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Resource centre on India's rural distress
 
 

Turning the Spotlight on the Media

-Economic and Political Weekly

 

The media does need to look at its nexus with business interests; injured innocence will not do.

Recent remarks by the new chair of the Press Council of India, Justice (retired) M Katju, have sparked off some-thing of a debate in the media. Katju’s comments on the intellectual capabilities of journalists and his low opinion of their abilities have predictably led to indignant protestations by media bodies. But regardless of the sweeping generalisation of Katju’s remarks, this is an issue that the media needs to introspect about as standards of reporting have declined noticeably. More relevant is the issue of media ethics, the lack of which was exposed by a report from the very Press Council that Katju now heads. The paid news saga that was exposed after the 2009 elections might today seem an old story. But its import remains relevant. And barring a couple of news organisations, no one has attempted to draw up stricter codes of ethics for journalists to abide by.

Katju’s suggestion about bringing the electronic media within the purview of the Press Council and renaming it as the Media Council is the issue that requires greater debate. Regulating the growing, and increasingly powerful, electronic media has been on the government’s agenda for more than a few years. It began in 2008, when the Supreme Court urged the centre to lay down guidelines for the print and electronic media on covering criminal cases under investigation. This was prompted by a public interest litigation (PIL) on the television coverage of the Arushi murder case where one witnessed a virtual trial by the media. Later in the same year, television’s non-stop coverage of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack came in for a lot of criticism, especially when it became evident that it actually aided those managing the terror attacks from Pakistan. In response, the government amended the Cable Network Regulation Act to “regulate” crisis coverage. But when industry bodies protested, the prime minister intervened and put the amendment on hold.

In fact, in the last couple of years, each time the government stepped in with some form of regulation, it just as quickly stepped back when objections were raised. The latest was the cabinet approval given last month to the guidelines formulated by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting that laid down that broadcasting licences could be renewed on condition that the channel had not violated any programme/advertising codes on more than five occasions. The guidelines were eventually withdrawn following strong objections from industry bodies like the News Broadcasters Association (NBA), which held that they violated the constitutional right to free speech and expression. The NBA (around 20 private broadcasters representing nearly 40 news channels) has its own News Broadcasting Standards (Disputes Redressal) Authority headed by Supreme Court Chief Justice (retired) J S Verma and includes academicians and journalists. The Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) with nearly 250 entertainment-based channels also has a complaints redressal mechanism. Both, the NBA and the IBF have argued that self-regulation is preferable to government control.

Whether self-regulation can work or some regulation is needed can be debated. With an estimated 380 news channels, the electronic media now represents a powerful source of information for shaping public opinion. But apart from the issue of content, not enough attention has been paid to cross media ownership and convergence that is already restricting plurality of news and views. Equally, the nexus between business and media, through arrangements like “private treaties”, where media houses invest in equity in exchange for advertisements and favourable media coverage, remains in place and has not been questioned. Readers and viewers are now unable to distinguish between “news” as they have been conditioned to understand it to be, that is information gathered by professionally trained journalists who attempt to weed out bias when they assemble the information, and paid or sponsored news that is designed to present a viewpoint while being dressed up as “news”. The real danger to the future of the Indian media lies in the distortions of reality that are the result of such a media-business nexus. The paid news syndrome is an extension of this sponsored news phenomenon. It undercuts the very basis on which a free and independent media is premised – one that is supposed to have the ability to be critical equally of government and industry. In the current arrangements, while there is still a semblance of ­freedom from government regulation the same cannot be said about independence from business and industry. Indeed, in many ways, the corporatised media has become the voice of corporate India, openly or in covert ways.

Katju’s suggestion of renaming the Press Council as the Media Council will do little to deal with this deeper problem of a lack of autonomy of the media from business interests and, by extension, political interests. The Press Council has been a virtually toothless body that has had little effect on the print media. Given this, it is unlikely that a Media Council will make any difference. What needs to be addressed is cross-media ownership, and the effect it is having on media content and plurality as well as the manipulation of news content that is the result of the cosy relationship between business, politics and media.