Poor Standard of Journalism

During the time of emergency in 1975, Ramnath Goenka, founder of "The Indian Express" was one of the few journalists who opposed the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi for her misadventures. Shri Ramnath Goenka has been considered as one of the people who shaped India and its democracy in the right direction. The idea of journalism was to awake people for their needs and rights, to support the suppressed and deprived section of societies.

Journalism has been a weapon to bring revolution when the powerful suppressed the weaker one, but, the media has forgotten its role in democracy and there is no heed to standards and values set by Ramnath Goenka. The Indian media has degraded itself for just a few TRP ratings. Issues of common people are not being discussed in debates, government policies are not being analyzed in primetime shows, no ground reporting for all those 70 lakhs people who suffered from floods in Bihar and Assam, people who lost their jobs during COVID, and many more such topics which are waiting for the media attention.

Propaganda Journalism

The idea of journalism was to be unbiased while reporting, but what about the scenario when a journalist is inspired by propaganda and prejudice in his reporting and analysis.

Recently Suresh Chavhanke, Editor-in-chief of Sudarshan News telecasted a show named "UPSC Jihad" where he showcased his propaganda with his absurd facts and targeted one community over its entrance in one of the elite services in India. Meanwhile, The Supreme Court has stayed his show after prominent IAS and IPS officers reached Apex Court.

Another channel, Republic TV, where acting, dancing, and shouting are the only criteria for being eligible to appear in the debates. His Editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami runs a debate show or just a certificate distributing show of Patriots and Traitors doesn't have the necessary courtesy and ethics for the dignified people, he mutes the mics of those who don't agree with his propaganda and ask questions or just shouts questions at them. For the past 3 months, he has been busy deflecting issues with the Murder or suicide of Sushant Singh Rajput, then the media trial of Riya Chakraborty, Kangana Ranaut -Sanjay Raut, to Jaya Bachchan.

The fact is he doesn't care about the death of a young boy, because he doesn't talk about the suicide of other youth who are losing jobs and who couldn't appear for NEET and JEE exams. The only priority is making people fool by showcasing himself as a "Journalist of courage".

And there are many more media outlets like The Wire who run propaganda on false facts. Also, there are journalists who work on their poor agenda to degrade images of people sitting on constitutional posts and showing one side of the story from their Youtube channels.

Issues need to be addressed

• We are almost in a warlike situation with China in Ladakh, Uttarakhand, and Arunachal Pradesh.

• The first-quarter GDP  growth has been -23.9%.
• Around 12 crore jobs have been lost since March. 

• Inflation was nearly 7% in July.

• We are getting more than 50% of cases in the world. Soon we will be short of oxygen available for patients.

• Many of us don't know about Why farmers are protesting against the central government and what are those ordinances they have brought up. Farmers are getting beaten up for protesting.

• How many more than 70 lakhs people have suffered in the floods of Bihar?

• They don't even talk about the achievements of DRDO in recent times.

• No talks and analysis of the New Education Policy and New Recruitment Agency.

And many such topics that have been neglected by the media houses.

All those aspirants who are appearing for government jobs are running campaigns on social media against the bad functioning of SSC and Railway because they believe that today's media will not raise their concerns. Every media house is working for its favorable political party. 

Media houses have shareholders of political figures such as Rajeev Chandrasekhar was a stakeholder in Republic Media Network before he relinquished his stake in 2019 and channels like NDTV whose founding members are involved in tax evasion and corruption charges.

Conclusion

"Really? If things would have been so hunky-dory (excellent) then we would not have to see what we see on TV today" these are the exact statement given by the Supreme Court when the Press Council of India said regulations are in place during the hearing of the petition on the show "UPSC Jihad".

In name of Freedom of Speech, the media is tarnishing and creating images in front of the public. Ethics has been challenged and there is no scrutiny on the Media. Making people aggressive and impulsive with their toxic tv debate shows has become the prime job of news anchors. The Governments will work, people will get what they need, but voices need to be raised by people who are accountable for this.

It is also necessary to check the political involvement in Media outlets and are they manipulating the important news and works on image building of Political figures. Does promote political ideologies is the sole job of top anchors in their primetime shows? Working for TRP ratings is a necessary thing but sacrificing and compromising all ethics, conscience, humanity, and morale is damaging the "Idea of India" and its "Democracy".

 

Does any of today's journalists deserve the award named on the great Shri Ramnath Goenka, "Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Awards"? If so, then this prominent award is sacrificed too.

पता न था इतना कुछ है, इस देश में बिकने को

जमीन से लेकर जमीर तक, सबकुछ बिक रहा है।