The fourth estate...

In a democracy, every institution has their functional roles assigned which are necessary for ensuring the healthiness of the system.

All the institution i.e. legislature, Judiciary and Executives should be responsible and accountable. The constitution has ensured well defined roles and responsibilities which make them functional and coherent at the same time provided necessary checks and balances to ensure restriction on the abuse of their power. Because of the importance of these institutions they are termed as 'three pillars' on which the entire democratic system stands.

The forth pillar, though not defined in the constitution, is the media which has a very constructive role in educating and informing the citizens to build their opinion and exercise an informed choice.  The constitution has provided equal political rights to every citizen. The right to vote and elect their representative in parliamentary democracy is a very powerful and important right given to the citizens. The media plays a crucial role in informing the citizens about the programs and ideologies of various political parties and helping them in exercising an informed choice. It informs them about the social and political developments happening around them.

Media plays a very important role in creating awareness among the citizens about their social, economic and political rights they are entitled to. At the same time it provides a platform to vent their grievances which also act as a feedback to the government.

With increasing corporatisation of media and separation of financial and editorial power, media is now acting as a tool to further the agenda of power elites and big corporates. This election has seen an unprecedented use of media, both mainstream and social, and has witnessed its power in creating or rather manufacturing public opinion. A powerful medium can be misused to create false opinion and consensus that is evident from the high pitched campaign of BJP which ultimately turned out to be a huge electoral gain for them.

A backroom consensus has emerged among the political class and big business. They are now setting public issues to be debated on. The real issues of common people have been side-lined. The people of this country have been kept uninformed about the social realities. The large scale inequality that has been persisting has created two parallel societies. A society of affluent which is availing the fruits of the development and it is their concerns that are finding its place in the media. At the same time there is a society of downtrodden which is continuously getting marginalised. Their voices hardly find any place in the media.

There can’t be a shame bigger, that in a country where a person earning Rs. 23 a day is considered as rich and in spite of such ridiculous yardstick, 30 per cent of the population is below poverty line after 65 years of independence. A country where malnutrition among children can be comparable to that prevailing in sub-Saharan African countries... and that in a country where wealth is trickling up and is producing increasing number of billionaires… These contradictions hardly find its place in the mainstream media today.

The fourth estate of this country has completely surrendered in front of the market forces. Now it’s all about the game of grabbing more number of eyeballs… Now market is creating and deciding news.

The state of electronic media is pathetic. In the 24 X 7 format, there is hardly any content that qualifies of being news. Instead of raising healthy debate on issues and promoting rational and scientific temper among the people, they are showing all sorts of debris. The content and rationality of arguments is now decided by the decibel of the anchor in the newsroom.

Recently, when the Anna movement against corruption shook the entire country, media grabbed that opportunity and a ball by ball commentary had been shown. Similarly, in the outrage against Nirbhaya case, media played a leading role in creating an environment in which constructive debate and discussion took place. But at the same time, recently when four dalit girls, in same village of Haryana, were raped, this incident has hardly been reported in the electronic media. The public outrage that had been there in the case of Nirbhaya case was missing. Why this discrimination? Because in the market driven media, only those stories are picked up which has to have any concern with the consumer. The dalits of Haryana are not the consumers in the market. So who cares for them?

Now there is hardly any alternative available to bridge this lacuna. The state owned Doordarshan is struggling to mark its place. I can remember that in our childhood days what had been the importance of Doordarshan? In its golden days, it happened to be one of the reasons of our happiness. With all sorts of entertainment and informative programs, it shaped the conscience of an entire generation. It is a pity that now it is struggling for its own existence in the crowd of private channels.

The policies and negligent approach of the government are mainly responsible for it. Time has come to grant financial and administrative autonomy to Prasar Bharti. The reach of Prasar Bharti to the remotest and far flung areas is beyond any doubt. By granting financial and administrative autonomy, it can improve its infrastructure and attract the talent pool which will improve the content qualitatively and will make it not only popular but also representative of the social realities of this country. BBC of UK is the best example of a successful state owned media.

Until and unless the media of this country will not be made independent and accountable, the success of democracy in its true form will be doubtful. But sadly the present situation is way behind satisfactory level.

What had been envisaged as a watchdog of the democracy has now been turned out to be a cheerleader!!


Kundan