Ethics V/S Profits: The Dilemma Of News Media
Nowadays, watching a news channel is similar to watching a soap opera with unnecessary shouting and over-exaggeration. One cannot know what is happening around the country without melodramatic anchors and panellists proving why their opinion is the right one, not by stating logic but by raising their voices. As soon as the clock strikes eight in the evenings, our TV screens become representative of a chaotic battlefield, where wars are declared over irreconcilable issues of ideology, caste, creed and religion. This indicates the transition from professionalism to sensationalism in Indian Television News Media Industry.
Journalism was once considered a noble profession, the one where your purpose is to inform and serve the society, to present the truth and to convey the issues faced by the public to the authorities. However, in recent times the priorities have changed. Compromising on journalistic ethics for profit-making purposes, spreading hate, making false claims, prioritising a celebrity’s tragic demise over the flooding of a state has resulted in television news losing its respect.
Live telecasting of 24-hour news began post globalisation. In the beginning, TV journalism opened up a sky for opinions, discussions and arguments. It gave a loud voice to all those issues of our country that we had experienced over the years but could never talk about openly, including women’s issues, rapes, poverty, corruption and so on but with shifting priorities towards television rating points (TRP) breaking the news first, sensationalised stories, media trials and aggressive journalism became a common trend. Another effort towards securing higher TRPs manifests itself when the media channels display a clear association with any ideologies or political parties. Hence, the news is selectively sensationalised by the political and ideological agenda.
The quality of major prime time news coverage has been on a decline for the past few years, due to the partisan reportage of news these days. ‘Sensation above sense’ is the blueprint for the TRP-driven news channels to exploit for their own economic and political gain. This bad rapport that the industry has accrued puts us in a moral quandary.
Media is the fourth pillar of democracy. Its function is to providing strength and stability of it by keeping a check on the other three pillars- Legislature, Executive and Judiciary. It is the watchdog of society, safeguarding the interests of the masses. However, when this watchdog becomes a pet dog of powerful and influential people; acts irresponsibly and ineffectively, the institution of democracy is likely to collapse. Thus, the media needs to behave more responsibly.
