Merry Christmas to all of you..........

Media, Democracy, Politicians and their interlinks

Democracy means a system of government in which all the people of a country can vote to elect their representatives. India's Republican democracy is premised on a national myth of pluralism, not the standard nationalist invocation of a shared history, a single language and an assimilationist culture. 

Media came into existence in 1780 with the introduction of a newspaper namely "The Bengal Gazette" and since then it has matured leaps and bounds. It has been playing a very important role in shaping human minds. The concept of the Fourth Estate (or fourth estate) is a societal or political force or institution whose influence is not consistently or officially recognized. It now most commonly refers to the news media; especially print journalism.

Media plays a crucial role in shaping a healthy democracy. It is the backbone of a democracy. Media makes us aware of various social, political and economical activities happening around the world. It is like a mirror, which shows us or strives to show us the bare truth and harsh realities of life.

The media has undoubtedly evolved and become more active over the years. It is the media only who reminds politicians about their unfulfilled promises at the time of elections. Television and radio have made a significant achievement in educating rural illiterate masses in making them aware of all the events in their language. Coverage of exploitative malpractices of village heads and moneylenders has helped in taking stringent actions against them by attracting governments attention. The media also exposes loopholes in the democratic system, which ultimately helps government in filling the vacuums of loopholes and making a system more accountable, responsive and citizen-friendly. A democracy without media is like a vehicle without wheels.

When CAG came out with its report stating that "2G licenses issued to private telecom players at throwaway prices in 2008, spectrum scam has cost the government Rs 1.76 lakh crore and rules and procedures flouted while issuing licenses", it was the beginning of the greatest corruption India had ever seen. The 2G Spectrum scam is by far the mother of all scams in India until now. Nobody could have imagined a scam involving 176,000 crores of rupees a decade ago.

But later, when the leaked conversation between corporate lobbyist Nira Radia and some of the well known Indian journalist, exposed the rot in media and show there is a need for radical reform of journalistic practices. Leaked conversations exposed that Nira Radia was trying to fix the appointment of the communications minister suitable to her moneyed clients so that policies that favored her clients could be formulated to benefit them. The tape show that she pressed editors to act as middleman between political parties to place Mr. A. Raja in the post of telecommunication minister at the time of cabinet formation. Also she had used journalists to write columns in favor of her clients. 

In this regard Mr. kuldeep nayyar, India's greatest journalist, wrote that “Credibility is like virginity. It exists or it does not. Unfortunately, some top names in Indian journalism have lost their credibility…. They behaved like power brokers and crossed the Lakshman rekha between legitimate news gathering and lobbying. It is like the fence eating the crop. How they will extricate themselves from the mire is difficult to say. The sad part is that they have brought a bad name to the profession. Politicians are jubilant because they can now say, ‘Physician, heal thyself’…. With what face can the profession point a finger at those who are found wanting in integrity?”

In a democratic country like India, people are relying more on printed media and press is considered as a fourth estate of democracy. The issues like Radia gate will bring down the credibility of journalists and printed media.

Revolution

Revolution
- a complete or drastic change of any kind