The Role and Power of Media in India

THE ROLE AND POWER OF MEDIA IN INDIA

M. Ramakrishnayya

In this article, the word media will cover both varieties, ‘print and electronic’. Although several important publications of the first kind have gone on line and thus joined the second kind, the roles and power of the two kinds remain somewhat different in terms of their influence and impact.

The print media consists of daily newspapers, weekly, fortnightly, monthly or quarterly magazines and specialised journals devoted to different disciplines and arts. The readership of the last category being restricted, by and large, to the practitioners of those disciplines, their direct impact on the general public is rather limited. Of course, important discoveries or innovations highlighted in these journals find their way through special columns or reports into the other two kinds of print media. It is, therefore, proposed to concentrate on the first two kinds in our quest to understand the role and power of the media.

The second category of print media includes magazines like Triveni, which to my mind are primarily meant to provide opportunities for self expression by academics and other intellectuals. Those who by their nature burst into poetry or wish to share their new-found understanding of ancient lore or their own interpretation of known facts are serviced by these magazines. There are, or course, other magazines which aim to I provide news and other information in a capsule form along with some analysis or even to entertain the readers with juicy tit-bits on personalities in the public eye. Some are attractively illustrated in recognition of the power of pictures. Some seek to influence the readers’ way of life, to spread fashions and to advertise selected products under the guise of imparting information, knowledge and advice, The readers are well advised to guard themselves against the hidden messages behind the attractive pictures while judiciously profiting from the information purveyed.

It is the first category, the news papers, that deserve most of our attention during a discussion of the role and power of media. The National Readership Survey (NRS), 2002 says that there are 180 million-adult readers of all publications in India, 70% of them being ‘light’ readers as contrasted from ‘medium and heavy’ ones, and that of these, daily news papers claim 156 millions, NRS also revealed two startling facts: (a) 48% of the readers live in rural areas; and (b) several Indian language papers have achieved dynamic growth e.g, Hindi papers accounting for 43.26% of daily circulation against 13.28% of English papers.

NRS-2002 has also brought out the impressive growth in the clientele of the electronic media. Television, terrestrial and satellite, is shown to have entered 81.6 million homes and to be serving 384 million viewers. Radio which has remained a state monopoly till recently, with a notional coverage of 99% of the geographical area, has shown a surprising decline in the number of its users due to the initial impact of TV. It is expected to regain lost ground after the fading of the novelty factor, with the entry of private broadcasters in the FM band and with the introduction of innovative programmes by AIR.

The new electronic media based on internet and personal computers has recorded its presence in NRS 2002, with 6.02 million viewers as against 1.4 million in 1999. However, its impact continues to be marginal, as most of the viewers have to depend on the cyber cafes and leave their homes for using it.

Having noted the main players in the Indian media scene, we may consider their roles. These are six fold:

(a) purveying information along with analysis;

(b) investigating selected events critically;

(d) Setting the agenda for democratic debate;

(e) propagating chosen view points; and

(f) entertaining the public.

Some or these functions overlap.

In discharging function (a), media persons are required by their unwritten ethical code to adhere to truth. Truth being multifaceted, information purveyed must be factual, accurate, and complete. The correspondent must verify, consciously anticipating the likelihood of error. Media persons may speculate but avoid the pitfall of baseless or motivated speculation. Functions at (b) and (d) put the media often in an adversarial position to the establishment, for example Bofors, Tehelka, Fodder scam in Bihar and misuse of food-for-work programme in Andhra Pradesh, etc. While investigating, very high ethical standards have to be observed. Otherwise, media is likely to suffer loss in credibility. For example, the deployment of call girls by the Tehelka operators has thrown a cloud over their otherwise commendable operations.

Function (d) has been hailed as highly beneficial. Prof. Amartya Sen, the Nobel Laureate has drawn attention to the role of free Indian media in preventing acute distress during famines and contrasted it with the experience in China where media was not so free. Recently Prof. John Dreze of the Delhi University, and his group have highlighted starvation among the tribals of Kalahandi in Orissa for setting the agenda for utilising the mountain of food stocks for public distribution among the families below the poverty line (BPL). The negative effects of the Chinese policy of suppressing information on the outbreak of SARS may also be noted in this context.

Function (e) has a salutary effect if equal opportunities are provided by the media for debating the different points of view. In recent times the Ayodhya question, the origins of the Vedic people (Aryans), and some other issues of historical interpretation have been frequently commented upon in the media.

Function (f) has the tendency to spread objectionable habits or practices, particularly among the youth. Explicit sexual scenes, titillating dialogues, and exhibitionist violence mislead young and uninstructed minds to emulate. Several instances ‘of crimes such as theft and murder have been reported as having been inspired by media presentations. Internet, in particular has been held guilty of misguiding the youth through chat sessions and pornographic displays. There is as yet no satisfactory method for safeguarding adolescents against these undesirable influences.

It is well known that in democratic societies, media is often referred to as the Fourth Estate and placed alongside the Executive, Legislative and Judicial arms of the state, so as to signify its power. Some effects beneficial and otherwise, of the power of media have been noted in the earlier paras. In addition, we may take note of the role played by media, in regard to the Gujarat riots of 2002. The English-speaking media highlighted the complicity of the state agencies and characterised the events as genocide, while the Gujarati media played down these aspects. It is still a moot point whether the two contrary presentations have helped to improve the ground realities to any extent. Readers are no doubt familiar with the picture of a Muslim tailor put out in the press and on the TV at the national level to bring out the terror experienced by the Muslim community. We are also familiar with the fact that as a consequence of the publication of this picture, the unfortunate tailor had to migrate to West Bengal for starting afresh peaceful life. Media’s power to do good or ill is indeed great. Every exposure in the media does produce good as well as bad consequences for the society at large.

What is the public perception of media’s role and power? In a recent lecture, N. Ram of the Hindu quoted E.B. Lambeth, the media scholar of U.S.A., as saying: “Accumulated distrust of the news media, scepticism of journalists’ ethics, and a resentment of media power are very nearly permanent features of the contemporary American scene.” Ram, however, affirmed that “the public’s perception of media power and its use in India seems to be a lot less negative”, although he admitted that his statement was only impressionistic and not based on an empirical study. He also noted with approval the observation of Prof. Prabhat Patnaik of the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi that “the power of the media as an institution has gone down greatly in India in the nineties”. According to the learned professor, erosion of power was noticeable in regard to issues relating to the poor and the suffering and matters of humane values on which the media chose to strike out on its own. He found that media continued to be powerful on economic issues, particularly those in respect of which it is ‘on the same side as international finance capital’. There are of course, honourable exceptions. To my mind, it appears that although there are elements of truth in Prof. Patnaik’s formulations it is not correct to ignore the impact of the initiatives of some media agencies in regard to starvation deaths in tribal areas, dowry-related incidents, problems of minorities etc. in which the interest of ‘international finance capital’ appears to be nil or at least, marginal.

To conclude, the power of media depends in the main on the manner in which it exercises the freedom guaranteed to it by the Constitution in performing the six functions listed earlier. Adherence to truth, balanced reporting, respect for justice and other humane values, acceptance of social good as the lodestar, in short recognition of social responsibility is the main pre-requisite for media to be powerful. Questions like ownership, the source of finance, dependence on advertisement income do influence the capacity of media instruments to adopt and practice the above salutary principles. How a particular media instrument will achieve an equilibrium amidst the opposing forces will have to be left to the future with mixed feelings of hope and despair.

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