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| Media should play the role of watchdog | | | RUSTAM
EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, Apr 9: Media is recognized throughout the world as the fourth estate. Media plays the role of a watchdog. It highlights the people's problems, puts official actions in proper perspective, points out achievements and misdeeds of the government and contributes to the process of nation-making. No state can be termed as state in the real sense of the term if it doesn't allow media to discharge its responsibilities towards the people and the state.
Similarly, media cannot be considered a watchdog if it goes beyond the confines of the universally recognized cardinal principles, the most important being the objective reporting, coupled with well-intentioned and well-meaning comments/views. It is always expected that media shall not take sides and that it will not become an organ of a particular government or a party.
It is ironical that there are media houses in the state that have become either the propaganda tools of separatists or certain political parties. Jammu is no exception. Actually, this brand of media wants to project a particular party/parties by carrying stories/broadcasting news with a particular slant with a view to creating an impression that there exists in the state only one political party whose contribution to the state is phenomenal.
In other words, this brand of media willfully refuses to give equal coverage to all the events that take place in Kashmir and Jammu. It devotes almost all the time in highlighting the activities or otherwise of the NC and presents things in a fashion to show that it alone is relevant. So much so much, it ignores even the Congress party without whose support the NC-led government cannot survive even for a day.
Leave aside the activities undertaken by the aggrieved sections of the society with a view to attracting the attention of the authorities to their woes. This brand of media has no space in its programmes. It is only towards the fag end of the news bulletin that the activities of the aggrieved sections are merely touched and touched in a way that conveys nothing.
Actually, media should give extensive coverage to the problems of the aggrieved and agitating sections of the society. For they depend only on the media. They take media to mean their saviour and spokesman. The bulk of media, both print and electronic, does discharge its functions professionally without fear or favour and it is being loved and hailed by the people.
But the brand of media under scrutiny has created widespread resentment among the viewers and the readers. They looking down upon this section of the media and switching towards that section that not only covers the official activities but also the activities of the aggrieved sections of society, including the ongoing employees' strike. The most notable aspect of the role played by the committed and biased media is the negative impression it has been creating among the common masses, who do not want to see the faces of those who are responsible for their views and whom the committed media shows time and again.
The crux is that this section of committed and biased media is neither doing justice to the profession nor to the people and the party/parties it wants to project. The more it tries to project a particular party, more the anger against that particular party it generates. To be more exact, this brand of media directly harms the party/parties it otherwise wants to project because whatever little coverage it gives to the people's grievances towards the end neutralizes the influence of the earlier part of the bulletin.
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