Media and journalism have become an integral part of India today. We get information from around the globe in a matter of seconds. But unfortunately, I believe the Indian media is a very biased institution on its own. There are layers of loopholes in today’s journalism. All we see today is either Left or Right. We tend to see things in black and white only even though there could be grey in between or any other shade for that matter.
Take politics, for example, one news channel is always expressing admiration for the government no matter what, while another is very critical of it. On the other hand, we see the media playing the prosecutor and the jury in high profile cases. It breaks every ethical barrier to be the self-proclaimed investigation agency, giving out every little detail of the ongoing investigation. Many journalists and news anchors are walking out of the big news channels complaining of propaganda and unethical nature.
Watching the news anchors and guests on panels yelling at each other could be traumatic too. This is an alarming concern because people from all classes consume news and often are influenced. There are greater things in the country to be thrown light upon — COVID-19, GDP, unemployment, healthcare; the list is endless. Another responsibility of the media is to raise an ordinary person’s voice to be heard by all. I believe when it comes to politics, one must be very sensible and be honest with the audience, i.e., praise where needed and criticise when required.
Every event, I believe, requires different amounts of coverage and care. To be very precise, journalism is all about ethics. There are private spaces of individuals that the media mustn’t intrude into, but we hardly see any of these guidelines being followed. Instead of passing verdicts on people or events, the media should wait for the facts to play out on their own and present the facts as they are. Eventually, the audience will conclude on its own.
The Indian population is sensitive, one tweet could create an outrage. As it is very rightly said, “with great power comes great responsibility”. The media, thus, has a great responsibility on its shoulders to inform people and not manipulate them. The immense power it has must be used wisely. It could do wonders. I hope we get to see some changes for the good in times to come.