“You people have moved the tide”, remarked Sabrina Lall, sister of Jessica Lall, after the High court declared its verdict by Article 302 regarding punishment of Manu Sharma and his partner. This case has upheld the power of Vox populi, in determining justice through media. Credit goes to media campaign in several high profile case like Priyadarshini Mattoo’s murder case by Santosh Yadav, Nitish Katara murder case by Vikas Yadav, when every Indian who believe in justice received an opportunity to send this messages through cell phone, letter to the Editors, opinion columns, Editorial etc.
Such messages were scrolled in new channels like NDTV, Aaj Tak, Times Now, Star News to evoke response and awareness among the people about their rights and duties and to sustain the dignity of common Indian, against the school of “might is right”. In most of these cases the accused were mainly members of elite background and who had enough scope to misuse their money and muscle power to suppress justice. But justice may be delayed but it was not denied.
Talk shows like “We, the People” provided the platform to hail justice and the whole country was united to appreciate the judgment. In the burning Nitish Katra case, though the changed statement of Bharti Yadav’s statement about her relationship, which is but false, yet common people did not surrendered easily. In all news, be it audio visual or print, public outrage was visible.“
Bharati Sach Bolo” was the main theme of one popular news channel which was well fed with Sms from length and breadth of the country, which was scrolled below in the channel. Accordingly the contribution of justice is phenomenal in this regard that provided the ground for a participating population in a democratic country like India.
India has an indirect democracy. So, had there been no media power, the very essence of democratic culture would have been sunk. Democracy survives on the participation of people. But participation of the people directly on the legislative and judicial decision is not possible, particularly in the Indian context. Such direct participation is present in Swiss Federation, where there is the system of Referendum and Initiative.
Switzerland is the only example of direct democracy in the world, where common people can directly participate in the decision making process of the country through the above two methods, where people cast their valuable roles in respect to different decision to be implemented by the government. Again, through the process of initiative, the citizens can directly take initiative to cast vote to upheld their decision for the enactment of a particular law. Later, the government, both at the canton and center, approve the decision, which was initiated by the public.
But in India such procedure are not present. For example, if government has decided to implement a particular law, people cannot submit their vote to support it or reject it. There are indeed methods, of strike, dharna, propaganda, but, that has very limited extent. It is through the media, through which people or vox populi can be effective, which has acted as virtual Referendum or Initiative in the Indian context.
Media has made the voice of the common man significant for the country as a whole. When there was enactment of the Domestic Violence Act, 2005, there was wide ranging round of applause throughout the country. It was observed in several sections of media, documentary, talk shows, etc. Had there been no media power, the opinion of the people would not have been received the same exposure.
Media has also upheld social causes. In ‘We, the People’ hosted by Barkha Dutt, who herself is a trend setting journalist , once discussed upon social topics like impact of creativity upon religious sentiment. This was shown when there was furore in the Islamic section on account of the blunder committed by the Danish cartoonist for painting Prophet Mohammed in the an insulting manner . Again, the said talk show also discussed on the relevance of beauty pageants and its impact upon Indian society.
The great debate like the Big Fight has been significant to enlighten the common people with important social and political factors like the impact of Indo-china relation or Indo-Pak and Indo-US relation on Indian economy. It also dealt with desirability or undesirability of Foreign Direct Investment upon different sectors. As said, an enlightened citizen is the oxygen for democracy.
Media has made people accessible to information. We in the 21st century though understand this capacity in simple terms. But, if we make a comparative analysis on the access to information by a person in the 18th century and that to in the 21st century, we will be able to estimate its heights and depth. What PM spoke on Indo-Pak relation in the sidelines of 14th NAM summit, how Ban ki Moon, the UN Secretary General designate won over Indian Shashi Tharoor or the devastation caused by Tsunami, coverage of deluge in Mumbai or US Presidential Election, the updates about Global financial crisis… all these are inevitable information necessary for all curious and up to date public of 21st century .
But, such instant information both by print, electronic and other media would be only a fantasy for an 18th century man. But, it is because of invincible contribution of media that world has become a smaller place and people are enlightened towards a resourceful and knowledge based civilization across the globe.
It would be no exaggeration to say that the coverage of natural calamities within Indian or outside , like drought, Tsunami in coastal areas, earthquake, deluge have been instrumental in evoking humanitarian instinct among the people across the globe to be united to contribute open heartedly for relief of the affected people. Had their been no media coverage people would not have visualized the extent of devastation and losses of life and property in the calamity.
Media has upstaged the freedom of speech and expression in the real sense of the term. When there was American retaliation attack on Iraq, the world Public Opinion roused against Bush administration In spite of the fact that America is the superpower and stands at the apex of international power politics, people felt free to speak and write both through print and electronic media.
Again, when there was Indo-US nuclear deal approved by US Senate recently, multiple opinions came to the forefront where people openly gave their opinion, both for and against the deal, certifying both its pros and cons. Such freedom of speech and expression is the fuel for operating democratic vehicle.
Democracy and Media power mutually co-operate with each other. If there will be no democracy, media will definitely be suppressed because there would be no effective public opinion. Rather, media is called as the Fourth Estate of Indian democracy. A healthy public opinion is the backbone for a responsible media. In this context, we may refer to the situation of Nepal, which had restored democracy in the recent times. But till few years back there was predominance of royal family in the administration.
Accordingly, when Nepal witnessed the bloody massacre in the Navayanhiti Palace, only those information was revealed which was served by the authority inside the palace. Media was not allowed to investigate the actual story. Even today, there are so many unanswered questions, which will never see the light of the day.
Again, in the case of Taliban there is severe curtailment of women’s freedom. So in the absence of a strong democracy and also a free press, media cannot question on such discrimination, which is against human right and individual justice.
In the Indian context, since the past two decade continuing in the present century, it has been observed that people have become more conscious about their rights and duties and day to day happenings be it at local, national or international level. The information which is obtained through media mobilize their thought process and that help in the opinion building measure of the country.
However, this story was different, not the same even decade after independence. For instance, during the emergency period in India, i.e, during the period of 1975-1977, there was severe curtailment of press freedom. This period was considered as the darkest chapter of Indian democracy.
Media has empowered our generation and the maxim ‘Man is a thinking animal’ is sufficiently nurtured by conscious and well alert civilization. It has also many a times, was up in arms, that is, uncompromising to fight against corruption. The various sting operations like operation Chakrabyuha and Operation Duryodhana have exposed a number of MPs and MLAs for misusing their power.
Corruption is simply, use of public office for private profit. Thus, it is injustice, particularly in a democracy. So; exposing corruption through sting operation carried forward by media is an essential instrument to contain corruption. This will definitely empower democratic machinery for the upholding justice in its own right.
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Thus, to conclude, we may refer that media has continuously rendered valuable service for ascertaining the dignity of common man in the power dominated society. As society is evolving day by day, the reach of media is also extending simultaneously. Now, young generation also prefers to be functionally specialized and become media literate and to join in this information revolution and its goal of social service. Media , in short , awakened the generation.
