By Arpit Agrawal :
“Democracy is a kingless regime infested by many kings who are sometimes more exclusive, tyrannical and destructive than one, if he be a tyrant”. It is the fear of being exposed by the media before the public that most of the politicians keep themselves under control to some extent”
- Benito Mussolini
Introduction
Media and democracy contemplate each other, one is the parallel expression of other. Democracy means power possessed with the people, where people are the sovereign themselves, who are free and empowered with the voting rights provided with privileges in the form of freedoms, Media acts as an agent or intermediary in expressing the opinions and disseminating information to people. Thus, Democracy can be understood as Institutionalization of freedom.
Information acts as an important link between the two concepts, media and democracy. People who are Supreme need to have the knowledge of the events happening in the country, of the repercussions of those events, and within stipulated time frame which would allow them to take actions spontaneously. This is where media comes handy who truly brings to life the expression of “Empowerment” of people. Since its inception, media has been a boon for the Human civilization, whether it be with regards to Historic inventions or world war, media has been able to capture all and inform people of not only the contemporary phase but also to the future generations.
Importance of Media
The Importance of media in a democracy can be figured out from the Historic phrase by Benito Mussolini stated above, where benito emphasizes on the Kingless regime, which means Absence of a Supreme power or Monarch and how the deterrence of media acts as an important factor in, politicians or elected representatives not infringing on the Democratic ideals. But Excessive power in the hands of any government could lead to the demolition of the institution of democracy and establishment of Monarchy or even anarchy. If a country has strong ideals of Media, this situation could be evaded in all times.
We find that this statement goes true from the two Events, One is the 1975 Emergency in India. And the Second being the Military coup in Pakistan in 1999. In the former, we find Constitutional provisions were misused and democratic ideals were inherently thrashed and a Monarchy was established but even then Media was able to exercise its freedom and report most of major events to every citizen of the country, which enraged them and resulted in the decline of Indira Gandhi Government and further loss in 1977 Elections from the hands of Jan Sangh Coalition. In the latter, Pakistan has never had a free press or media, ever since its freedom, the suppression of media led to the people not knowing about the events happening in the capital, thus even when it was adjudged as democracy in the minds of people, it was on ground a monarch in the hands of Military. An observation of this situation brings to light a fact that, without knowledge, Even a Highly Intellect cannot answer an insane person.
Media – Public Opinion
The media acts as a strong agency to formulate organized public opinion. The role of the media as public forum is vital, media functions as an agenda-setter, providing information about urgent social problems, the free press can strengthen the public sphere, by mediating between citizens and the state, facilitating debate about the major issues of the day, and informing the public about their leaders.
Here, media gets an extensive role to fulfill where it not only involves itself in reporting the events or providing information but it tries to advocate appropriate solutions to every problem. Opinion is formed:
- Based on what they believe is the prevalent opinion of the social group they identify with.
- Based on Agendas of Media.
Therefore, if a democracy is from the people, it needs to have informed citizens, and Media in a way does the work of making empowering people with this important element. But this could even be disastrous for a democratic government, As Evident from 2014 Lok Sabha Elections where even Media was so inclined towards change of government that it formed the public opinion in the same way and the results came overwhelmingly for the single largest majority party. Here, many would argue that it was in essence the true public opinion but the fact is that Intentionally Failures of past government was highlighted and news was given a shape in such a way that it could make significant impact on people’s minds.
Other than forming Public opinion, People are given a platform, where they could deliberate and device sociological issues. In doing so, media fulfills one of the important characteristics of participatory democracy which is active public participation, where other than voting a government to power, media provides people to advance their concerns, it could be about elected representative not working properly or they are indulged in corruption or it could be of police not performing their functions. Thus, Media is keeping the essence of democracy alive.
Media Upholding Transparency (As Watchdog)
Ideals of democracy are inherited in the concept of Transparency, therefore If a democratic country does not allow people to know about the official decision making or the ways of expenditure of their taxes, it would be like digging a hole in an unbreakable monument, which would reduce its strength and eventually the structure would fall down.
