8/3/2019 Mass Media and Ethics
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Mass media has a prominent role to play in modern society. It
can bring about radical changes and improve social situation as
it
influences our social, civil, cultural, political, economic and
aesthetic outlook. Modernization has converted media into an
indispensable feature of human activity. However, factors like
age, education, economic condition, personal needs and
availability of proper components decide the quantum and
frequency of media use. This is evident from the fact that most
media centres are located in urban areas. The majority of
consumers of media products are also concentrated in and around
cities and towns.
It is rightly said that media use is an index of development.
The greater the use, the higher will be the level of education.
As
social beings, humans are sustained by mutual interactions,
exchange of ideas, information and views with the fellow
beings.
Illiteracy, which is nothing but absence of education and
information is a stumbling block for any aspect of
development-social,
economic, political, cultural and even spiritual. Media has
become the harbinger of development through the removal of
these
roadblocks and the provision of information and knowledge.
In a democratic country like India, the ultimate power lies with
the people. But a democratic society needs vigilant and
informed people who are able to see through the gimmicks of
political parties and politicians. Media creates such valuable
citizens.Besides, media has done much good to society by
exposing various scams, scandals, frauds, embezzlements and
many
other cases of corruption leading to initiation of enquiries and
other processes of prosecution against the perpetrators of
these
crimes. History is witness that press has been instrumental in
putting an end to atrocities and bringing the downfall of
ruthless
dictators. In India, vernacular press did the job of uniting
people against the oppressive British rule and triggered its end in
the
country.
However, media too suffers from some pitfalls, growing
consumerism and materialism have adversely impacted our media.
The
partisan attitude, sectarian outlook and biased individualism in
some sections of media are a testimony that media too is
susceptible to harmful influences. Often, in fierce rivalries,
ethics of journalism are thrown out of the window to settle old
scores. Running after opportunistic gains is another malady our
media suffers from. The incidents of throwing are against the
ethics of media. Deliberately creating sensational stuff to
attract with reality- is another tactic that media must avoid.
Too often the debate over media ethics provokes the knee jerk
response,What ethics? To say that many people question themedias
professional integrity is an understatement. Skepticism aside, most
citizens still believe that the foremost objective ofthe media is
to keep the public abreast of current events and issues. We, the
public, have the expectation from the media topresent this
information in an honest, accurate, and timely fashion. And deep
down, we do still believe that they are crediblesources of
information why else would we continually turn to them if we
didnt?Unfortunately, in this age of rapid privatization and
commercial entertainment, the media often fall short in fulfilling
ourexpectations of ethical journalism. By falsifying, or
exaggerating information, leaking privileged information in a
story, andtransmitting partisan information with little scrutiny,
the big media conglomerates have undermined their reputations
asobjective messengers of news. These actions on the part of the
media reduce their medium from an art form to mere tabloid
journalism.
We need to recognize that media ethics do not end with blaming
the media system. The right to demand truthful, objective,
andresponsible news from the media is a fundamental one. Are we, as
consumers of information, in any way responsible for theunfortunate
state media, and the ethics that govern it? Have we allowed
ourselves to be fed half truths and lies? Have we growncomplacent
to this form of unethical journalism? Must we stand up, demand
ethical journalism, and refuse to back down until
we get what we deserve: the full unbiased truth?
