Failing Media

As I kid, I remember asking my grandfather which party he voted for. Among the many questions I asked in all my childish inquisitiveness, this one I remember for the profound depth I could sense. Not that the question was extra-ordinary, but the answer he gave surely was.

He said that he always voted against the incumbent and later explained that Democracy is necessarily a system of checks and balances and a stronger opposition meant better governance. This logic seemed to captivate me for sometime and in retrospect i realized that it influenced many of my opinions.

Of late, however, I am confused with the propriety of the logic 'With Competition comes efficiency'. Today, most of us have already resigned to accept the corrupt intentions and ambitions of politicians across parties. It is publicly accepted that politicians are meant to be corrupt. The perception of 'the invaluable vote' has denigrated to become 'the indifferent vote'. The number of charge-sheeted Parliamentarians across parties is only a superficial metric to say the least.

In such a scenario, the booming media unvieled itself as a source of rescue. Extrapolating the logic to media, I thought that a strong media was the remedy for the malice of corruption.

I welcomed every new news channel for the increased accountability it would usher in all the 3 tiers of the governnment (as I did with every new political party). I believed more players brought more effeciency to governance as does competition in a business sense. The way the media chastised the wrong-doers by exposing their actions/in-actions instilled in me a sense of satisfaction and pride as a citizen of the world's largest democracy.

But the institution of media looks on the verge of collapse. The media seams lost in the fight for survival.

• The jargons that have come to be used by the news presenters speak volumes. They no more 'cover issues'; they 'cover /track stories'. The etymology of such jargons roots from the pressing need to stay on top in the TRPs.
• Their attitude of carrying only 'sansani khabar' has done more than its bit of harm and the general public I sense is only on the brink of fatigue.
• No wonder, political parties have started funding media houses. Worse so, some of them own media companies. Jaya TV of Jaya Lalitha, Sakshi of Dr. YS Raja Sekhara Reddy family, SUN TV of the Marans.
• Worse so even the ToI - perhaps the biggest media group in the country seams lost too. Its recent 'Lead India' campaign too, with no tangible contribution to the society, looks only a marketing gimmick than a strategy for resurrecting Indian politico.

Are we on the verge of ignoring the media too, just as we ignore most of our politicians ??