Page 108 - Magazine 22-23 Qty.cdr

English Articles
Mr. Durgesh Kumar Dubey

It is unquestionable that the media has played a significant role after independence, including during the Emergency, the
JP movement, and the recent Jan Lokpal movement led by Anna. In addition to exposing many scams in the country after
independence, the media has also played a significant role in the fight against corruption. Yet, the fourth pillar of
democracy is losing its credibility because of media and corporate alliances. The increased involvement of corporations
in journalism has made it vulnerable to marketing. Whoever is in the market must worry about profit. The path to profit
passes through TRP. In the process of polishing the TRP score card, the media's stature is getting dwarfed. The era of paid
news is disrupting the strong pillar of the media because of this alliance.

It is also widely believed that there is a crisis in the media right now to save its pride in being referred to as the fourth pillar
of democracy. It is time for the media to recognize the sound of the crisis standing in front of it and work towards saving its
credibility.A few problems and a possible solution to regain the credibility of media can be understood with the help of
following points:

News Manipulation: Changes in news according to the country, time and situation and mixing of ideas or messages in
news and facts, which we call manipulation, is nothing new, it has been happening since pre-independence times. At that
time news was less, thoughts were more. Later, an attempt was made to separate the two. If we talk about this
manipulation or point of view reflected in the news, then each person has his own point of view. It is appropriate for this
point of view to appear in the thoughts, but if the news is presented in such a way that the views of the person concerned,
his point of view or his agenda are reflected in the news or the message or information is presented with any insistence-
bias, then such manipulation is not in the interest of society, the reader-viewer or the audience. Therefore, if there are any
kind of manipulations or diversions or factual manipulations in the news, inspired by the prejudices, urges or thoughts of
the news carrier, then it becomes the cause of a flaw or discrepancy in the news. It is not in public interest to do so. That's
why the teachers and institutions of journalism urge that there should be no such manipulation in the news.

The facts in the news should not be distorted. Facts and information must be included through a source that sets aside the
views of the reporter or editor. When ideas are included in the news, the news becomes subjective though it should be
objective. Also, references should be mentioned in these. They should be factual and objective in the news and should not
add anything from theirside. The solution is to keep both views and news separate. The expression of views should be
done in the columns or programs specially marked for them.

bUnderstand that there are two types of news, one entertainment- oriented and the other related to serious discussion.
Credibility is not a big issue in entertainment-oriented news, but there is a big crisis of credibility in news related to
political, economic or global events. There are two-three ways to deal with this crisis. The first of these is the
responsibility of the media. Credibility of both the medium and the source is essential in media. The purity of the medium
and source has a positive impact not only on the readers or listeners but on our overall socio-economic-political-cultural-
social system. The second solution is the editing system. By having a strong editing system, a reporter knows that there is
a system above him. At the same time, when information, figures or facts etc. are given through the source, the
credibility of the media group increases by mentioning it. All people associated with the news world should think about
this. An Editor's Institute is like a religion in the whole system of news- information. If the editorial system is weak then
the field of news will become chaotic, and this chaos is not beneficial for anyone.

As far as the platform of digital media is concerned, there are two types of media for news. The first are the digital
platforms of established news groups or reputed government agencies and non- governmental organizations, the other is

96 “All human beings have three lives: public, private, and secret.” (Gabriel García Márque)

HINDUJA HORIZONS 2022 -2023