|
|
The book under review, which is a collection of articles
presented at a seminar held at Himachal Pradesh University,
Shimla, in October 2000, is such an attempt in this regard.
Normally, such seminars are forgotten the day these are over and
its credit goes to Vir Bala Aggarwal for taking pains in
collecting the articles and presenting these in the form of a
book. What kind of mirror is the media to society is a point of
debate. Does it tell the truth or invents lies and half-truths
on behalf of the governments, politicians, ruling elites and of
course the owners/publishers? How it shapes society? These are
some vital questions. First, the media is not monolithic.
Second, it is not a voluntary institution. Owners/publishers and
even editors have interest in profits and power. It is
essentially the capitalism that drives the media. If French
language was spread more by newspapers and military barracks
than by schools, it can be safely asserted that the spread of
Hindi language to the newspapers (growth was over 500 per cent
in two decades ending 2000) and films, the another medium.
The mass media is
no longer seen as the purveyor of neutral information and
contemplative comment. There is an increasing apprehension that
idealism and liberalism have deserted the profession to a great
extent. Now both the print media and television journalists are
impatient to unload the precooked and packaged news and views
(largely the products of the new consumer culture who are
concerned with trivial issues) almost in an attacking fashion.
There is an alarming sameness about all this, and the reader or
viewer is left with no insight to form his own opinion; he has
either to lump it or leave it. There is no dialogue between
those who write or telecast and those who read and view. It is
strictly one-way traffic.
While modern
technology has brought in live television, more vibrating radio
and much better produced newspapers, poverty and illiteracy have
limited the reach of the media. The Press reaches one third of
India’s households, while TV reaches 47 per cent of the
population. While satellite TV channels are free to telecast
news, only the AIR can broadcast news. FM radio stations, which
are now going into private hands, can broadcast entertainment
programmes. The state broadcasting stations have functioned by
and large as mouthpieces of successive governments, criticism in
and outside the Parliament notwithstanding.
The book has
interesting contributions from some veterans of the field like
Radhye Shyam Sharma. M.R. Dua, Jaishri Jethvaney, Shyam Khosla
and Ravi Dhar. While the first part of the book deals with the
contemporary media landscape, the second part takes up media and
deployment issues. The attempt has been made to touch upon major
issues concerning the media in this country. While discussing
issues such as media and conflict (Jethwaney) or global civil
religion (by V.S Gupta) or dot journalism (by Sheetal Thapar) or
rural development (by R. S Dalai), there is an effort to place
ideas in some context. There is another good contribution by
Aggarwal on the Indian language Press, which is witnessing a
revolution. However, few articles have been dealt with a
touch-and-go approach. For example, the issue of relationship of
newspaper owners and journalists with the government has not
drawn full attention. One fundamental issue how mediapersons
adapt, and are adapted to the demands of the system, needed more
attention in such a book.
|
