HOW TO CONTROL MEDIA?


Mukesh Devrari 

How to control media? This question is politically incorrect at least in democracies. Why anybody would like to control media? Nehru preferred free media which might have a lot of negative effects than an enslaved media which may have only positive effects for the sake of freedom, liberty and long term progress.

Let me answer the question, one cannot run away by dismissing it. People sincerely believe that the media in India has to be controlled. The content it creates is problematic. It spreads irrationality, sensationalism, jingoism and creates war hysteria. It is extremely biased and loyal only to their political masters. Viewers are looking for quality content. Our current media outlets, barring few exceptions, have failed in delivering objectivity and neutrality.

It is urgent to control media. The state can control media through laws. It is a tricky path. Any policy regulatory measure which is not known to western democracies will never be accepted in India. Any Idea which is not being already practised in the west cannot be implemented as Indian intellectuals are mostly relies on western arguments to justify or dismiss most of the policy measures. 

Still there is a lot of scope. Indians can learn from the best practices in the west which are being put in place to control media. It can make laws to curb cross-media ownership. It can empower regulatory bodies to punish and reprimand media outlets which promote irrationality, communalism and sensationalize the news. It can make laws to stop powerful corporate houses to control all media outlets.

Currently most of the news outlets function with a sense of impunity. They are aware that it is extremely difficult for anyone to question them for their content preferences. Theoretically this solution makes sense, but in reality, India cannot resort to laws to control media as it may open Pandora’s Box. It may lead to many unforeseen challenges.

What else then, we can do to control media. The second option is simple. We need more competition. We need to use market forces to bring balance in the narrative. That is the only solution to bring some sanity in mainstream media discourse.

Diversity of media is our asset in India. The state must promote the creation of as many news outlets as possible. If some of them will be serving non-sense, some others will be more responsible. In the end, we have no choice but to trust the ability of the common citizenry to differentiate between trash and meaning media content.

This option has also limitations. It will be improper on the part of the government to provide direct monetary benefits to news outlets as it may fill the market with many dubious media businesses and increase corruption. If news media outlets will be totally dependent on the market than it will be difficult for most of them to survive. So, this method is also not a complete solution to our problem.

What else that can be done. India must have patience. It should continuously spend on the citizens. It must educate them properly. It must empower them with knowledge and moral sense of right and wrong. While we will create aware citizenry to raise the standard of our media outlets, we must resort to using laws and raising the level of competition among media outlets to control them.

Ultimate Solution

Perhaps a middle path, a proper mixture of regulatory measures and use of the power of market forces can be deployed to control media and its content. Some soft solutions can also be used like giving proper training to media workers and media owners about ethical practices. However, they are unlikely to work.     

As far as digital media is concerned. Most of the content which is being created and circulated through it has its origin in mainstream media. It will take a while for digital media to be independent of traditional media. It is a much bigger challenge to regulate it. However, market forces together with proper regulations may also serve the purpose of controlling digital media as well.    

 End..

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

TRANSNATIONAL MEDIA OWNERSHIP AND ISSUES OF SOVEREIGNTY AND SECURITY

Image
Mukesh Devrari  Transnational media ownership means ownership of media assets by global corporate houses around the world. The word 'transnational' can easily be easily replaced with the term multinational. In other words, when a multinational company owns media companies around the globe that company can be described as a transnational media organization. There are plenty of such organizations, but most vilified among all is owned by Rupert Murdoch.  The nature of media is very different. As you all know media is a plural form of the medium. Production of films, TV serials, drama, theatre and other wings of the cultural industry are also owned by western media companies. Here, the meaning of the word transnational can be extended. Not necessarily western media companies own assets in the third world countries. They create their work in the west and sell it around the world.   It has long been a complaint against western media companies that wherever they g...
Read more

RESURGENCE OF NAZIS IN GERMAN, ITS NOT OVER YET FOR JEWS

Image
Book Review  Mukesh Devrari Eldad Beck’s new book ‘Germany, at odds’ reminds us about the resurgence of German nationalism in the 21 st century. German patriotism and racial nationalism, popularly known as Nazism, posed a threat to humanity in the 20 th century. Germans would like to forget about their troubling history. It reminds them of their barbarity and unconscious brutal tendencies. This book yet again proves that Nazi ideology did not end with the suicide of Adolf Hitler and hanging of many of his associates. Hitler was an elected leader. He came to power through democracy. When Jews were killed in concentration camps and pulled on roads from their houses like cattle, the German population remained silent. In connivance with their leaders, German population attempted extermination of Jews from the face of the earth. Now, almost 75 years after the end of the Second World War, Germans are trying to forget their past. They are attempting to embark on a pa...
Read more

Bacha Khan: One of pre-1947 India’s greatest leaders

Image
Mukesh Devrari The tallest Pashtun leader before the independence was Abdul Gaffar Khan, also known as Frontier Gandhi. He was one of the most fascinating and towering figures of Indian National Movement who preached truth and non-violence to his people who are mostly known for their tribal culture of revenge. He was the pre-eminent figure of Indian National Congress. “The British just about knew how to contend with vegetarian Hindus who raised slogans rather than guns, but Bacha Khan’s “unarmed army” of Pashtuns, which turned the martial race stereotype on its head, left them completely bewildered” (Shamsie, 2016) .   After Congress accepted the partition plan, he famously said, “You have thrown us in front of the wolves” (Tempest, 1988) . “He rejected a separate Muslim homeland and sought instead to join India to avoid Punjabi domination”  (Schofield, 2011, p. 38) . Due to his influence, many Muslims from the region migrated to India at the time of partition (Shukla...
Read more