Degeneration of the Press and the Media:

05 OCT 2015

   How many channels boast of discovering or breaking news first! And they talk about how their campaign has had tremendous effect! It looks silly to boast publicly and in such horrendous proportion to take credit for a job that they are, after all supposed to be doing anyway. Why don’t they be subtle in this self-praise just as they are when they side a political party?

This boasting suggests that they consider the system that receives their services as themselves rather than the people, which is the correct receiving system for the Press and the media.

Look at what happens when people are taken as the receiving system of politicians: for example. Mr Modi, as soon as he took over as PM, told the newly elected BJP members of Lok Sabha that the they should never forget that the people are above the party. This people -focus is further reflected in his practice of what he preaches. Look at the consistency of Mann-ki-baat that he never misses to deliver once a month, in spite of his phenomenally tight schedule.

On the contrary, this people focus is completely missing in the Congress party: the party has always considered itself above the people. (I am not talking about the top echeleons of the party taking a family, not even the party, as their receiving system!). The party was telling prior to the Lok Sabha elections that they have achieved a lot but did not tell the people. - the only receiving system of what they did- about their various achievements! If they have done anything, the receiving system should know about their contribution, whether they talk about it or not. The proof of the pudding is in the eating! The claims of achievements are invalid as the people have not endorsed the claims, as was shown by the results of the elections, 2014.

Continuing on this logic, the Congress party announced that the PM, Dr Manmohan Singh would be giving interviews to one newspaper or media channel every month. It did happen one month, only to come to a grinding halt from the second month onwards, if I remember right. Is it not the responsibility of the press to remind the Congress Party and its PM and get him to the interview, if the focus of the Press is indeed the people?

I am afraid the focus of the Press and the media is becoming increasingly itself and not the people – exactly like the Congress Party. My fear is that what happened to the Congress should not happen to the fourth estate in this country as it is one of the vital few institutions that is critical for effective functioning of any democracy, leave alone the world’s most populous one.

Normally the symptom of a degenerating and dying system is the focus on itself! The decline of an opposition party and the degeneration of the Press and the Media are not good signs for Indian democracy. And the responsibility for this is the opposition party itself and the Press and the media and none outside.

One affected indian Bakra/bakri in the service of the people of India.