By Snehil Sharma
In the Indian democracy which is considered as world’s largest, freedom of speech and expression has always been a vital fundamental right vested with the Indian citizens provided through the constitution.
In such a democracy, media has always played a role of great importance in every aspect whether it is political, social, economic or international. Media is referred as the fourth pillar of democratic system and it is supposed to be free and independent from any sort of restriction. The freedom of media is a sine qua non for attaining a democracy which will be committed to preserve transparent governance and ethos of good.
The global impression & reputation of any country is determined by its news which is broadcasted by the international media. Therefore, media can be considered as an object of impression which has the capability of controlling human personalities. Press & Media is the basic foundation of democratic framework and they are supposed to be free from any political influence.
Importance of Media in Democratic System
It has also been held by the Supreme Court of India that, for the working of any democratic system, it is quintessential that press and media should be free. If the national media is working to the best of its ability without any external influence, it can eventually create numerous positive impact on the society. Such positive impacts are:
- Media points out faults within the working of governing system of India.
- Media acts as a connecting chain between public and government.
- Media plays vital role in maintaining transpirancy within democratic system.
- Media can promote basic ideals and concerned information of democracy which will spread awareness amongst the citizens regarding their rights[1].
Media & Indian Constitution
The Indian press and media has a vested right enshrined under Constitution of India. As per Article 19(1)(a), freedom of press is also inclusive within the ambit of freedom of speech and expression provided in Part III. Although, the “freedom of the press” is not specifically defined anywhere but the clarification regarding the same was provided by Dr. BR Ambedkar in the Constituent assembly debate. He clarified that the press or media is just a method to quote an individual and thus is within the purview of right of expression and there is no requirement to provide a separate provision for freedom of press.
Present Scenario of Indian Media
Media is expected to be voice of general public, but in the present scenario, it doesn’t have its focal view towards being the voice of public anymore. Majority of mainstream media houses have started to promote the ruling political parties and at the same time criticizing those parties who are in opposition and the issues which require actual emphasis such as corruption, public welfare, irregularities in Govt. schemes are no more discussed in majority of news channels.
The media houses are getting easily influenced by power and benefits which eventually deteriorates the purpose of media. The Indian press do not exercise their reasonable freedom anymore and there are regular instances where the media personnels have been lynched or killed on the line of duty because they were trying to expose powerful political leader[2].
The Indian Media has experienced notable decline in the ranking of World Press Freedom Index since last 10 years and is currently at 140th position out of total 180 countries. This eventually highlights the need of concerned laws which will safeguard the rights of media and will aid them to report and broadcast the truth without any external interference. Since, the media is prevented from covering the actual scenario, the society is prone to fake information and news which leads to hate speech, mob lynching, propaganda spreading, fear-mongering etc. If appropriate laws are introduced to ensure absolute freedom to press, it will eventually fulfill the purpose of media and such media will be fruitful and worthy for the society[3].
Rights of Media Which Requires Statutory Protection
It is the need of an hour for the country which has world’s largest bureaucratic setup and constitution, to create such a statutory infrastructure, which will safeguard the purpose and freedom of Indian media from any sort of external & political influence[4]. Following rights of the Media shall be protected:
- Right to Criticize:Indian Media should get specific liberty for criticizing the government in Power along with its officials, actions, policies, statements and responses towards issues. Although, there shall be a reasonable restriction upon the press to prevent abuse of such right as it might lead to provocation of general public against government resulting in riots, rebels etc.
- Right to Extract Information: Media is supposed to be equipped with every information in order to spread awareness amongst the public regarding the same. Hence, media access should not be restricted based upon external influences and it should be absolute.
- Right to Spread Information: Until and unless the media has vested right to spread information, its freedom will be nugatory. The media is equipped to communicate masses and it is an intrinsic part included within freedom of press to spread the information.
- Right to conduct interview: The media should be equipped with the power of conducting interviews which will help in creating firsthand understanding through the experts and spreading such understanding to the public at large without any restriction regarding topic of interview. Supreme Court of India in the case of Sahara India Real Estate Corpn ltd v SEBI held that reporting of judicial proceeding is a vested right if media.
- Right to perform as advertising platform: The media makes majority of its earning through the advertisements. Hence, it shall have right to perform as advertising platform without any external influence in such advertising.
- Right to Broadcast: In this era of technology, right to broadcast is a basic right which is considered important as far as spreading the information is concerned. The ambit of broadcasting is not limited upto radios and channels, it also includes blogs, websites, apps etc. within its purview[5].
Conclusion
It is a well-established fact that media has an enormous capability to mobilize the public based upon the information which it broadcasts due to the constitutional and moral trust. The expressions and opinions which media disseminates is believed to be true and media is perceived to be custodian of the society. Therefore, it is expected to serve the interests of general public and fulfil its purpose of being the fourth pillar of democracy. If such media is being used as puppets through the powerful political influences, it will eventually raise a question upon the integrity of media.
The freedom of press was ensured by Indian constitution keeping in mind its vital role towards the society. Hence, the media is supposed to perform its public function with absolute sense of responsibility and if it is being influenced by the political powers it will surely be questioned.
Therefore, Indian media is in dire need of appropriate media laws which will keep a check upon the media practices and prevent any sort of political influence upon the same.
[1] Diganth Sehgal, 2020. Questionable Integrity of Media – Ipleaders. [online] iPleaders. Available at: <https://blog.ipleaders.in/questionable-integrity-media/>.
[2] PRSIndia. 2020. Regulation of Media in India – A Brief Overview. [online] Available at: <https://www.prsindia.org/theprsblog/regulation-media-india-brief-overview>.
[3] Legal Desire. 2020. Role of Media in Democracy. [online] Available at: <https://legaldesire.com/role-of-media-in-democracy/>.
[4] Diva Rai, 2020. The Fourth Pillar of Indian Democracy: Freedom of The Press. [online] iPleaders. Available at: <https://blog.ipleaders.in/the-fourth-pillar-of-indian-democracy-freedom-of-the-press/>.
[5] Id.