The Tale Of Indian Press

Of lately i have been talking to a lot of activists.Once i asked this lady-a vociferous activist-how does one form an opinion on a particular issue?she tried to relate it to her work & emphasized on status studies & field surveys.I put it across her in an even simpler manner.What if its about an issue like say The Tibet issue?
An unusual silence followed.Soon,she started & remarked how as a student she used to browse newspapers & magazines & jotted down notes on important issues.She added on,unlike nowadays access to English newspaper & magazines were limited those days& the only access point was her university library.Even today I read three newspapers & two magazines,she proudly proclaimed."Madam,then isn't your opinion on national & international issues influenced by the articles published in the newspaper & the magazine?"i asked her.
She hesitantly replied,"Well,in a way yes,but not always".
Not just her,across the length & breadth of India, starting from students to top bureaucrats form their opinions on the basis of what the newspapers write.There is nothing wrong in that except for the fact that in India its pretty difficult to find a newspaper thats unbiased.Biasness in journalism distorts the concept of freedom of press.In a democracy like ours,the press has a very important role to play in disseminating true & correct information & newspapers are the cheapest & easily accessible source of comprehensive information.Down south & in Maharashtra political parties have their own newspapers & television channels.Its expected of them to promote their patrons & be used for political propaganda.But what about mainstream newspapers having mass readership base?If they start doing the same for purely commercial or personal interests then what can be done?Globally,newspaper readership base is shrinking & india seems to be the aberration.In these conditions ideally,we should see a scenario wherein there is tremendous competition to provide well crafted news articles & thought provoking columns;alas it doesn't happen that way.
There are some newspapers who go to any length to justify their biasness either towards the right or the left.For example,a prominent south based English newspaper echoed the lines of the Communist top brass in the Nandigram issue as well as in the recent Tibet issue,even if that was against the stand taken by democratic figureheads like Governor or for that matter the Union of India.Now,it is the same newspaper that had taken a strong stand in the case of Gujarat riots & other acts of Hindu fanaticism.The point is what signals are they sending to the reader?why are they trying to mislead the readers by providing distorting facts or for that suppressing the true facts?Similarly,there is a popular news magazine,that speaks no ill about India's so called first family.Now sycophancy is expected of the loyalists& members of the political party over which this family rules,but why a respected news magazine?If at all,it has to support a particular party or family,why doesn't it state in bold letters in its cover that it is affiliated to that particular political party.There are some other vernacular newspapers that try to influence people's emotions by touching upon sensitive issues such as motherland,religion etc.Then we have those glossy newspapers more in style & less in substance;no wonder these are the ones that sell the most because they exploit the indian mentality of loving everything western & the fondness for paparazzi journalism.The only saving grace has been the presence of some journals & weeklies who have braved all odds to bring us unbiased & accurate news articles.But,then their readership base is limited.
Now where do we go from here?In the near future its not improbable to see a situation wherein like their American& European peers the Indian newspapers see their readers diverting to the web medium for their daily dose of news & views about the issues confronting the mankind.It'll be very interesting & perhaps the fact about Press being a pillar of democracy shall actually be true.