Dr Veda Pratap Vaidik
We take great pride that India is the largest democracy in the world and media is considered the most powerful pillar of our democracy. Media includes print publications like newspapers, visual media like TV channels, cinema, and electronic media like the internet. If they are not free to do their job then democracy has no much meaning. Reporters Without Borders, an organization that assesses this quality of democracy, has mentioned in its report that India’s rank has dwindled from 142 to 150 in the current year.
Out of 180 countries the organization had considered for its scrutiny, India ranked below the countries like Myanmar, China, Turkmenistan, Iran, Eritrea, North Korea, Russia, Belarus, Pakistan and Afghanistan. The organization in its study has found that in India media is under threat, thanks to repeated violence against journalists and excess control of the government on media houses. Most importantly, the majority of the media organizations are being governed by a handful of business houses.
The report also pointed out that the increasingly intolerant Hindutva supporters were also a potent hazard to free and fair journalism. They attack those who report against them or oppose their views. Governments also intimidate and harass journalists by misusing the law.
The upper caste Hindus always had their supremacy in journalism. The Administration tried to keep the media under check using government advertisements as a powerful tool.
Governments dole out advertisements worth over 130 billion rupee every year to the media. Can we ever expect the business-minded owners of the media houses to overlook such government largesse for the sake of fair and principled journalism? Like the owners the scribes are also now busy pleasing and placating the people in power, compromising the basics of journalism.
India does not qualify even one of the five criteria- politics, legal, economic, socio-cultural situations and finally safety of journalists- this organization has prescribed to ascertain the freedom of media.
My contention is how we can take the report of this organization for granted without proper scrutiny. Some of its findings like incidents of violence against journalists seem to be true. But such isolated incidents of violence happen in any regime. Such incidents happen not just against journalists or the media. It can happen in every field. It is true that these days many crazy extremists keep spewing venom against journalists, Muslims and opposition leaders under the garb of Hindutva. Genuine Indians do not support such hate-mongers; rather such disruptive elements are summarily rejected by the larger society. It is true that the ruling leaders do not dare to openly disown these extremist elements. However, the newspapers and TV channels of India do not spare any chance to rip such disruptive elements apart.
I must acknowledge the impeccable neutrality of our courts of law. They have no qualm to punish the hate-mongers who try to puncture the social and communal harmony. It is true that the owners of certain mainstream newspapers and TV channels are often scared to openly criticize the wrongdoings of the government. But it’s a fact, such incidents are common in many countries that preach democracy in high decibels.
I have lived in over a dozen countries across the world in the last 50-55 years and have been observing their newspapers and channels as I do in India. But I have never felt any extra check on journalism in India, except what happened during the emergency in 1975-77. Yes, if the journalists and the owners of the newspapers themselves are submissive or selfish, then there is no remedy.
If the journalists are firm enough in their commitment then the owner of any media house will not succumb to any intimidation or monitory offers. There are hundreds of such journalists, newspapers and TV channels in India who are not at par with any leading media house in the world in their fairness and fearlessness. That is why I find this report depicting India’s journalism poor in quality discriminatory and prejudiced.
*Dr. Vaidik is a widely travelled scholar-journalist. He has visited more than 80 countries on diplomatic and educationalmissions. Dr. Vaidik has won more than a dozen National and International awards for academic and journalistic excellence. He has been a member of several Advisory Committees of Government of India.
