A critical essay on Ethics in India Media and road ahead

Prepared by Sachin Saxena (352) MBA (CM), Batch: 2011-13

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A critical essay on ethics in India media and road ahead

Indian Media Ethical or not

In a democratic country like India, the ultimate power lies with the people. But a democratic society needs vigilant and informed people who are able to see through the gimmicks of political parties and politicians. Media creates such valuable citizens. Besides, media has done much good to society by exposing various scams, scandals, frauds, embezzlements and many other cases of corruption leading to initiation of enquiries and other processes of prosecution against the perpetrators of these crimes. History is witness that press has been instrumental in putting an end to atrocities and bringing the downfall of ruthless dictators. In India, vernacular press did the job of uniting people against the oppressive British rule and triggered its end in the country.

Media that was a mission before independence grew as a profession after independence and of late it is being criticized for becoming a business without ethics and without any social responsibility. It is because the owners of print and private electronic channels are the owners of either a business establishment or an Industrial house or a financial institution. News, naturally in the hands of these businessmen became a commodity. News, which shall be a bare fact is now angled or slanted to make it marketable news. Media wanted stories in place of plain news based on facts. Editorial has become a dictatorial. 80% of our countrymen are living in horrible poverty, there is massive unemployment, skyrocketing prices, lack of medical care, education etc. and barbaric social practices like honor killing, dowry death, caste oppression, religious bigotry, etc. Instead of seriously addressing these issues 90% of the coverage of our media goes to entertainment, e.g., lives of film stars, fashion parades, pop music, disco dancing, cricket etc, or showing superstitions like astrology. No doubt the media should provide some entertainment also to the people, but if 90% of its coverage is devoted to entertainment, and only 10% to all the socio-economic
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A critical essay on ethics in India media and road ahead

issues put together, then the sense of priorities of the media has gone haywire. The real issues before the people are the socio-economic issues, and the media is seeking to divert their attention to the non issues like film stars, fashion parades, disco, pop, cricket etc. Does a hungry or unemployed man require entertainment, or food and a job? In 2008, Aarushi, the daughter of a doctor couple, was murdered. The couple has been hounded by both the authorities and the media ever since. If you see any news footage about breaking news or serious happening or a crime or a crime investigation, there is always Journalists acting as thugs. If you carefully rewind the footage, you could see cameramen, photographers, journalists jostling with one another to get sound bites from Rajesh talwar and in the process violating his privacy and free space! Most TV reporters are imposing their half-baked moral judgements on the audience because editors are allowing them to. Editors and publishers simply dont have the time, energy or money, or all three, to take them through the ropes. The BBC, a high-quality and popular news channel, is funded by the British taxpayer. As a result, it has pushed up standards of programming, forcing private stations to do the same if they want audiences. Maybe it is time for Doordarshan (DD) to do the same thing. That can happen if it is given real autonomy but with all the taxpayer money and legislative support it already gets. If audiences flock to DD or any other good broadcaster which has the luxury of ignoring competitive pressures, private broadcasters too will up the ante on content quality. And those who cant compete on it will move out.

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A critical essay on ethics in India media and road ahead

Indian Media The Road Ahead

Any newspaper or television channel has the challenging job of accommodating a wide variety of interests, and there is no point being in denial about this. At one end is the need to cater to a mass of people who seem to be on an endless buying spree, from cars to clothes and everything in between; at the other, the need to remind them that there are people who cannot buy even one square meal a day. The challenge for media organizations is to get the mix right, without compromising on the essentials of journalism. The worlds best newspapers (not necessarily the ones with the largest circulation) are the ones that have mastered this mix.

Conclusion
Media reflects Society. Contemporary media is reflecting the society in its entirety. Therefore, the Government, the Political Parties and the Media Owners etc shall make efforts for restoration of values and ethics in the Society.

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