Media. By its true virtue it is just a medium which is supposed to store and deliver information through multiple outlets like print media, news media, broadcasting etc. However, one form of media has emerged which dominates all other forms of media: television media. In our country, we face a very grave issue of high illiteracy. Maybe, this is be the reason why television media grew so quickly in our country and continues to be the first and easiest source of information for the majority of this nation. However, with great power and influence, comes great responsibility. Television media has a big responsibility in terms of being honest and rightly delivering information because even the slightest of slip-ups can cause great uproar, and also because what is broadcasted on national television has to have some credibility, which is why nowadays we see that whatever is broadcasted on the television, a lot of people take it to be true. And delivering false or incorrect information would be cheating your job, the people of this country and the purpose for which media was initially built.
Sadly, in today’s world, we can never be sure of what news is true and what is not. We cannot be sure if the news is completer or not, if it is biased or not. And the developments of such doubts indicate some level of dishonesty by the media. As I see it, media now are more like business houses. The outlets (television media, printed media etc) all being individual houses which for the right price would bend the news here and there to broadcast news which is favorable to some and to the others not so much. Now, “cheating” is a big accusation, which is why to avoid such allegations, media channels find loopholes. The most commonly used is not revealing the entire story. The incomplete news, would (a) lead people to make uninformed and probably incorrect views and (b) would portray one to look worse or better than what he or she really is. This practice of holding back some information, revealing some information is not something that media forms should do. Such a practice is reserved to fiction authors, who can toy with the information in their fictitious stories. Fiction writers need to make their stories exciting and appealing, news on the other hand does not have to be exciting. Media is not supposed to be biased, or misleading but that is where we have come. Secondly, the television debates or discussion panels which are held usually have questions designed for conflict and criticism. The questions are set in such ways that even if one says yes or no, the person would be accused of something or the other. A simple example can be “Would you (you being the interviewee) build a mandir or not?” Now if one says yes, the allegations could be questioning the building of a “mandir” but not enough roads, hospitals, schools etc. Similarly, if the person says no, the allegations could be questioning one’s faith, loyalty, or in today’s case, even one’s love of the country. In such situations, a yes or a no answer is the desired outcome, which is then used to spice things up, to create controversy or conflict. And when the interviewee tries to justify himself or tries to avoid giving an answer so as to avoid any further controversies, the interviewee is then accused of not talking about the issues at hand and is tagged as incompetent or something that is so not true but in that fraction of a second the interviewee, on national television, is accused of something which he/she cannot justify as it would create more conflict and more accusations, and that tag sticks. This is how media in turn shapes public perception and hence influences them in ways that they or someone who is paying the right price, wants.
However, to say that all forms of media are corrupted in such manner or to generalize that “media” entirely is corrupted would be wrong. But even if there is one entity who is practicing such practices would do just as much damage. This is because firstly, our population wants to hear such news which has some “masala”, some twist to it and secondly, because this twisted news, by the word of mouth, would spread more than factual news again because of our public’s interest in such stories.
The only way to bring about change is by utilizing that influence media has over millions of people. If any form of media does not provide or support such twisted news, and instead project the reality maybe then will people’s mindset change. But it is important to understand that change may and should come from within but if people are so adamant to not realize the need and if people are going down the wrong path by choosing the incorrect, incomplete, false news just for the conflict, the kick in it, it is our duty as fellow humans to help them realize and to help them change for the greater good. And just as we raise children, by creating a safe, positive environment around them, do we need to change the mentality of people so that our society progresses towards a Utopian one, not a dystopian one.
