Journalists are traders of Truth. They empower the citizens of the country by communicating news on the current affairs. Millions of people decide upon their routine activities of their day-to-day life referring to the newspaper. Journalism is not just about communication of news from the source to the destination – to the common man. With numerous religions, linguistic and cultural diversity, various caste and community norms, Journalism, confronts several nagging challenges. In order to overcome those challenges, Press Council of India established essential guidelines to ensure accuracy, fairness and correctness.
The element of independence in the press is crucial to maintain the quality of press and the code of conduct of journalism. Any external forces, political, social or international, with vested interest could easily influence the common people in the way that can be detrimental for the people as well as to the whole country through press, and to prevent such disaster, there is an element of ethics along with independence. Ethic refers to the conduct that ensures communal peace and harmony. Truth is not an excuse to sensationalism. When millions of different kinds of people are reading the same news, the damage could be fatal if facts are distorted and delusive news is propagated. Any indiscriminate diffusion of unreliable or unverified news could trigger an adverse chain reaction in the country, which could take months or even years to contain.
The press is entitled to ensure financial viability by all legitimate means, but engaging in crass commercialization in cut-throat commercial competition with the rivals, will violate the code of conduct of journalism. Distortion or exaggeration of facts or incidents in relation to communal matters could easily trigger mass hysteria in the country. However, sensationalism in the press has seemingly proved commercially fruitful. With the incremental increase in the number of press organizations in the country, they seemingly adapted an unwritten code of conduct of journalism, which will ensure commercial gain and effective promotion of the press entity. Social responsibility of the press is subverted in the process of catching and entertaining the mindset of the people.
Importance of reporting accurate, fair and correct news is now overpowered by the self-seeking commercial domination in the press industry. Noble, virtuous and courteous journalists are replaced by aggressive, interrogative and persistently fearless journalists. Reports published on a particular issue are getting judgmental and defamatory. Provocative compositions are employed to sensationalize issues or to prompt the people to think and behave in a certain way that may seem appropriate to the agenda of the press. Social agendas that are incompetently deliberated by the press have grievous consequences in the society, and that has been going on for long. They have been instigating repugnance between the people and some political parties so that other political parties are benefited. Questions in the poll conducted by press are so composed that the result achieved is as per their desire. People’s opinions are sought with biased questions that will derive answers that are beneficial for the press.
After the feminist movement in
India, there has been a substantial growth of feminism in journalism. Women-related issues are given inordinate precedence due to which the quality of the press has significantly deteriorated. Increase in sophism has been observed with the increase in feministic journalism. The facts are getting distorted because of the preconception of the journalist, which is leading to perplexing transformation of the masses. Journalists are beginning to present facts in the fashion that appears appropriate to their own psyche. Social and National interests are getting defeated by the personal interests of the journalists. It has become an indispensable function of the press to cater to the political agendas of women groups. In the agenda of empowering women, feministic journalist are twisting the facts, exalting misconduct of women, amplifying crime against women, and infringing the rights of men. Male gender is criminalized and female-gender is labeled victims. People’s opinions are getting manipulated.
Press agendas are now getting amalgamated with the political ideologies. Agendas of the political pressure groups are been accomplished with the assistance of the press. People are misled by the press on the instructions of political pressure groups to believe delusive facts, which in particular, will give these pressure groups effective impetus to their vested interests. People are reading, hearing and seeing news what the political pressure groups want them to read, hear and see. Facts are distorted, truth is obscured, falsehood is rationalized, and slanderous statements are made only to achieve the ends of certain political agendas. Such deceptive conduct of the press has not yet been deemed a grave violation of the code of conduct of journalism as issued by the Press Council of India because they have yet to formulate strict disciplinary action toward the defaulters.
Trial by press has been a common phenomenon in the recent times, which essentially violates the code of conduct of journalism. Investigative journalists are concluding the judicial judgment in the pre-trial period on half-baked incomplete and doubtful facts, which violates the fundamental rights of whose character is assassinated by the press. Press’s initiation to persistently pressurize the legal system to act in accordance with the agendas of the political pressure groups and feminists movement has lead to social inequality and injustice. And in order to conglomerate the sentiments of ill-informed people to support their own journalistic assault on the Governmental conduct, they sensationalize their own justification and blow the issue out of proportion. Judiciary is compelled to act in conformity to the expectations of the press in order to avert journalistic assault, irrespective of the nature and authenticity of the issue. Instead of setting a harmonious and communally peaceful environment, press has been indiscreetly disseminating noxious sentiments within the society for their own commercial benefits and appeasing political pressure groups.
Press has now disempowered the people of the country. Truth is buried and vested interested of pressure groups are accomplished. Disorder and chaos is pervading the society, and people are helpless. People who are part of the political agenda are empowered and people who are excluded from the political agenda are abandoned ruthlessly.
This is Indian Journalism. Who will stop them?
