Justice Markandey Katju's remarks on media are not off the mark

Much of what Justice Katju says is not new. In media circles, the falling standards of the profession have been a subject of discussion for a very long time. For example, it is almost universally admitted that younger journalists joining newspapers, magazines or television channels are much less aware of Indian history, politics and society than their counterparts a few decades ago. This can partly be blamed on the education system, which relies more on rote learning than on genuine enquiry. A system where students can and do get 99 per cent marks can only be an assembly line where talent and intellect is measured by grades which reflect a good memory and little else.

To cater to the demand for journalists, colleges have eagerly taken to offering media courses at the bachelors level, but without the requisite faculty; a lot of the output of these courses is, to put in bluntly, rubbish. But such is the need in a sector that has grown exponentially over the last decade and more, that almost everyone lands a job soon enough, writing or thinking skills be damned. There are scores of channels and hundreds of publications looking for staff and the general tendency is to just take what you can get and then hope that they will learn something on the job.

The bigger question is, what of the job itself? Regrettably, Justice Katju’s remarks about the frivolous nature of the media are not wide off the mark. Though it is wrong to paint the entire media scene with one brush — the “media” can include the serious as well as the trashy channels, the quality papers as well as the rags — the perception is that TV channels are about hyperbole and the newspapers are dumbing down news. The person holding the remote control sees either panellists shouting at each other, film songs, filmstars airing their views on everything, cricket and astrology. And this is on news, not entertainment channels. One often hears viewers ask — why do correspondents get so breathless while reporting, why do anchors shout so much? Bollywood stories make it on the front pages and the supplements are of course full of glamour.

Sidharth Bhatia in The Asian Age. Here

Indian Media has lost its credibility: Prof Yaseen Ashraf

“Intervention of media has brought in revolutions in the past in many countries, although, news was the medium of information but today the purpose of information has changed. The news isn’t being broadcast for the audience anymore; today it is manufactured to bring in the audience,” said Prof. Yasin Ashraf speaking on “Indian Media and its Crisis of Credibility” on Sept 25 here.

“News channels and newspapers are manipulating the news to make it spicy by changing the meaning of media that is based on mass orientation to market orientation.” He also brought the attention of the journalists on how the victimisation of the masses is increasing day by day by the media’s invasion into their privacy, sensationalising and dumping down of the news.

Questioning the credibility of News and information broadcast by Indian news channels, Prof Yasin said “All this is happening because journalists are losing their ethics and professionalism. For any news a journalists should be sure about the facts. When you are not sure about the facts you cannot report the news. In many cases people give up this norm and start spreading all kinds of rumours and hence playing a very dangerous game.”

Mr. Yasin stressed its high time that media mends the ways before further damage otherwise the masses may completely loose the confidence in the media. He said, “Broadcasters and reporters should start efforts to gain back the lost confidence of the masses and this can happen when media houses start including minority representatives and experts. As a minority community we have to make ourselves competitive enough to qualify to be amongst the best journalists. He said that it is also necessary for the public to involve itself and intervene and report back to the media if they come across any misleading news.”

Prof Yaseen Ashraf in Karnatka Muslims. Here