The Subjectivity,Objectivity And Our Media
The existence of a free press is a sine qua non for any functioning democracy and India, being the largest democracy, can not afford to have any fetters put on its press and media. Looking at the fairly growing numbers of the newspapers, journals, magazines and the spectacularly vibrant electronic media, it is time to examine the working of these agencies over the last few decades. The kind of press freedom that is being enjoyed at the moment was not thinkable a few decades back. It is undeniable that there has been a virtual revolution in the field of news-gathering and coverage of events, accessibility of raw information with the advent of new-age tools and technologies. These developments have entailed a huge responsibility on the the press and media personnel. Any freedom without a higher sense of responsibility towards society and its people tends to degenerate into a license which is neither good for the media nor for the greater good of the people. The media should at times introspect and be self critical to strengthen the roots of democracy in India.
It is interesting to note that the relationship between the government and the media has been somewhat antagonistic and there are enough reasons behind it. Both sides have a litany of charges against each other. While the media bitterly complain about government's secretive attitude in sharing vital information the government on other hand accuses media of practising yellow journalism, embedding stories and reports with dark motives and so on. The existence of this mutually antagonistic relationship is fairly undesirable and to some extent desirable. A government friendly media is just looked upon as an appendage of the establishment – a mere puppet in the hands of the government and has no credibility whatsoever.
However on the question of subjectivity and objectivity to be practised by the media , the opinions are divided. One section maintain utmost objectivity in reporting news and events in their truest and purest form without being judgemental while the other section views the matter with some kind of skepticism and it feels there might be some events too important to be treated as reportages. One has to draw a line somewhere between these two.
The emergence of “sting operations” as a form of reporting is a very negative and controversial development in this regard. And the media should think about the ethical, legal and professional aspect of it. It simply can have double standards . While jealously guarding its own freedom it can remain oblivious to that of the individual. Indian press has earned its hard-won freedom and added many a feather to its cap. Barring a few exceptions here and there the fourth estate in India have proved its worth in gold.