EditorialÂ
The image of Indian media (both print and electronic) is in the shamble. With every passing day the situation is going from bad to worse and there appears to be no ray of hope on the horizon for improvement.
In view of the complete commercialization of the industry and every inch of the space up for sale, the editorial has almost lost its relevance. Gone are days when the editorial used to decide percentage of space between news content and advertisements. Now the leftover space is being given from the marketing team to news section.
The mess crept into the system has become irreversible over the years with all stake-holders in league with politicians and bureaucrats making hey at the cost of gullible people. What the sting operation has done was known in the industry for years but kept beneath the carpet. With the vast section of the media industry side-tracking its social responsibility, the political class grabbed the opportunity to serve its vested interest with the help of doctored or paid news or winning over the journalists. Unfortunately not only the space is on sale but editors are also on sale. There are umpteen examples.
Remember the days when the Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru avoided to enter into the chamber of National Herald Editor M Chalapathi Rau when he was writing edit. Nehru used to wait outside. Is there any Rau today?
Honesty and transparency in the industry has disappeared. With social obligations and responsibility to people being thrown to wind, the media baron running roughshod have taken the readers and viewers for granted. They are forcing the people to consume their doctored products. The sting operation is just one aspect of malaise infecting the media. Consequently there is sharp deterioration in the trust level of the people towards the industry. Certainly it suits the politicians.  Toeing the political agenda of ruling party no doubt is the gravest crisis the industry is facing and with octopus like political grip over most of the media baron the people are caught in a bind.  There are still good and upright journalists/editors but largely news industry is infested with large number of people with highly questionable integrity. They are embedded with certain political ideology to serve the interest of their mentors. Without going into the ethics of the sting operation and its credibility on which already needle of suspicion has been raised, fully commercialized and market-oriented conduct of a section of media industry and its barons is the bane of the society.  The line between marketing and editorial has completely vanished and in fact journalists have become subservient to advertisement executives. While the credibility of Indian media is in peril the democracy is under pressure. (masoodul_hasan@yahoo.com)
