By Ramesh Sarraf Dhamora
Journalism, which played a crucial role in securing India’s independence, continues to fulfill its meaningful responsibilities in various contexts even after independence. However, in the current era, journalism is becoming increasingly difficult. As atrocities, corruption, misconduct, and crime increase in society, incidents of attacks on journalists are also increasing. Attacks on the media and journalists are carried out or orchestrated by those steeped in these evils. Such people live a double life. When the media begins to expose their misdeeds, they become agitated and orchestrate attacks on them. The police and the government also support them. Cases are filed for show, but nothing happens. This situation is worrying.
National Press Day is celebrated every year on November 16 in India. This day symbolizes the existence of a free and responsible press in India. National Press Day draws our attention to the freedom and responsibilities of the press. The First Press Commission envisioned a Press Council in India with the aim of protecting press freedom and upholding high standards in journalism. Consequently, the Press Council of India was established on July 4, 1966, and formally began its work on November 16, 1966. Since then, November 16 is celebrated annually as National Press Day. National Press Day provides an opportunity to rededicate ourselves to empowering journalists.
The media is considered both a mirror and a beacon of society. Whether newspapers or news channels, they are essentially considered mirrors of society. The mirror’s job is to present an accurate picture of society to society. However, sometimes, due to vested interests, these news media begin to function like convex or concave mirrors instead of plane mirrors. This also reveals a distorted, unrealistic, imaginary, and distorted picture of society. This means that in the name of investigative journalism, yellow and blue journalism is becoming an integral part of the rosy lives of some of our journalists. The Press Council of India has also stated in its report that the press in India has made more mistakes and more complaints have been filed against it than against officials.
In today’s times, the scope of journalism has expanded. Journalism is the art and genre of delivering informative, educational, and entertaining messages to the masses. Newspapers are like answer sheets with millions of examiners and countless reviewers. Examiners and reviewers of other media are also their target audiences. Factuality, realism, balance, and objectivity are its fundamental elements. However, their shortcomings are proving to be a major tragedy in the field of journalism today. Whether trained or untrained, everyone knows that journalism should be factual. However, the tendency to sensationalize by distorting, exaggerating, or minimizing facts is increasing in journalism today. India ranks 151st out of 180 countries in Reporters Without Borders’ (RSF) 2025 World Press Freedom Index. This is slightly better than its 159th position in 2024 and 161st in 2023. However, India still falls below neighboring countries like Nepal (90th), Maldives (104th), Sri Lanka (139th), and Bangladesh (149th). Norway, Estonia, and the Netherlands are the top three global performers in press freedom. For the first time, global press freedom is facing a difficult situation due to increasing economic pressures.
In developing countries like India, the media has a huge responsibility to fight against narrow-minded ideas like casteism and communalism and to help people fight poverty and other social evils. Because a large section of the population remains backward and ignorant, it is all the more important to reach them with modern ideas and overcome their backwardness so that they can become part of an awakened India. In this respect, the media has a huge responsibility.
Before independence, journalism was a mission. After independence, it became a business. During the Emergency, when the press was censored, journalism once again briefly became a mission, driven by the campaign to eradicate corruption. Gradually, journalism transformed from production to sensation, and from sensation to commission. But it is not fair to blame the media alone for all these social ills. Society is constantly changing. Alternatives are constantly emerging. In such situations, society becomes confused. In this situation, the media provides a new direction to society. The media influences society, but sometimes, in some way, the media becomes influenced by society.
While the press is a mirror of the public, it is also capable of misleading the public. Therefore, every country has its own rules and organizations to control the press, reminding it to operate within certain boundaries. Taking away the freedom of the press is tantamount to taking away the freedom of the country. In countries like China, Japan, Germany, and Pakistan, the press is not fully free. The government directly controls the press here. In this regard, our country, India, is far better off than them. Consider any part of the media today, and the influence of manipulation is evident everywhere. The reporter has become more important than the news itself. The writer has become more important than the article itself. Bias is not uncommon even in the media. Most people who join the media are more focused on establishing their own influence than spreading public awareness.
Some people choose the media to establish themselves. Some, by writing in a few newspapers and magazines, consider their responsibility to society fulfilled. There is also a growing trend of people entering the media under pseudonyms. Accepting the truth is not easy, and that is why some people harbor a grudge against those who reveal it. Yet, some people, even risking everything in the media, choose this path, and sadly, they still don’t receive the recognition they deserve. In democratic countries around the world, the press is considered the fourth pillar, alongside the executive, judiciary, and legislature. The press serves as a connecting link between them. Freedom of the press has allowed the executive, judiciary, and legislature to express the sentiments of the common people with strength. Sometimes the press is accused of making a mountain out of a molehill, although this is not entirely true. After independence, the press has shouldered a significant responsibility.
Bias and imbalance are also frequently seen in news. Thus, vested interests are clearly visible in the news. Today, opinions are being mixed with news. News is being editorialized. The number of opinion-based news is increasing. This has led to the development of an unhealthy trend in journalism. News is the mother of ideas. Therefore, ideas based on news may be welcome, but opinion-based news is a curse.
(The author is a freelance journalist accredited by the Rajasthan government.)
