media is watchdog of Indian democracy article
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The media is supposed to be a watchdog in a democracy. A fundamental quality of the media in a democracy is the function of the media as an independent watchdog. I am not talking about other countries, I am talking about India.
Yet, try and recall, how many times in the past few years have you seen reporting that blows the cover on a scam? Till the last day Satyam was hit by a scam, not one single report questioned all those golden peacock awards. Not one single report even doubted that anything was wrong with the company.
Till the day the IPL scandal broke, we did not know about sweat equity or deal structures (despite the fact that they were done a few years back) or about fast cars and yachts owned by important folks. Even now, I am not sure we have the full picture. Or if we will ever have it.
But one day after any event, any scam there are tons of reports that open up cans of worms as if they were present in ones own refrigerator. Suddenly, there is access to emails, documents. Now it is highly impossible that the media, given its access to high places is entirely ignorant.If they are, then it is all about lazy reporting. If they aren‘t, well, you know the picture.
You can take almost any scam and you will find a similar pattern there. As an indepdendent watchdog, why don‘t we get real news? As opposed to manufactured celebrity non-news or what the government wants us to see?
When was the last time somebody visited the Chinese border and gave us a real assessment of what‘s happening there? When was the last time somebody published all the telecom scam details except the templated bromide embellished with denials that passes off as news? Or the actual money being lost in big pork barrel programmes (I won‘t name them, but I am sure, the intelligent reader will get them.)
I could go on and on, but thankfully the days of big media monopoy are slowly waning. There are far too many outlets and channels that have democratized the information flow and this will only increase. The writing is on the wall…
Yet, try and recall, how many times in the past few years have you seen reporting that blows the cover on a scam? Till the last day Satyam was hit by a scam, not one single report questioned all those golden peacock awards. Not one single report even doubted that anything was wrong with the company.
Till the day the IPL scandal broke, we did not know about sweat equity or deal structures (despite the fact that they were done a few years back) or about fast cars and yachts owned by important folks. Even now, I am not sure we have the full picture. Or if we will ever have it.
But one day after any event, any scam there are tons of reports that open up cans of worms as if they were present in ones own refrigerator. Suddenly, there is access to emails, documents. Now it is highly impossible that the media, given its access to high places is entirely ignorant.If they are, then it is all about lazy reporting. If they aren‘t, well, you know the picture.
You can take almost any scam and you will find a similar pattern there. As an indepdendent watchdog, why don‘t we get real news? As opposed to manufactured celebrity non-news or what the government wants us to see?
When was the last time somebody visited the Chinese border and gave us a real assessment of what‘s happening there? When was the last time somebody published all the telecom scam details except the templated bromide embellished with denials that passes off as news? Or the actual money being lost in big pork barrel programmes (I won‘t name them, but I am sure, the intelligent reader will get them.)
I could go on and on, but thankfully the days of big media monopoy are slowly waning. There are far too many outlets and channels that have democratized the information flow and this will only increase. The writing is on the wall…
Answered by
6
The media is supposed to be a watchdog in a democracy. A fundamental quality of the media in a democracy is the function of the media as an independent watchdog. I am not talking about other countries, I am talking about India.
Yet, try and recall, how many times in the past few years have you seen reporting that blows the cover on a scam? Till the last day Satyam was hit by a scam, not one single report questioned all those golden peacock awards. Not one single report even doubted that anything was wrong with the company.
Till the day the IPL scandal broke, we did not know about sweat equity or deal structures (despite the fact that they were done a few years back) or about fast cars and yachts owned by important folks. Even now, I am not sure we have the full picture. Or if we will ever have it.
But one day after any event, any scam there are tons of reports that open up cans of worms as if they were present in ones own refrigerator. Suddenly, there is access to emails, documents. Now it is highly impossible that the media, given its access to high places is entirely ignorant.If they are, then it is all about lazy reporting. If they aren‘t, well, you know the picture.
You can take almost any scam and you will find a similar pattern there. As an indepdendent watchdog, why don‘t we get real news? As opposed to manufactured celebrity non-news or what the government wants us to see?
When was the last time somebody visited the Chinese border and gave us a real assessment of what‘s happening there? When was the last time somebody published all the telecom scam details except the templated bromide embellished with denials that passes off as news? Or the actual money being lost in big pork barrel programmes (I won‘t name them, but I am sure, the intelligent reader will get them.)
I could go on and on, but thankfully the days of big media monopoy are slowly waning. There are far too many outlets and channels that have democratized the information flow and this will only increase. The writing is on the wall…
Yet, try and recall, how many times in the past few years have you seen reporting that blows the cover on a scam? Till the last day Satyam was hit by a scam, not one single report questioned all those golden peacock awards. Not one single report even doubted that anything was wrong with the company.
Till the day the IPL scandal broke, we did not know about sweat equity or deal structures (despite the fact that they were done a few years back) or about fast cars and yachts owned by important folks. Even now, I am not sure we have the full picture. Or if we will ever have it.
But one day after any event, any scam there are tons of reports that open up cans of worms as if they were present in ones own refrigerator. Suddenly, there is access to emails, documents. Now it is highly impossible that the media, given its access to high places is entirely ignorant.If they are, then it is all about lazy reporting. If they aren‘t, well, you know the picture.
You can take almost any scam and you will find a similar pattern there. As an indepdendent watchdog, why don‘t we get real news? As opposed to manufactured celebrity non-news or what the government wants us to see?
When was the last time somebody visited the Chinese border and gave us a real assessment of what‘s happening there? When was the last time somebody published all the telecom scam details except the templated bromide embellished with denials that passes off as news? Or the actual money being lost in big pork barrel programmes (I won‘t name them, but I am sure, the intelligent reader will get them.)
I could go on and on, but thankfully the days of big media monopoy are slowly waning. There are far too many outlets and channels that have democratized the information flow and this will only increase. The writing is on the wall…
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