Is it freedom of Press/ Media in India?

At times, I feel Media is irresponsible and commercial that they do not hesitate at all in presenting ‘alleged’ facts on the table in front of the electorate. Or is it they are more responsible now unlike earlier?

86 year old N D Tiwari, present governor of Andhra Pradesh and ex-Union cabinet minister, found in compromising position without his pyjamas with two completely nude young women, reports the TOI newspaper today morning as headlines. It is not that such behavior was not there earlier, but now with technological development of Media, nothing can be hidden. The AP state government keeps quiet on the issue as it is already burdened with ‘Telangana’ problem asking for a separate State.

Yesterday, I was watching ‘Times Now’ news channel discussion with Arnab leading the show pertaining to JMM (Jharkandh Mukti Morcha) making a bid to form the government in Jharkandh state either with BJP or Congress. Ex CM Shibu Soren (he is out from Jail after being arrested on allegedly murder charges, corruption etc) has won Assembly Elections with 18 MLAs getting elected and is being wooed by BJP as well Congress but both are reluctant in making him Chief Minister even if his party supports as an ally. Shibhu Soren wants to be CM or else he will not support any party. Can we have such a person as CM again? and you should have watched the blatant questions asked by Arnab in the discussion. Freedom of Media? TRP Ratings??

There are at least 7 news channels and 20 national newspapers competing with each other to get best readership/ TRP ratings. No, nothing is left out of media coverage? In fact, there is an explosion of media coverage!Is the Press and Media more responsible? Media in a democratic set up such as India has an important role to play to bring about reader awareness in the right spirit. Yellow journalism is not expected from elite media circles. Truth should not be manipulated to increase readership/ TRP ratings in Press and Television respectively.

Though media ( read Television) is not the only communication medium used to dispense the flow of information, its importance is worth mentioning as it has been the main source to inform people on political issues or current affairs as well as being as the main source of entertainment instantly. The flow of information from one geographical location to another has increased in speed considerably with the advent in digitally enabled communication devices and the Internet. Different network channels over cable or satellite TV, newspapers and radio FM news channels with the help of Internet are emerging at a very rapid pace providing the people with a medium to connect themselves with the outside world.

Also, Television contains the ability to produce multimedia content and thus has the immense power to change an individual’s perception of reality.