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MEDIA DISCOURSE MEDIA DISCOURSE and INDIAN SOCIETY and INDIAN SOCIETY Dr. Dhruva Bhushan Singh ISBN: 978-93-86789-21-1 Published By: Dr. Dhruva Bhushan Singh Office: 203, 2nd Floor, Plot No. 7, Aggarwal Plaza, LSC 1, Mixed Housing Complex, Mayur Vihar, Phase-3, New Delhi-110096, India Phone: 011-22626549, 9810084690 Email: [email protected] Website: www.kaavpublications.org MEDIA DISCOURSE AND INDIAN SOCIETY EDITOR Dr. DHRUVA BHUSHAN SINGH Assistant Professor Department of Sociology Shaheed Hira Singh Government Degree College Dhanapur, Chandauli, Uttar Pradesh, India MAYUR VIHAR PHASE 3, DELHI- 110096 Published By: KAAV PUBLICATIONS, 203, 2nd Floor, Plot No- 7, Aggarwal Plaza, LSC- 1, Mixed Housing Complex, Mayur Vihar Phase 3, DELHI- 110096 Email Id. : [email protected] Copyright © 2017 editor Dr. Dhruva Bhushan Singh Edition : 2017 Printed By: Amit Printers, Noida Price: Rs.545.00, US$140 ISBN: 978-93-86789-21-1 KAAV PUBLICATIONS (All Rights Reserved) Responsibility for the facts stated, opinions expressed, conclusions reached and plagiarism, if any, in this title is entirely that of the contributors. The editor and publisher bear no responsibility for them whatsoever. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without written permission. For Binding mistakes, misprint or for missing pages etc. the publisher’s liability is limited. About the Book The freedom of media in the country is blessing for the people. Media has performed its democratic responsibility, deeply associated with the socio-economic conditions and political image, as an opinion creator and reflector of the facts, factors and faces of the society, disseminator of information and being an agent of change since its advent in India. The free media has to be more accountable to the general public, and that the professional integrity and ethical standards are not sacrificed for sensational practices. Now a days, there are frequent accounts of swaying off the track from its ethical responsibilities. This book Media Discourse and Indian Society is a compendium of research papers offering a discourse towards the role that the mass media plays in our lives, our democracy and Indian culture and society. The compilation of 18 empirical and conceptual papers, contributed by talented scholars and young social scientists on Media and Societal issues, examine how the media operates, what it says, when and why it says things. It is a judicious representations of media contents, contemporary realities of our society and dynamics shaping and controlling it. Expanded discussions presented by author not only focus on emerging issues of modern Indian society from media perspectives, but also highlights deteriorating journalism and media ethics and suggests ways to redeem a socially conscious media. i Preface It will be no exaggeration to imagine the pervasiveness of media if I say that we lead a media life, which is much more than media hardware, software, and content - it is also everything we do with and in response to media: how we build and sustain relationships and family ties, how we derive cultural status and social currency from the kinds of media we use (the music we listen to, the shows we follow, the games we catch live), and the various ways we more or less deliberately manipulate time and space by checking our email on mobile devices, listen to audiobooks with noise-cancelling headphones, and record our private participation in public proceedings (weddings, concerts, the weekend soccer game) with networked devices. The word ‗media‘ is derived from the word medium, signifying mode or carrier. Media is intended to reach and address a large target group or audience. The word was first used in respect of books and newspapers i.e. print media and with the advent of technology, media now encompasses television, movies, radio and internet. In today‘s world, media becomes as essential as our daily needs. Media of today is playing an outstanding role in creating and shaping of public opinion and strengthening of society. Media is the sword arm of democracy. Media acts as watchdog to protect public interest against malpractice and create public awareness. Media is a powerful institution which transmits the knowledge and information. Today, media is considered the fourth pillar of the state all over the world. Mass media, in its different forms, have influenced human life in the present century. The strength and importance of media in a democracy like India is well recognized. Media plays the role of facilitator of development, disseminator of information and being an agent of change. More importantly this is very true in the context of a biggest democracy iii like India. In Indian democracy media has a responsibility which is deeply associated with the socio- economic conditions. Today when politicians are taking full advantage of their positions, an evil nexus of mafia and crime