Is Indian Media Playing a Constructive Role?

“The current perception I get from the evening news is that the world is dominated by human failure, crime, catastrophe, corruption, and tragedy. We are all tuning in to see how the human mind is evolving, but the media keeps hammering home the opposite, that the human mind is mired in darkness and folly.” - Deepak Chopra



Now-a-days, Indian media is drawing international attention for presenting and projecting more of negative news than positive news. It projects India in a negative light across the world and also it fills the minds of the people in India with negative information.

When the skeletons came out of Satyam scam, media focused repeatedly on the issue without looking at the solutions to come out of the mess where the jobs of around 50,000 employees were at stake and also the image of IT companies and India as a whole. The television channels competed with each other in exaggerating the scam without highlighting the ways and means to come out of mess.


Challenges:

With the opening of media to privatization, more players came into the picture resulting into stiff competition. For their survival and success, these channels began bombarding with lot of spicy and unhealthy content contaminating the minds of the people. The inexperienced journalists and reporters in the media further aggravated the situation. There is no proper code of conduct in the media. Even if it is there, it is not adhered properly.


Solutions:

In other countries too, we find lot of competition among the media channels but they strictly stick to code of conduct. Government should come out with strict guidelines to make the media more accountable and responsible.

The channels are targeting the young population by spicing up its content. Instead, they should focus on the problems related to youth such as unemployment, unemployability and career related issues. The media should encourage and motivate youth in nation building process by playing a constructive and creative role.

There is a strong need to educate the reporters and journalists with ethics. Regular training will make them to fall in line within the system to be effective and ethical. Stringent action should be initiated against the journalists who misinterpret the content. It also sends strong signals to others erring and inefficient journalists.

Press is the fourth pillar in democracy. All four pillars should be strengthened to make the democracy vibrant. Press should focus on progress and growth of the country. India lives in villages. Highlight the problems of farmers and provide the ways and means to come out it. It should focus more on ideas rather than issues. It is rightly said, below average individuals focus on individuals, average individuals on issues and above average individuals on ideas.

There should be decency and decorum in presentation of facts and figures. Everything depends on the way the media presents. It can either twist or report the content as it is. The media cannot survive if it twists the information as people are aware of things with the growing literacy levels. Ultimately it boomerangs on the media itself thereby losing its credibility and relevance. Therefore, media should set its house in order before being rejected by the people.


Conclusion:

The media should avoid second guessing. It should fill the minds of the people with positive thoughts and make them think positively. The media can either make or break the democracy. If the media also goes corrupt then there is no difference between media and corrupt politicians. It is also like fence eating the crop scenario. It is time Indian media set its house in order and played a constructive to gain credibility.


The End