<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By Akash Pandey<\/strong> : <\/p>\n\n\n\n Once an NGO ,organized a workshop about voting rights of the people in a small village.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They showed documentaries, plays and many speeches were held. Soon the election were held and the total number of people voting increased significantly in the area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hence we can say Information media served the very purpose of democracy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So the question arises What is media?Well , in the layman\u2019s language media can be considered as the medium of communication, where the ideas get exchanged among two people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Historical Background <\/strong><\/u><\/strong><\/strong><\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n This media has played a significant role in nation building. Let us discuss the role of media in Indian Independence Movement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n James Augustus Hickey is considered as the father of Indian press. He started BENGAL GAZETTE in the year 1780. But it was seized in the year 1782 as it was critical to the British government. With the increasing number of newspapers the government became more accountable. Therefore, it brought into action several Act (Censorship of Press Act-1799;Vernacular Press Act-1878)<\/em> in order to suppress the press.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Freedom of Press was of utmost importance as it was a powerful weapon to propagate the political ideas. Many newspapers emerged under distinguished and fearless journalists. These included The Hindu,Voice of India <\/strong>and Amrita Bazar Patrika. <\/strong>The main aim of these newspaper was not to make profit but to serve the public.In fact,these newspapers had a wide reach and stimulated the popular library movement. The impact of this movement was not limited to the cities and towns;these newspaper also reached remote villages, where each news item and editorial would be read and discussed thoroughly. In these newspaper government acts and policies were put to scrutiny. They acted as an institution of opposition to government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n All these led to the growth of nationalist feeling among Indians and finally it brought a change in the form of governance from imperialist to democratic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What is democracy?<\/strong><\/u><\/strong><\/strong><\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Democracy is the form of government where people elect their representatives to govern the country. OR ,In the words of Abraham Lincoln \u201cDemocracy is government of the people;by the people and for the people.\u201d<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Media and Democracy <\/strong><\/u><\/strong><\/strong><\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n India is considered as the largest democratic country worldwide, due to its wide diversity, its proper functioning is based upon three main pillars \u2013 Executive, Legislative and Judiciary. <\/em>But in actual terms, Media is considered to be the fourth pillar to operate the Indian democracy. However in countries like China, the role of media is limited to an extent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thomas Caryle <\/strong>was the first person to express the media as, \u201cfourth pillar of democracy\u201d,which was later supported by authors too. The main function of media is to keep an eye over the functions performed by the Legislature, Executive and Judiciary. <\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Media is considered the watchdog of democracy.<\/em><\/u><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The duty if performed systematically helps to reduce the uncertainty and maintain balance in the Indian context. Disclosure of relevant information relating to issues of social,economic and political nature to the general public, brings transparency in Indian system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Freedom of Press<\/strong><\/u><\/strong><\/strong><\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The basic rights provided in the constitution are of two types- implied <\/strong>and expressed. <\/strong>The right which are written in the constitution in the article are called express rights whereas the implied right is interpreted by the Supreme court from time to time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Brij Bhushan vs.the State of Delhi <\/em><\/strong><\/u><\/em><\/strong>was the first matter of Freedom of Press. The Commissioner of Police of Delhi issued an order against a weekly newspaper by which the printer, publisher and editor of that newspaper were directed to send all kinds of communal matters and satirical images related to Pakistan for official inspection before publication. The Supreme court had declared this order unconstitutional and said that blocking any newspaper is a violation of Press freedom and declared that Freedom of press is a part of Article 19(1)(a).<\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Role and Functions of media<\/strong><\/u><\/strong><\/strong><\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Media is a powerful weapon used by renowned journalists to show the happenings of events, deals,crimes,innovations, elections, disease outbreaks, exposure of anti-national activities etc. Media show the harsh reality of the real world like a mirror image. Renowned journalists continously raises issues that remind the government of the promises made in past. Nowadays, the social media handles such as Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram are also steeping; but they cause trouble by broadcasting fake news. They show disguised news and predominantly these are slanted towards corporate promotions, entertainment and politics on a paid basis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Today\u2019s media is a double-sided weapon, earlier media was considered as an accountable media but it is gradually turning unaccountable. Circulation of news and honest facts to the general public is the primary duty of the media and if it fails to do so then public interest will suffer and ultimately leads to the destruction of democracy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Accountability of Media <\/strong><\/u><\/strong><\/strong><\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n It is absolutely true that in some places media has played its role properly whether it is to bring out 1992 SCAM or to punish the 2012 NIRBHAYA GANG RAPE convicts, but due to change in the nature of media puts a question mark on the authenticity of the news displayed. The media has been under allegations for hiding information and tampering with news in exchange for money ;whether it is Niira Radia Tape Case of 2010 and sting operations done by Cobrapost, everyone has exposed the character of media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In India polarized politics and religious sentiments deviate the news from its original issue. Due to unaccountable media , corruption in society and delay in justice increases day by day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Conclusion <\/strong><\/u><\/strong><\/strong><\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n There should be a balanced distance between the government and media ,so that the government does not involve unnecessarily in the work of media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The lack of investigative journalists in media is also a problem, most of the serious news is broadcasted by mainstream media after it goes viral on social media. Media also needs to be regulated, The Press Council of India Association should be empowered to curb the arbitrariness of electronic and print media. There should be some strict legal scope for the media and provision of punishment if wrong news is found.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In today\u2019s era everyone is getting involved with newspaper and social media ,if media will spread fake and biased news then it will have a serious impact on the country\/society and all the ways of justice for the public will be closed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf the lamp of justice goes off,you cannot imagine the amount of darkness\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hence , media should become more accountable and act as torchbearer of democracy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Akash Pandey : Once an NGO ,organized a workshop about voting rights of the people in a small village. They showed documentaries, plays and many speeches were held. Soon the election were held and the total number of people voting increased significantly in the area. Hence we can say Information media served the very […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1345","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yuvasadan.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1345","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yuvasadan.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yuvasadan.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yuvasadan.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yuvasadan.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1345"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/yuvasadan.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1345\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1346,"href":"https:\/\/yuvasadan.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1345\/revisions\/1346"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yuvasadan.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1345"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yuvasadan.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1345"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yuvasadan.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}