Wake up call for viewers

 “Discussion and dissension are crucial for a spirited democracy, and it must hold public institutions accountable for all their actions and inactions. There should always be room for the argumentative Indian and not the intolerant Indian. The media must be the watchdog, the mediator between the leaders and the public”.

-Former President Pranab Mukherjee

Media is 4^th pillar of the Indian democracy which has access to the right to free press. Its role is inevitable and holds a big responsibility, the one who courageously poses questions in front of politicians and the one who never afraid of unveiling harsh truths. Does it apply in the current scenario? Do people ask questions or are the ideologies directly being imposed? Do people discuss and analyze government policies in the public sphere? Is the right to free press still relevant or it is under the control of populists? These questions are of serious concern in this era, one must deeply think about it. Democracy is like a building, rely on 4 pillars, if any of the pillars fall, then whole democracy will collapse.

In this glamorous time, where everyone’s mind is attracted to drama and spices and discovering the stuff that is not at all ameliorating cognitive development and even deteriorating and circumscribing the mind’s ability to certain nonsensical material, asking logical questions to the government doesn’t fit here or rather treated as a crime. Where is this India heading towards? People are slowly marching towards the oblivious state, they do not know the impact of GDP decline on their surroundings.

Journalists are not paying heed to forest dwellers woes whose land will be acquired for the construction of bullet train, neither are they concerned about historic GDP decline, not even dedicated a single mournful session for ex-President Pranab Mukherjee’s demise. And showcasing every minute detail on the Sushant Singh Rajput’s case. Why CBI is even allowing the media to interfere in its investigation? Veteran Journalist Gauri Lankesh would have got justice if these channels showed this level of commitment and boldly outspoken that how the BJP and RSS were celebrating her assassination.   

Media has spread its leg into heterogeneous activities, sometimes it plays the role of CBI, judiciary, NCB, sometimes licks the feet of the government, and sometimes digs the truth by harassing the alleged party, but unfortunately lagging in performing its predominant function. The cacophony voices and the greed of gaining more TRP than peers to secure the number one position have somewhere undermined its vision, mission, and objective statement.

They would have a shout out for the rights of forest dwellers, they would have raised voice for the PDS scam of Madhya Pradesh, would have debated for daily wagers who are succumbing to death. They are businessmen who do need analysis and serves the viewers what they ask for. This is how the news channel exists and earn huge profits in the competitive market. All toes the line of NDA because it has allocated Rs. 3214.7 crores to print and electronic advertisement in the first three years of coming into the power, whereas UPA spent just Rs. 2658.24 crores in the overall tenure of 10 years. These alarming numbers indicate that NDA’s strategy is to sack out the opposition (already in a crisis), indoctrinating Hindutva Rashtra ideology to the masses, and producing more bigots.

Subject of debates	Number of debates
Attacking Pakistan	79
Attacking the opposition (including Nehru)	66
Praising Modi and the BJP/RSS	36
Ram Mandir	14
Bihar floods	3
Chandrayaan Moon Mission	2
Rape case against Swami Chinmayanand	1
PMC Bank Scam	1

Figure 1 Based on the analysis of Dangal (Aaj Tak), Aar Paar (News18), Taal Thok Ke (Zee News), and Kurukshetra (India TV) (Bureau, 2019)

The above data shows how the level of journalism is falling and engaged in advocating Pro-Hindutva leaders, dividing masses through political polarization, and promoting majoritarianism. It is altogether subjugating the idea of India that is well defined in our constitution. Media is the voice of the people, acts as a channel of communication between people sitting at an administrative position and the common man. Viewers must wake up to completely reject the quality of news that is shown. The game of TRP has to end to bring back the essence of discussions and debates because in last reliable and unbiased news matters.