Downfall of India’s Fourth Pillar of Democracy

ANVISHA SINGH

      My late grandfather was a newspaper editor of his time; I have grown seeing his determination, integrity and honesty towards his work and respect towards every piece of knowledge. Everyone admired him for these qualities but there were also few people who mocked his honesty because they themselves were corrupt and selfish. When we observe today’s journalism we’ll notice that not only technology and salaries have been increased but also corruption.

     Media is the fourth pillar of India’s democracy. It helps in the betterment of the country, it shows the good and bad things happening in our country and pass the messages(problems) of the common man to the government and we should admire them too for working in this pandemic situation for us, however there are few of them who manipulate the news and rather being a messenger between the government and citizens they are becoming mere puppets of the government and sources of advertisement of their propaganda either because of some money or some position in Rajya Sabha. When manipulating the truth through false ideas is not enough for them, they use dangerous speech bigotry and implausible statements against a certain group and now even against a respected people of the country. When they take interviews of their “bosses” they ask questions on their hobbies or day routine or what they like to eat rather than asking questions on the new polices and on development and this is how many things are been hidden from the public but sadly very few people could see the wrong in this ritual. In past, the debates were formal, were on the real issues and were full of dignity whereas now we can see this rarely, the debates are informal without any dignity, the guests and even the host are shouting at each other and the discussion is mostly done on communal issues or a normal incident is being given a communal angle through these debates. India ranked 133 out of 180 countries in World’s Press Freedom Index in 2016 and in 2020 we have fallen down to 142th rank, it has been decreasing every year and people are not getting affected by this our shame to the nation and it will keep decreasing if the government will continue to control the press like they are doing now and if they will continue keeping their voice low in front of them.  

      There are many honest journalists some of them even do self journalism but few of them are either booked under some false charges by the government or are forced to leave their job but when they are still not scared then they witness torture and even death, all this just because they fearlessly ask questions from the government and they show the real face of the problems without manipulating it. There are few who want to show the truth but curb their opinions because of the fear of loosing their jobs. We need to realize that these are the people who can benefit us as they will show our problems and also ask the solutions from the government, they will talk about the economy, unemployment and developments taking place in the country so we need to stand by them.

Editor’s Note: Press Freedom is not seen very often these days. India lags behind. We better know and understand where this is going. Just a fact- one of the features of authoritarianism is ‘no press-media allowed and if allowed then only for the glory of the ruler’.

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