The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has issued an advisory for all the private news channels of the country. Under normal circumstances, it cannot be favored that governments issue directions to the media. But the government’s move should be supported in view of the two cases where the government has issued instructions regarding the coverage of the Jahangirpuri violence and the Russo-Ukraine war. Although this is an incomplete and late step, it can have far-reaching effects on media freedom and if this tradition continues, then the autonomy of the media will also be in danger. But looking at the way the news channels of India are covering any issue, it can be said that the decline of this medium of news can not be worse than that. This media cannot be cured by self regulation.
The language in which the government has issued the advisory itself is going to tell the reality of news channels. The advisory of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has written that the coverage of news channels is “unverified, misleading and sensationalistic, use of socially unacceptable language, which is outraging decency, is obscene and derogatory and also communal. is’. It further said that the channels showed “inflammatory headlines and videos of violence, which can lead to communal harmony and breach of peace”. Regarding the media coverage of these two incidents in the advisory issued by the government, it has also been said that they are ‘shameful’ and use of ‘suspicious CCTV footage’, which may affect the investigation. The government has accused news channels of not only disturbing social harmony and disturbing peace, but also negatively affecting relations with friendly countries.
Whatever the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has said in the advisory issued regarding the coverage of these two incidents, that is the truth of the news channels of India, towards which sensible people were pointing out for years. But earlier this was not given any attention. The government and the ruling party were getting political mileage from this as the coverage of the channels was on the political line of the ruling party. His one-point job was to ask questions to the opposition and support every move of the government. Anchors and reporters sitting in news channels were justifying the decision or incident which was not considered right by the government or even the spokesperson of the ruling party. The incident of farmers being crushed in Lakhimpur Kheri is an example of this, when the BJP leaders were refraining from commenting on it, then the anchors of the channels were making graphics to tell how the minister’s son’s car did not crush the farmers, but the minister The son himself had run away after saving his life from the farmers.
There are many such incidents, in whose coverage news channels have crossed all limits. Channels have intruded into the privacy of the people, communalised the incidents, did witch hunting of anti-government people, conducted media trials of the accused, defame the opposition leaders by showing unverified videos and defended the government’s decision, increased social disharmony. Showed false news, played gimmicks in studios to divert attention from the burning issues of the country, presented international and diplomatic developments in such a way without identifying friend and foe country, which caused loss to the country, treated the victims in such a way that It was beyond the limits of general sensitivity, applauded the excesses of the police and administration, ridiculed the hardships of the citizens and flouted the basic principles of journalism. The channels turned the news coverage into a tamasha. The anchors sitting in the studio became madaris and the reporters in the field turned into jumpy jamurs. The whole character of visual media has become so marketable and substandard that it is unimaginable. A film like ‘Pipli Live’ was made to make fun of news channels, but Indian news channels were not ashamed.
Keep in mind that the media in India has a very proud history. Journalists doing their lives to protect the rights of citizens and protect social-community harmony have happened in this country. From Mahatma Gandhi to Sardar Bhagat Singh, hundreds of thousands of freedom fighters had made the citizens of the country aware by taking out newspapers or printing pamphlets and fought against the British. India had a rich tradition of journalism even after independence. Therefore, it cannot be said that journalism has no history or tradition, so the visual media of India has become thus unbridled, sold or marketed. The protection of power, ideological pollution and corporate capital has created this form of Indian media. In this, to become an anchor and reporter, being illiterate, being rude, shameless and quarrelsome became the main qualifications and being educated and intelligent became a disqualification.
So, in the end, the time had to come, when the government’s sleep would also break. It is late but he has understood that news channels are becoming Bhasmasur. They are not only disturbing harmony and peace within the country, but are also spoiling the image of the government at the international level and doing damage to the country. For a long time it was expected that efforts would be made from within the media to fix it and sooner or later it would be fixed. For example, till a short time ago, news channels used to show ‘Kaal, Kapal Mahakal’ show all day for TRP or used to show the news of 3C i.e. cinema, cricket and crime. Through that too they were misleading the society and making them backward but eventually the channels left him. In the same way, it was expected that the present era of journalism of news channels would also pass. But now it seems that this phase is not going to pass easily. Keep in mind that people committed to protecting the freedom and autonomy of the media at all costs have been talking about self regulation. But India’s television media is not going to recover from self regulation. His disease has become incurable. Do you know if something is right with the stick of the government!
