“Is the Indian media biased?,” asked a friend, to which I said, “Undoubtedly, unapologetically, undiplomatically and unabashedly shameless and biased.”
Let’s not even get started on our TV journalism that’s creating a ruckus over the past three months after the death of a particular upcoming Bollywood actor. The reason for his death seems to be fishy in the eyes of the popular narrative, but it’s equally a popcorn-grabbing moment to watch what a particular section of the media or film industry is saying through a series of tweets — in this case, they are coming out in support of a young actress who has been arrested just a month before Bihar goes to polls.
I refrain from watching any sort of TV news channel debates, the sole reason being the toxicity of the newsrooms. The mushrooming of many independent media houses, often termed as ‘presstitutes’ by mainstream media, offers a glimmer of hope amidst the ‘NEWSance’ around. The fourth pillar of democracy should have played a major role in living up to the saying from the Mundaka Upanishad — Satyameva Jayate — which means truth alone triumphs.
But unfortunately, we only and only end up watching gossip, hate-mongering with neighbouring countries, and also get to witness a lot of media trials. Even viral remix songs such as ‘Rasode main kaun tha’ is getting discussed with the best ever conclusion that ‘Rahul he Rashi hai’. This is the level of content that is being disseminated in front of the audience and a huge chunk of this very population is consuming such entertaining news hour debates just like they have been enjoying regressive daily soaps, most of which start with the letter ‘k’, or ‘क’ of the Hindi language. This ‘k’ or ‘क’ should instead be used to ask (kyon/क्यों) important questions to those who have been elected to power.
Death Of Democracy: Question, Learn, Unlearn And Relearn
Death of democracy as a hashtag has been trending because of yet another successful actor who recently got protection/security cover that many other prominent people from society are deprived of. But is democracy really dead? Democracy has died a thousand times already during Emergency in 1975, when there was serious repression of the press, with some leading newspaper publishing blank pages in protest. Democracy also died with the assassination of India’s Iron Lady and the killing of 2,000 people from a minority community that is known world over for providing free food and other essentials to the needy through their concept of ‘community kitchens’. Many of them still await justice, and it is because of this democracy that every year they are able to hold a protest rally in Lutyens Delhi seeking justice!
Democracy also died with the exodus of another minority community, 30 years ago, who till date are internally displaced and have been used as a political scapegoat without the formulation of any sort of repatriation. Democracy must have also died when the ‘monumental’ decision was made ahead of Independence Day celebrations this year. Still, the country is alive because of this very democracy, no matter how many times people and groups have tried to hit the very soul of the nation.
And this idea that there won’t be any lynching of the democracy 20 years later is a utopian dream because dreams, aspirations and our societies were never egalitarian in the first place. Hence, to realise those aspirations, democracy will die in the future only to come alive again! We need to understand that this democracy isn’t a free gift; it is something our forefathers have earned because of years of struggle. In hindsight, today’s struggle for keeping our democracy alive will determine tomorrow’s future.
TRP Hungry TV Journalism Paving The Way For Majoritarianism
Representing data in form of simple graphs on the basis of a comparative study on a number of debates conducted on various issues, and making videos that portray the ‘compare and contrast’ of different media houses have been playing a huge role in journalism because numbers and facts make a lot of impact. Yet, even such upcoming YouTube channels have a very minuscule audience to cater to in comparison to the popular narrative of the mainstream media. Moreover, these independent platforms are branded as ‘leftists’ because of which they get an additional dose of abuses.
These upcoming independent channels are often satirical in nature. On the other hand, TV channels, speaking the language of majoritarianism, are often found promoting the idea of totalitarianism. When such a thing happens, diversity is in threat. Amidst all of this, real issues never make it to the headlines, and even if they do, they are not discussed or debated at length and given a show time of merely a couple of episodes on TV.
Example: Climate change as a topic is always far behind when it comes to grabbing headlines, except in popular newspapers, where they are mostly written in the editorial section or reported scientifically. How is it not a realisation that just as deteriorating political relations between two countries can put the lives of people at stake, in a similar way, climate change is and will bring about even more irreparable human tragedies in the days to come! It is an unseen war, but is a war that is putting countries at stake.