syndicate is making the life of the common man miserable, taxpayer‘s money is siphoned out for the personal gain of the influential and ordinary people are a mere spectator-media has a greater responsibility. As the fourth pillar of democracy along with judiciary, executive and legislature, media of today has an all embracing role to act against the injustice, oppression, misdeeds and partiality of our society. From the days abode, media has remained an integral part of human civilization. From the days of Vedas and Upanishads to edicts of kings and emperors like Chandragupta, Ashoka to the medieval Indian mass gatherings to the modern day‘s audio video and print and social media, media has always taken a pivotal role in shaping our society. During the days of freedom struggle newspapers like Tilak‘s Maratha, Mahatmaji‘s young India acted as a platform to place the demands of common Indian and to express solitude with freedom fighters. Indian media in post independence era has grown up phenomenally and today comprises of more than 50,000 newspapers, hundreds of television and radio channels. In this era of liberalistion, privatisation and globalisation (LPG) the world has reached our drawing room thanks to media. Since the introduction of television in our country in late 70‘s visual media becomes a very potential tool in informing the current news to the society, entertaining the people and shaping up of public opinion. The World Wide Web and web 2.0 technologies have given rise to electronic media where even a common man can express views through blogs, website posts, facebook and twitter like social media. Coupled with traditional print media all these audio video and social media caters to a richly diversified media industry in India. iv Media helps in fighting against corruption, nepotism, cronyism of institutional machinery and carrying out relentless campaign against them. Way back in independent India from the Mundra case to the jeep scandal to the hawala case to the kickbacks received in different defense deals- Indian media performs commendably in exposing the corrupted highly placed statesman. In recent scams from commonwealth to 2G, exposed thanks to television and print media, media acted as a catalyst to government action compelling government to swing into action including suspending ministers and putting ministers into jail. Who can forget the crusade taken by Indian media in the Nirbhaya rape case and shaping the public opinion in one of the most heinous crimes the world has ever witnessed. Without media, the news of government schemes and benefits would have never reached the target audience. It is a mirror of the society but these days media mirrors its own society shows what it wants to show The Indian media now a day display certain defects. Ethics of contemporary journalism tell us that what journalists should be doing is standing outside the cycle of symbolic and physical violence, corruption and manipulated information that makes up the power relations of society, so they can show audiences the truth of the system and how it works. But, instead, they, themselves, are immersed in this system of untruth. Like other players in this system, they engage in symbolic violence against reputations; they manipulate information to achieve various ends; they make covert alliances, and offer the public forms of untruth that masquerade as truth. And they do so even as they depict themselves as honest brokers who stand outside the system and expose it flaws to public scrutiny. This essential act of corruption on the part of the news media is all the more disturbing when we begin to see the nature of the system that journalists have allowed themselves to become a part of. v Paid news is one such example. All manipulate government to achieve their own ends and all use television and other forms of mass media to shape public opinion. One potential antidote to this subversion of democracy is an independent news media with the courage and integrity to expose the system to the light of day, so that the force of public opinion, shame, and law can bring about a correction. But it turns out that most of the news organizations with the power to do this are themselves both owned and controlled by other players in the system, and are also, themselves, players, seeking to manipulate information for their own ends. Television news is owned by the same massive corporations that exert control over much of the rest of economy and culture. The journalists who control it, divine what their bosses want or, in some instances, they follow orders directly, and are thus careful to shape the news so as to not challenge their corporate owners. Meanwhile, television journalists manipulate information in ways designed to attract audiences, to push their own political agendas and to aggrandize themselves so they will appear as heroes and celebrities before the public.

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