorant of India’s current journalism ethics. So we can directly raise the question, how did India become a democratic country? Because, as far as I understand, democracy does not run only through a franchise.
Democracy operates with freedom and thought—which neither people nor journalists have today.
So obviously it is useless to expect from the newspapers, because along with the news, expectations are also being killed.
A common man buys a newspaper for information, but he is unaware that he is being “polarized” under a particular “propaganda”. Due to technology, people say that robots are slowly replacing humans, but they do not know that the Indian media is establishing “robotic humans” who are driven by special thinking or team. The propaganda is being spread indirectly through newspapers, and the common man is the victim of it.
Most newspapers in India, which have access to the common man, only show news of particular men, but take money from the battered common man—who thinks ten times even before buying a toy for his child. He does not think even once while buying the newspaper—because he feels that it’s providing him with news and valuable information.
But if the papers continue with the propaganda, the day is not far when the common man loses faith in the newspapers and news channels. On that day, the faith will be lost in democracy and indirectly in the system of the country as well.