Lack Of Media Ethics
The death of a promising actor left the whole country grieving a few months ago. On the day of the incident, some pictures of the actor’s body were making rounds in many journalists’ WhatsApp groups. Like many others, even I happened to receive these images, wherein I had to reprimand at least two people for forwarding these in the first place. These journalists, despite having attended lectures on ethics back in their journalism schools, are clearly some of the most unethical lot of people one will ever encounter.
How does one not have the basic human value of showing dignity to a person who just died? Reporting of suicide needs extreme caution as it is a highly sensitive topic and can be a trigger for so many people! If we look at the following guidelines for reporting about suicide, we’ll realise that the Indian media has done exactly the opposite. Have a look at this tweet thread to get clarity.
The media trial that takes place is longer than a judicial trial, flouting all norms of code of conduct, making it exclusively unethical again. Media trials are different for different people, communities and sexes, and are often rooted in deep-seated sexism. Such shows have the mentality of showing people their right place, viz their aukaat in society, and hence enjoy a longer run-time.
This sets a trend of hating individuals, and people at large, wherein receiving hate mails and death threats become a new normal. Let’s not even get started on the hate speech that gets propagated by the various styles of reporting that have been adopted by news channels whose only aim is to malign a particular community or an ethnic group.
Example: Western media’s reportage of global politics after the tragic 9/11 attack in the US paved way for Islamophobic attacks in future. In fact, many Sikh men, often stereotyped as terrorists because of a common South Asian descent, have been repeated victims of Islamophobic attacks. Reporting based on certain stereotypes sets a dangerous precedent as it is taken to be the ultimate truth by its audience. This has further influenced how our national and even local TV channels seek to report about a specific community.
What we miss out in this entire hullabaloo is that such kind of reporting or writing fuels hate for other groups who might be a majority in the parent country, but a minority in another country. This gives rise to Hinduphobia (a trending term on Twitter these days), anti-Semitism or hate for Christians. This extreme hatred leads to persecution of people and can result in a refugee crisis. We need to remember that our portrayal or reportage on domestic politics plays a huge role in another country’s domestic politics as well.
In all of this, the one who is in minority suffers because we need to remember that democracy is about numbers and the majority wins — be it a majority of population, language, ethnicity, opinion or ideology!
How Do We Bring The Indian Media To Its Rightful Place?
Let’s leave all hope from our TV journalism for a while, just like we have left hope from India’s flagship air carrier. In both cases, we can’t live with it, but we also can’t live without it. Till then, let’s wish that one day, it will rise from the phoenix. It will make a comeback!
We are a young population with an average age of 29 years, and as a potent human resource, we have a huge role to play in bringing about a meaningful change. Yes, be that ‘Youth Ki Awaaz (voice of the youth)’! For subscribing to good content, one needs to pay. If we can pay for so many OTT platforms; when we don’t think twice before paying for that fat-laden highly prized pizza that will only and only make us feel guilty later; nothing should hold us back from paying a minimal fee for good quality journalism that ensures to keep it free and fair!
We need to inculcate a reading habit and get rid of the habit of accessing click baits. I am sure most of us must have had a phase of clicking that news link or watching that silly video because of that sensational thumbnail. Instead, make a shift to reading serious stuff — posts or articles that can actually affect you in one way or the other. If we can read long rants on social media, we can also consume really important stuff through digital media. We will become patient, we will start seeking for the truth and we will become investigative.
We need to remember that India is democratic; she has an open system compared to her neighbours, which consequently means everything is out in the public domain. This habit of reading or even viewing multiple sites sets a precedent indirectly to fight fake news. So, the next time you have an old friend or a middle-aged mamaji forwarding you memes or posts that turn out to be fake, counter them sarcastically with the actual news article, attaching all sources. It is very difficult to fight bigotry and stubbornness, but we have to break this chain as sensible, rational and responsible news consumers!
As news is multi-directional, akin to its acronym i.e. North, East, West and South, responsible journalism needs to ensure that it is not unidirectional from the point of view of the political spectrum. The fourth pillar of democracy is and should be a medium of checks and balances without getting into media trials!
Satyameva Jayate…