Government intolerance of press freedom worrisome

The problem with the media in India, the world's largest democracy, is enormous. India doesn't have a model for a democratic press.

The Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE) has published a report on India stating that Indian journalists are forced — or feel compelled for the sake of job security — to report in ways that reflect the political opinions and corporate interests of shareholders.

The report written by Ravi S Jha says, "Indian journalism, with its lack of freedom and self-regulation, cannot be trusted now — it is currently known for manipulation and bias."

This is just one part of the story. How about muzzling the media freedom? These instances have only grown and are growing in India. Is the media free to write and reflect upon the matters of governance so as to inform the public the truth?

There are shades and shades of opinion, no doubt. That is the preference of the media. But of late a new tendency is developing where the governments are becoming intolerant and even if anyone tries to be objective in their criticism which is part of a healthy democracy, the ruling parties brand it as anti-government.

The reason for this could be that every political party these days owns a newspaper or TV channel or both and this attitude can be used to arm twist the other newspapers or TV channels and promote their own media houses.

Another reason could be that they want to have absolute control over the media and convert them into pro government media houses. This phenomenon is being witnessed both at the Central level as well as in the States irrespective of which party is in power.

While some sophistication is shown in this attempt by national parties, regional parties resort to measures like banning telecast of channels which are opposed to it.

Good government should remain focused on matters of governance and not get deviated. Any amount of media campaign, if it is there, is not going to harm them as long they perform. This we had seen on many occasions.

No government should exhibit fascist attitude towards media as no government had come to power or lost power because of media campaign. If any politician or any media house thinks so, then it shows that they have no understanding of the ground reality.

The success or failure of government depends on its performance. Any kind of attempt to regulate or restrict any media only indicates the panic reaction of the government.

In fact, of late a new practice has also come into vogue. The government appointing some journalists as media advisors. A mad race among journalists for the so-called coveted posts has also been seen.

But then these advisors, instead of guiding the government in a proper manner, are fast turning into party activists and "Yes Boss" team and supporting anti media activities.

What the governments should understand is they have no right to dictate or decide what the people should read or view.

These are the days of social media too and it has an enormous reach. The more the news is stifled, the more distorted it gets. That is not good news.