The mighty Indian media

The media especially the news media is considered to be free and fair in India. Obviously it is free, no doubt about that. But when it comes to fairness, it crosses a line. Sometimes the line is subtle and sometimes it is not. Is it true, or maybe it is my perception that the private Indian media is quite patriotic. Look at all the news that is bombarded by them. Although the media constantly lashes out at ministers, which is a good thing by the way, but when it comes to Pakistan or say some important national topic like the Nuclear Deal or economically thwarting policies of the Left parties, it suddenly takes on a biased view. Talk about sensationalizing news and the private media would unanimously say, “Now we’re talking”.

When I was a child there were very few private news channels unlike today. Still most people used to watch the news on the stone-age Doordarshan. I used to wonder how they could watch such a mundane channel but now I see the wisdom in it. Although it took me about 10 years to realize that, it might be pretty obvious to others that Doordarshan news is one of the highest quality news that this nation has to offer, unbiased, sticking to the fact, not moulding public opinion but letting the masses sort out for themselves what the news means for them and for the nation. Although they don’t have an ostentatious studio with a dozen plasma televisions hanging in the background, but no private channel can match the quality of the content and the delivery of the news.

Although I won’t take it all from the private news channels, they do deserve the credit for spreading terror amongst all bureaucracy levels and the political class regarding corruption by exposing scams after scams be it the Tehelka or the latest medical college scam in Chennai. They are in a way also serving to churn out patriotic Indians which is no mean achievement in itself.

With the increasing penetration of the private media as the DTH, these media groups become more powerful. Their news is what the nation will swallow. They do have a tremendous responsibility towards the nation. But at the end of the day these are privately owned and what even a high school student knows is that profit is their main motive. What if the major media groups merge and eat up all the smaller media firms tomorrow and there is a single ever powerful media that can change the course of the nation at its will? I know the situation is far fetched, but is it impossible? Of course Doordarshan will be there, but its impact would have been drastically reduced with the DTH services spreading across the nation. If I visit a normal Indian village, I would be surprised if there is not a single DTH dish in that village. With the kind of growth these operators are having and the rates declining it is no wonder that these DTH operators might almost serve the entire nation. What if a political party owns such a mighty media group? What if the political party is the ruling party? Would we turn into a pseudo-democracy or rather communists? Is there a law to prevent that?