Media in all the core countries of the world act as a watchdog to hold accountable public personalities and institutions whose functions impact social and political life. However, a major ethical issue that the mainstream media in any country face is the inability to propagate their own opinion on any major issue. The media can only present facts and opinions of other people.
The problem with this is that the people who present their views express it in such a way so as to project an utopian idea. Consider the recent bomb blasts in the financial capital of India. Major leaders of the country as well as the world had a very similar statement as to how they condemn the blasts in Mumbai. However, a behind the scene scenario in each of these statements could have been interpreted to be different. Barack Obama may have condemned the blasts as he is on a anti-terrorist roll in lieu of the pending 2012 US Presidential election. Nitin Ghadkari, leader of opposition in India may have made this statement with full intentions of getting a hold in Maharashtra politics.
The media in today's date has turned a blind eye to the shadowed intentions of the bureaucrats and politicians. Now, let us turn our focus to the recent social uprising in India. The basic agenda of this whole movement is to remove corruption from every level. This is the basic idea with which the majority of the protestors reached Ramlila maidan on the morning of 16th of August. A very interesting theory in mass communication known as the 'Magic Bullet theory' states that the viewer follows a hundred percent of what the media is trying to propagate without giving it any thought. The lakhs of supporters that Anna Hazare has, might not even be fully aware of what he actually is fighting for. The supporters are just following the masses which are represented by the media in a country.
During the Anna Hazare fast for the 'Jan lokpal' bill in the middle of August,2011, two channels, namely 'Times now' (Arnab Goswami; The Newshour Debate) and 'NDTV' (Karan Thapar; The Devils Advocate), projected opinions that were restricted to that of the editor in that particular show. A person who follows these two particular shows will undeniably let the editors ideologies effect his own. This is another example of the magic bullet theory. However, these ideas may or may not be positive in nature. Ethically, these two journalists were wrong to project their own opinion. But just as a coin has two sides, every other issue does as well. All the utopian ideologies projected by bureaucrats and politicians does nothing more than to confuse the masses.
Politically, all the leaders, make promises that seem to work best with the population. Electricity, roads, water etc are the basic needs of a person. A politician promises to that individual, these privileges. This is idealism. Realism is when the politician has an economic or moral background to fulfill that promise.
The problem with this is that the people who present their views express it in such a way so as to project an utopian idea. Consider the recent bomb blasts in the financial capital of India. Major leaders of the country as well as the world had a very similar statement as to how they condemn the blasts in Mumbai. However, a behind the scene scenario in each of these statements could have been interpreted to be different. Barack Obama may have condemned the blasts as he is on a anti-terrorist roll in lieu of the pending 2012 US Presidential election. Nitin Ghadkari, leader of opposition in India may have made this statement with full intentions of getting a hold in Maharashtra politics.
The media in today's date has turned a blind eye to the shadowed intentions of the bureaucrats and politicians. Now, let us turn our focus to the recent social uprising in India. The basic agenda of this whole movement is to remove corruption from every level. This is the basic idea with which the majority of the protestors reached Ramlila maidan on the morning of 16th of August. A very interesting theory in mass communication known as the 'Magic Bullet theory' states that the viewer follows a hundred percent of what the media is trying to propagate without giving it any thought. The lakhs of supporters that Anna Hazare has, might not even be fully aware of what he actually is fighting for. The supporters are just following the masses which are represented by the media in a country.
During the Anna Hazare fast for the 'Jan lokpal' bill in the middle of August,2011, two channels, namely 'Times now' (Arnab Goswami; The Newshour Debate) and 'NDTV' (Karan Thapar; The Devils Advocate), projected opinions that were restricted to that of the editor in that particular show. A person who follows these two particular shows will undeniably let the editors ideologies effect his own. This is another example of the magic bullet theory. However, these ideas may or may not be positive in nature. Ethically, these two journalists were wrong to project their own opinion. But just as a coin has two sides, every other issue does as well. All the utopian ideologies projected by bureaucrats and politicians does nothing more than to confuse the masses.
Politically, all the leaders, make promises that seem to work best with the population. Electricity, roads, water etc are the basic needs of a person. A politician promises to that individual, these privileges. This is idealism. Realism is when the politician has an economic or moral background to fulfill that promise.
There will always be two sides of a coin.
ReplyDeleteWe choose the side which suits our agendas.
The Indian Media is not a moral driven agency but a propaganda driven industry now.
The paradigm shift to idealism may have ulterior motives.