“The media's the most powerful entity on
earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty
innocent, and that's power. Because they control the minds of the masses” -
Malcolm X.
A free and responsible Media is a significant
feature of a democratic country. In our country, it has been termed as the fourth
pillar of democracy. A free media is the
voice of the people and mirror of the society, whose responsibility is to show
what is happening around them. Media intervention ensures people's freedom of speech
and expression. For it is important that the press in any country should be
free from any interference, the freedom of the press is regarded as the mother
of all liberties in a democratic society. It is a primary reason why our
constitution has ensured the freedom of the press through Article 19(1) (a).
In recent times, Media have played a critical
role in generating awareness and making sure justice is delivered. In cases
like the Jessica Lal murder case and the Priyadarshini Matoo case media pointed
out that justice was not only delayed but denied. But then the awareness and
pressure created by media worked. In Jessica Lal’s case it took 7 years for the
court to come to the conclusion that the evidence was not conclusive to punish
the accused, a rich brat. The family of Jessica Lal had lost all hope. However,
Media took the initiative to get Justice for Jessica. They picked up right from
the point where the police had left. The cry for justice instilled in the
public by the media put pressure on police, administration, and the government
to resolve the matter quickly. Ultimately the accused Manu Sharma son of a
high-profile political figure was sentenced to life imprisonment.
Another high-profile case where credit should be given to media was the Priyadarshini Matoo Case. In this case, a 23 year old young energetic law student from Delhi University was first raped and then brutally murdered by his senior Santosh Singh who was the son of a senior IPS officer. When after 3 years of the court proceedings the court acquitted Santosh Singh, it seemed that Priyadarshini Matoo would never get justice, however media initiated a widespread effort for investigative journalism in order to find out the loopholes in the police investigation and it was ultimately due to their effort that CBI was able to nab the culprits. In cases such as these, a responsible media contributed to the cause of the justice, Media have shown that a responsible media can play a positive role in the society and can contribute to the cause of justice.
Though active media’s role in the smooth
functioning of democracy cannot be denied, but at times, Media had taken to
itself the role of judiciary. Over the years, Media have also tried to
create sensation in number of the high-profile cases. In 2008, in Noida, a
double murder case popularly known as Arushi Talwar case, Media created a huge
uproar and it seemed that parallel courts were set up by the Media houses. Some
of them even started asking people to send the SMS about who they think was the
killer. For over months media continued to play different stories, at times
they played up the honour killing theory showing the Talwars as the main
culprit and after some time they turned up with the theory of illicit
relationship between Hemraj and Arushi. Later on, some of the channels explored
the angle of the father having extra marital affairs and then both the parents
killing their only child. Some of the channels went overboard and called the
psychologist to assesses the behaviour of the mother. The case continued for
ages and after nine years of trauma, Talwars were acquitted but before that
media had already convicted them.
The
Bhima- Koregaon case is another example of how media’s desire of creating
sensation can have an adverse impact on the criminal administration system. In
this case, some activists were arrested under suspicion by the Maharashtra
Police. Police had got an important lead regarding the case in form of 13
letters which showed the connection of Communist Party of India (Maoist) to the
blast. However, these crucial sources of information were leaked in the media
ultimately creating an utter chaos. The result was that the court had to drop
these letters from the list of primary evidence.
The recent case of Sushant Singh Rajput is
another blatant example of how the Media trials could not only impact the
process of justice, but also create havoc in the life of the people who are
involved in the case. Media analysed the involvement of each and every person involved
in the case, but things went overboard when the character assassination of the people
involved in the case started. There were few news channels who had deputed
their reporters on the gate of Riya Chakraborty’s house 24x7 to create
sensational news and present it to the audiences. When police had framed
charges against Riya and later the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) had been
interrogating her day in and day out, media had already declared her guilty.
They continued to mob her and bombard with allegations rather than questions.
Few of the pictures broke the barrier of decency.
Sushant Singh’s Rajput’s case is a tragic
example of TRP, breaking all the ethical standards of journalism. During the
Media Trial, questions were raised not only on Riya Chakraborty and her family
but also on Mumbai Police and indirectly at the Bombay High Court.
Free Media is an important symbol of
democracy, it represents a society which has the freedom of speech and
expression. In times of despair, it becomes the duty of the media to raise
voice against injustice. This is the reason why the civil societies prefer to
have free media.
The role of the media is a crucial one in a free
society. It has the ability to impact the mind of the people and could be
termed as the most powerful medium of communication. This is the reason why
Media has to play its role sensibly. While it is important that they must raise
the important issues, but it is also pertinent that they must draw a line for
themselves, judgement must not be passed; in fact, they should play the role
which might help the investigating agencies rather than creating obstacles and
judging them.
Media in India is regulated by the Prasar
Bharti Act 1990 and the Cable Networks Act 1995. In 2004, Broadcasting and
cable services were also included under this ambit. Ministry of Information and
Broadcasting (MIB) frames rules regarding this sector. Currently TRAI, the
regulator of the telecom sector in India has been given additional
responsibility to regulate the media and broadcasting.
Considering the size of the sector it is important that there
should be a separate regulator who can keep an eye on the media’s role. Such an
authority must be independent from government control to ensure the freedom of
media. It should however carefully play the role of a watch dog ensuring that
media houses don’t cross the line set by it.
About the Author :A Postgraduate in Law from Maharashtra
National Law University –Mumbai, Abhishek Srivastava works as an Assistant
Professor of Law in the Alliance
University. His area of specialization is Sports Law and over the years he has
published multifarious articles and research papers on different legal topics.
Written By:
Abhishek Srivastava
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