Media tries to uphold this transparency by enlightening people of every minute decision that is taken by the parliament or the executive. Amartya Sen observes media acts as a watchdog not just against corruption but also against disaster. He said “There has never been a famine in a functioning multiparty democracy. A free press and the practice of democracy contribute greatly to bringing out information that can have an enormous impact on policies for famine prevention. A free press and an active political opposition constitute the best early-warning system a country threatened by famine could have.”
Countries which are strong democracies always have resilient and free media. In the role of ‘watchdog’ the media strives for promoting transparency and accountability in the government and public scrutiny of decision-makers in power, and by highlighting policy failures, maladministration by public officials, corruption in the judiciary, and scandals in the corporate sector.
We have seen in past, what a responsible media could do. A democracy, which is “of the people, by the people and for the people, media plays different kinds of roles at the same time (to make this motto achievable), beginning from an informer, to intermediary between government and citizens, to advocating the just causes of poor sections of society pressing for the policies required for their development. The role of media cannot be forgotten during the Freedom struggle, which brought a huge difference in what it could have been without print media. Thus, media has been at the forefront of every short war that has been fought either in the domestic spheres of the country or worldwide.
Good Governance
Linked to its general educational role, but more controversially, Media has also played the role of democracy and good governance advocate efficiently. This role is controversial because it envisages the media as both advocate and impartial reporter. In this role, the media personnel comments on issues of the day and advocates improved democratic practices and good governance. Good governance is not something which Press or media teaches the government rather it advocates aggressively for the due rights which helps in improving the situation to a great extent.
In this advocacy role, Press sees itself as an ordinary citizen and foresees the reasons responsible for making life miserable. This advocacy role is also closely linked to the watchdog role of the press; however, it goes further. The press as advocate will report not only on what is happening but on what should be happening. The press in many developing countries is almost forced to playing this role because improving basic human living conditions cannot happen without democratic practices and good governance.
Media Trial
Recently, we have observed that commercial prospects are determining the news media’s contemporary treatment of crime and violence, and that the resulting coverage has played a major role in reshaping public opinion, and ultimately, criminal justice policy. We already saw a glimpse of such change in attitude of Media not only in 2001 parliament attacks but also in a more recent 2020 Hathras Incident.
Such development has led to coinage of new term “Media trials”, which is a worrying concept for a democratic form of government. Media is totally laying its hands not only on the organs of the government but is also trying to perform their functions. The Instances of Media trials are in hundreds, to name some – Ayodhya Dispute, Sanjay Dutt case, Jessica lal murder case, etc. We find that with these developments, the freedom of speech and expression and immunity granted legally by the courts to the Press is being misused, and the same requires stringent regulation but not undermining the spirit of Media.
We find an extended version of this concept in newly devised term “Social Media Trials”, and as social media also functions in close proximity with the press, it inspite of being factually incorrect in most of the cases, is making a difference. It is allowing more public participation and self-reporting, if regulated properly, this concept could well be a boon for a participatory democracy.
Conclusion
Coming towards concluding this Article, taking into consideration all the readings. It can be said that Media acts as a catalyst for democracy and development, helping to make public participation meaningful and fulfilling the ideals of democracy. If media is honest and committed in its job, democracy is bound to function more efficiently and the loopholes present in any democratic system can certainly be plugged. On the contrary, if media is biased or not neutral or inclined towards a government, corrupt and favors only a particular party or few individuals, it can prove to be very dangerous for the smooth functioning of democracy. No one can become perfect and one can only strive to become so. The same holds true for our media also. Certainly there is still a lot of scope for improvement by which the media can rise upon the aspirations of the people for which it is primarily meant.
There is no doubt that media has done a commendable job from time to time in making people aware about the harsh realities of life, in exposing corruption prevalent in our country (Special emphasis on the part played by Media during 1975 Emergency), in increasing the awareness level among the people and a lot more. Media is becoming increasingly popular among people from all walks of life and it certainly has the potential of influencing the thoughts of its readers/viewers to a large extent. Media should, no doubt, be neutral in airing views but it should also strongly desist from airing such views which can adversely affect the communal harmony and give rise to deep suspicion, tension and senseless violence which leads to killing innocent people. The media should make the people aware of the consequences of the various actions of the governments, rather than being biased and inclined towards least important issues.