The Power Of Press
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| The Power of Press |
The ‘Power’ of the Press to bring about social and political change or economic development is extremely limited. In capitalist societies, the Press is primarily like any other business or industry; it exis to raise advertising revenue and circulation with the aim of making profits. ‘Public Service’ and ‘Public Interest’ are not the main concerns. This is not to suggest that the Press does not make attempts to exercise its power in favour of one political or economic ideology over another or of one group or class or caste over another. This attempts, it must be acknowledged, are sometimes successful and at other times disastrous failures. At most times, however the attempts are not paid much heed to, unless it affects some group’s interests in a radical manner. In the ultimate analysis, the power of the Press depends on its credibility among readers, as well as on how the news reported is understood and interpreted. Different groups ‘ read’ the same news item in varied ways depending on their own social backgrounds. How news is read is not entirely in the hands of journalists. Indeed, the Press often succeeds only in reinforcing widely held beliefs and the status quo rather than bringing about change and development.
Does the Press ‘set
the agenda’ for us and for society? There is no doubt teat the Press keeps us
informed about selected events, issues and people. But the public too has a
role in ‘setting the agenda, of the Press. The public has interests, beliefs
and expectations that are catered to by the Press. The public has interest,
beliefs and expectations that are created by the Press While the Press tells us
what to think about, and also what to think, it has little power to change out
ideas, beliefs and attitudes even when it attempts to do so. Only when there is
a general consensus on an issue among all the elements of the Press and the
other media, and this consensus fits in with a community’s needs, is there some
likelihood of a change being effected. Even in this case. Several other factors
would have to come into play before any real change can be felt.
The public attitude
to the internal emergency, imposed by Ms Indira Gandhi regime is a case in
point. One could argue, however, that it was not so much the Press that brought
about the downfall of that regime as the people’s hostility to the crackdown on
their fundamental rights. The Press, after all, was easily silenced during the
emergency. In the post-emergency period the Press only reflected the public’s
seething anger against the regime.
By and large, then
the Press rarely initiates change, innovation and development. Because of its
dependence on commercial interests and the dominant groups, it is of necessity
conservative and status-quoits. The widespread support that the anti-Mandal
riots and the ‘liberalization’ policies of the Government have received from
the ‘national’ and the ‘regional’ Press is a reflection of that dependence.
The current news
values of Indian journalists are no different from the news values of their
counterparts in the West. These are timeliness, immediacy, proximity, oddity,
conflict, mystery, suspense, curiosity, and novelty. The new development/alternative
journalists, however, challenge these elite- and immediacy-oriented values, and
man-bites-dog approach to news. They believe that the voice of the silent,
suffering majority should be heard through the Press. Not politics, business,
finance, sports should be the staple of news but rather what is of value in
terms of equality, social justice and peace.
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