The Myth of Free Press.

In a liberal democracy, the function of the press is to promote open discussion and debate, provide honest criticism of the government, expose irregularities in the system, inform the public about happenings and indirectly act as a guardian of democratic institutions. "Free Press" is a term for independent journalistic organizations, that act outside the purview of the government and are therefore assumed to be completely independent of any external influence. In my opinion, this narrow definition of independent journalism discounts several key factors that can threaten the independence,neutrality and thus the credibility of the news media in the country. I will try to list those factors that currently influence the media in our country negatively and prevent it from executing its allocated functions effectively.

1. Financial dependence on corporate organizations.
As long as the media will depend on advertising revenues from companies, they will be open to manipulation and soft coercion. Any negative news about a particular company can cause the company in question to withdraw its advertising from that media organization. This frequently happens and impacts the neutrality of media organizations. While reading Hamish Macdonald's 'The Polyester Prince" (supposedly banned in India), I came across an excerpt that described how newspapers used to run negative stories about Reliance in order to attract advertising from Reliance that would shut them up. An innovative way to exort money, eh? 

2.The Profit motive.
 Although a proponent of increased economic freedom, I was never a fan of unbridled capitalism as espoused by some. I believe there are some industries where the race to increase the bottom-line actually goes against the larger public interest. The eyeball grabbing tactics employed by the media in India stand testimony to my arguments. In an effort to boost TRP's and increase readers, media organizations are going all out to sensationalize stuff and trivialize news. This serves to erode the credibility and trust individuals place in the media. After a while, nobody takes them seriously. 

3. Foreign Investment in Media
When two siblings want to watch different channels on TV, who gets to decide which channel is going to be viewed? Simple, the one who has the remote! 
Unless we want our media to act as a front for foreign organizations, it is imperative that their investments in media be capped.

In one way or other, all these factors somehow relate to money. Maybe I will look into the reforms needed in a later post.