Indian media died long ago; it was just waiting for its burial, which happened recently. When I was in high school, I often observed how newsrooms focused on astrology, "Bhut-Pret," cricket, Bollywood birthdays, and marriages. There were hardly any shows on agriculture or a critical analysis of the state of various industrial sectors such as coal, railways, and steel. If these topics garnered any attention, it was only when something bad, like a scam, occurred, only to be forgotten after a week. Otherwise, no checks and balances were conducted by Indian media, which is said to be the fourth pillar of democracy.
As I moved from high school to college and then to my job, the situation went from bad to worse, reaching a point where it could not go further downhill. We hit rock bottom, and the final nail in the coffin was when the media started demonizing (not criticizing) people who questioned the government, popular opinions, and challenged narratives. This recent trend transformed journalism into political jingoism. More than 50% of today's debates are focused on criticizing Pakistan, as if it will help us achieve our economic and social goals, reverse the current economic slowdown, or solve the problems our manufacturers face from China and smaller countries like Bangladesh.
These newsrooms are now behaving like annual conferences where people meet, talk, have snacks, and then leave. I do not know where the fanfare for "Make in India" has gone when these newsrooms were chanting for it five years ago during a government-organized conference. Whether we have achieved the results or not, we do not know. I am certain that these newsrooms know the outcomes, which is why they avoid discussing them.
But the question is, what is keeping them away from a job that is so important to every Indian? The reason is simple: they joined this profession not for charity but for monetary gain, and they do not hide this fact as they profit from what they do. Instead of reporting the news, they are creating and selling it. Instead of analyzing the news based on social and economic parameters, they analyze it in terms of monetary gains from Television Rating Points (TRP), direct or indirect political funding, and corporate funding.
Is there any way out? The media has died and been buried already. With the current system, there seems to be no solution. I have no hope for the state of the media. My only hope lies in web channels that have spread their wings thanks to platforms like YouTube and Facebook. These websites have their own problems, and "Fake News" is one of them, but they provide a platform for these channels to operate with minimal infrastructure. With just a table, a laptop, and a camera, they can make reports and present them to the public with internet access. This politically illiterate public, which itself is the cause of many problems in this country, is at least able to make something out of nothing, even though they are not doing much.
Conclusion
I really do not have any hope for the survival of media on TV and in newspapers. Those who are trying to survive are just a limited edition, fighting for their existence. With a public that is completely politically illiterate and ignorant, it is best not to expect anything. This impotence only deserves the circus they call media.
