Media has abandoned its role

Anil Sinha

The media has abandoned its role of a vanguard to the people’s cause, is now forgone conclusion but the most worrisome trend it is working against the social amity as well. Someone pointed out that a lone incident in Mumbai of stone pelting on a taxi was blown out of proportion by a channel and it contributed to the social tension between north Indian migrants and Marathi speaking population.

Any one can wonder how a stray incident can be captured by electronic media without some information or connivance. It can not be journalistic pursuit. It is an anti-social act. Some times heinous crime is done in the name of journalism. Three years back some media persons provoked and instigated a man to immolate himself in Gaya in Bihar and the visuals are said to have been sold in few thousand rupees.

It is not new revelation that media promotes market but should it abandon age old human ethics? We can see that how Indian media behaves when incidents of terror attack happen or when, the issue of India-Pakistan comes in. Indian media becomes nationalist overnight and starts to abuse Pakistan. The Pune incident is an example. The TV channels started discussing whether Indo-Pak talks should start or not when the complete news of Pune blast was still to come. The sensationalism and market adventurism is now an integral part of media. We have to find a way to get rid of this situation.