Media. Called the fourth pillar of democracy, known as the watchdog of the government, meant to be the mouthpiece of common masses. But, is that so in reality?
Is media a mouthpiece of the common masses or the government? Not really hard to decide. Media has the power through which it can turn an unknown person into a star overnight and can turn a star into a flop show overnight.
The elections will be held in seven phases which will start from April 11 and end on May 19. The results will be out on May 23. The moment election dates were declared by the Election Commission, media channels started discussing over the issues of general elections in 2019. The media is discussing things like:
- How can the BJP win again?
- How will Priyanka Gandhi’s entry will affect the vote bank of BJP?
- How will Priyanka Gandhi uplift the almost invisible Congress?
- How are BJP candidate shaped against its competitors?
- Which party is more nationalist?
These are topics with which the media is concerned. These are the burning issues of prime time debates on Indian news channels. For media houses, Priyanka Gandhi’s entry into politics is the biggest topic to discuss. They are dissecting how Priyanka Gandhi can benefit the Congress and work to defeat BJP and how PM Narendra Modi’s policies can help BJP to win again.
In a country of approximately 1.32 billion people, these are the main issues being discussed. It’s such an irony that India ranks 103rd on the Global Hunger Index and yet we are discussing nationalism, religion and politics, forgetting some real issues like:
- Lack of basic facilities in rural India.
- Rising problems due to mismanagement and rapid privatization of educational institutions.
- How to make people aware of choosing the best candidate to represent their locality?
- The current government reacting to conflicts and foreign affairs in India.
- What is lacking when politicians follow the model code of conduct?
Being a nation with the world’s second largest population and having a secular constitutional structure, we are not discussing real issues but political issues. Right now, almost nobody is concerned about the basic facilities in rural India and believe that only the announcement of big schemes will automatically help. No matter if those schemes are being followed up on or not.
Also, nobody is concerned about whether students living in villages are really going to school or not and whether they can access all facilities promised by the government? Farmers from Tamil Nadu protested for months and even walked to Delhi, but there was no prime time show expressing their demands.
India has the world’s largest young population. Even here we are lacking while talking about top issues being faced by youngsters like education, employment, and equal opportunities. Rapid privatization of public educational institutions is one of the biggest concerns among the students passing out from schools. The Delhi University Teachers Association has been protesting for more than a year, yet no media house has paid attention to their demands.
Elections are almost here, yet news channels keep on discussing which party is doing what for religion; great speeches and statements are being made by politicians about the same. No concern over how voters can choose eligible candidates to represent their localities can be seen, no initiation to obtaining information about candidates of a constituency is broadcast.
They are only concerned about how one party can defeat another one. They are discussing which party is more nationalist and which party is working towards which religion. Which party favors a friendship with Pakistan. Nobody is ready to talk about the solutions to problems coming in the to solving the conflicts and to improve foreign relations.
“The quality of democracy and the quality of journalism are deeply entwined.”
– Bill Moyers
This quote clearly defines the role of media in the making of a model democracy. If our media will start functioning as media, our democracy will only become more powerful.