Fourth pillar of governance
Do you have any shame? Shouts the anchor in a prime time debate. Over the years journalism which has seen eminent personalities and has shaped the conversation of the society and direction of the country – is now reduced to an entertainment medium. Things have taken a turn for worse with the advent of news channels. The prime hour debates, which instead of being the forum of healthy thoughts has become a volatile mix of arrogance, high pitched voices where the moderator became the instigator. Add to this the never ending sting episodes each week and hype – with every channel competing for their pie do no good. At the outset, though it may create hype and impact, sting videos are just a shortcuts as they are not permissible. Its investigative journalism like the Bofors articles by Chitra and N Ram that make a difference, that pull down a government and create a change. Stories like Indian Express with the Cement scandal among many, but they do take hours of details and with no facts passed out by Reuters or AP.
At times we feel that news is pessimistic. There are a lot of success stories and social entrepreneurs and activists worth mentioning. But the only time TV anchors smile most is when reading cine and sports news with a pinch of gossip. I don’t say it’s not to be mentioned but is it important to take center stage. It has become a vicious cycle where sports and cinema produce news and in turn get popularity from channels.
Journalists have to undo this trend and – put sensibility before sensation; put facts before TRP ratings and put ethics before entertainment. It was journalism that changed track of Vietnam war, journalism that brought out sex abuse of catholic priests, journalism that showed the racial discrimination penetrated into mortgage lending…
Unknown
"Fourth Pillar". Which speaks on the shaky pillars of India.The visual media. The thoughts clearly visualizes how the debate should be and how it has to be discussed, all the more how it shouldn't be. But what to do my friend, they are not blessed to have thought provoking like you in their side. I think, the writing should be made at least as a flyer and should be distributed in all the so called institution which deals with studies on journalism as a good will effort, so that the future journalists could give a thought and that would change their thoughts on the current journalism