Since liberalisation in 1991, the audiovisual media has transformed itself. Economic growth, the freeing of broadcast media from government control and the Internet have all prompted an explosion in the quantity, if not quality, of media offerings. In the process, Indian journalism changed in style as well as substance. But this has not always been a “good thing”.
Media now is driven by the “breaking news” culture and the search for the villain of the day: the news must be broken and so, it seems, must the person. Television news in India, with far too many channels competing 24/7 for the same sets of eyeballs and ratings points (“TRPs”), has long given up any pretence of providing a public service, with the “breaking news” story privileging sensation over substance. (Indian TV epitomises the old witticism about why television is called a ‘medium’: ‘Because it is neither rare nor well done.’) The Fourth Estate today serves simultaneously as witness, prosecutor, judge, jury and executioner. In ancient times, India put its accused through agnipariksha, a trial by fire; today, we put them through a trial by media.
Social media, with its culture of unverified “fact” and viral opinion, compounds the problem: it offers a ready platform for material that would not have passed editorial scrutiny. Sadly, matters are not much better in the print media, despite its ability to provide context, depth, and analysis that television cannot.
