The common man sees journalists as powerful people. The misuse of this so-called power of the media, though on a much bigger scale.
Being a trainee in a reputed news I have heard these comments from people
“You are a journalist, can’t you get passes arranged for that concert?”, “Can I get a similar Press Card like yours?”, “It is easy to show your Press Card and tell the police you are a journalist when you are charged for a minor offence”, “Don’t you know I am from the media?”, “A PRESS sticker on the car can do wonders”.
Rajdeep Sardesai, the editor-in-chief of CNN-IBN television, tweeted after a televised debate on the subject, “I guess journalists are more feared today, but sadly less respected. We are more arrogant, less ethical”.
Questions that remain unanswered that lot of journalist and people from channels are put behind bars but there is no case against them. Even lot of journalist are paid money for the news.
Three media people, including two employees of the India TV news channel, were accused of trying to extort money from a traditional Unani healer, after apparently filming him prescribing Western medicine to patients. Lot of news channels are being suspended after they were accused of being involved in an extortion case.
Such instances, and a bigger case that involves politician and wealthy industrialist Naveen Jindal, have reignited the debate on media regulation in India. It seems the self-regulation model has failed in India and it is time for a body that has the authority to issue and cancel a journalist’s permit to work, something that is not required in India today.
The industry doesn’t need a regulator to seek reporting approvals, or to get story ideas vetted or sources verified. In a democracy, the freedom of press is and should be paramount. What we need is a body which can come down heavily on those who misuse their position in a wrong way such as extortion, or bias.
For instance, if a journalist is found guilty in extortion case and serves the jail-term, can he be trusted to report objectively once he’s back on the job? What we need are rules with provisions to ban journalists or news organisations found guilty in such cases.
As more and more young people continue to enter the profession, strict provisions could act as a barrier or discourage. Only then will there be the possibility of journalists being feared less and respected more.
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