development challenges in odisha: role of media in public

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D‡Áÿ ¨÷Óèÿ/Odisha ReviewNovember - 2012

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What are the Development challenges inOdisha?

Odisha is among the poorest of India’smajor states, despite its rich endowment of naturalresources, and coastline. There have been positivedevelopments in recent years, and poverty ratesin Odisha have declined from 47% to 39.9%between 1999-00 and 2004-05.1 Despite thisimprovement, poverty rates in Odisha remainalmost twice as high as rates in the rest of India.Non-monetary indicators of poverty too confirmthe low welfare status of Odia households. Forinstance, infant mortality rates are 65 per 1,000live births relative to 57 per 1,000 live births forIndia.2 Maternal mortality rate, malnourishmentis exceptionally high. Despite having 11 per centof country’s water resources, millions of peoplein Odisha face severe water shortage both fordrinking and irrigation. Sanitation scenario isappalling. Only 8% of the rural households inOdisha use toilets as compared to over 80% ofrural populace in Kerala.

Eighty seven per cent of Odisha’s 37million population is rural, and a vast majority ofthe poor live in rural areas.3 There are substantialregional variations in the extent of rural poverty inOdisha. Across the three regions of the state,poverty rates vary from 87% in the Southerninterior region to 50% in the Northern interiorregion to 32% in the Coastal region. On account

Development Challenges in Odisha:Role of Media in Public Policy

Dr. Mrinal Chatterjee

of the very high population density in the Coastalregion, however, the absolute number of ruralpoor is roughly equally distributed across all threeregions of the state. Odisha lags behind the nationalaverage in almost all development indicators.

This high rate of poverty in India,particularly in Odisha can be attributed to :

• High level of dependence on primitivemethods of agriculture. About 75 per cent ofIndian population depends on agriculturewhereas the contribution of agriculture to theGDP is 22 per cent. While services andindustry have grown at double digit figures,agriculture growth rate has been less than 4per cent.

• Unequal distribution of resources

• High difference in literacy rate. Although theoverall literacy rate at 73.45 is close to thenational average, there is high differencebetween districts. While the literacy rate inKhurda is 87.51 that of Nabarangpur is 48.2.

• Unemployment and under-employment.60% of our labour force generates 18% ofour GDP. Agriculture (as we know it today)condemns many Indian farmers to povertybecause of low productivity. One lac ofIndia’s 6 lac villages have less than 200people. Job creation clusters and soft and

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D‡Áÿ ¨÷Óèÿ/Odisha Review November - 2012

National Press Day Special

hard infrastructure need size. New cities needto be engines of poverty reduction.4

• Environmental degradation.

• High population growth rate in many states,mostly North Indian states.

• High level of inequality arising from rural-urban divide

Fall out of continuation of poverty and hunger

Besides the human tragedy, one of theramifications of poverty is a nation with weak andunderproductive manpower leading to furtherpoverty and thus continuation of a vicious circle.Poverty coupled with inequality in a society givesrise to social tension leading to class conflicts,which might tear apart the social fabric and bringabout anarchy. The Maoist upsurge in Odisha,Madhya Pradesh, Chhatisgarh, Andhra Pradeshand several other states in India is the glaringexample. “The extremist political resistance hasgained ground at least in one fourth of the landmassat the very heart of the country.”5

Can Public Policy effect some change?

The answer is both yes and no.

Yes, if the policies are pro-people with along term vision; and if the policies are properlyimplemented. Mal-implemented policies can becounterproductive.

No, if the policies are wrong. There is acause for worry as public policy-making in Indiahas frequently been characterized by a failure toanticipate needs, impacts, or reactions whichcould have reasonably been foreseen, thusimpeding economic development. Policies havebeen reversed or changed more frequently thanwarranted by exogenous changes or newinformation. O.P. Agarwal and T.V. Somanathanhave written a brilliant paper ‘Public PolicyMaking In India: Issues and Remedies’ in whichdiscusses why India’s policymaking structures

have so much difficulty in formulating the “right”policy and then sticking to it. It goes on to ask,and make a modest beginning in answering, thequestion of what can be done to improve thestructures and systems involved in the making ofpublic policy in India. One of the suggestions thatthey have suggested is more engagement with themedia and civil society at the policy formulationlevel. That brings us to the following question:

Why should media be concerned aboutDevelopment Issues?

Before answering that one question: canmedia do something about it? We must note herethat there are at least 3 major media traditions inmodern India:

– Diverse, pluralistic and relativelyindependent press

– State-controlled media like AIR,Doordarshan.

– Media outfits of various subaltern groupsand their organizations

Despite the wide diversity, in the presentIndian context, media does play an important rolein the exertion of power and distribution of values.Media affects the overall quality of public life andalso shapes people’s engagement in the specificpolicy decisions in the Indian democracy. Nowonto the question: why should media be concernedabout poverty, or hunger, or displacement,unemployment, health, sanitation and issues likethat ? There are basically three reasons:

• Media owes its status and power to itsaltruistic, do-gooder role

• As a product of the society media has aresponsibility towards it

• As a business venture it has a stake in makingpeople capable enough to contribute to themedia business

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Media enjoys credibility, built over yearsof faith and trust as it is perceived to be truthful,unbiased, knowledgeable, having basic humanevalues, having a moral universe and having socialresponsibility. In fact these perceptions are thefountainhead of the power of media. Media hasto be altruistic in order to retain its power. Peoplewant to escape poverty. So poverty is a call toaction - a call to change so that many more mayhave enough to eat, adequate shelter, access toeducation and health, protection from violence,and a voice in what happens in their communities.Media as the fourth estate must share theresponsibility to help eradicate poverty.

Media has a responsibility towards thesociety as a product of the society. We don’t helpsomeone or something because we were thereasons why they got in trouble in the first place.We act because we can. For example, if we seesomeone who is drowning, we don’t just let themsuffer or die because we’re not the ones whopushed them in the water. We act because wecan, and because someone may die if we don’t.Reducing poverty helps build strongercommunities, more stable governments andimproves the region’s economics. For example,if developing countries gained even just 1% moreof the value of world trade, it would lift 128 millionpeople out of poverty. It would also provideeconomic growth for developed countries as newmarkets opened up to our own producers.

Media is also a business. Therefore likeall honest businesses it has a stake in removingpoverty. Improvements in the living standards andincome of people would have significant economicbenefits for everyone, including media business.

Status of development reporting

Now that we know why media shouldbe concerned, the question remains: is mediaconcerned. It will be pertinent to quote what oneof our most respected journalist B.G.Verghese

wrote, “In the competition for circulation/ratingsand a larger share in the consumer rupee throughadvertising there has been a dumbing down ofserious reportage and analysis, a trivialisation ofnews and events, sensationalism and prurientcoverage, invasion of privacy, trial by press, resortto rumour, gossip and innuendo withoutverification, and disregard for fair and balancedreporting or prompt correction when in error andthe right of reply”.6

A recent content analysis of threemainstream Odia newspapers shows thatdevelopment news finds just about 2 to 3 per centof the total editorial space. Does developmentnews get prominence in mainstream Odianewspapers ? The content analysis shows that just0.4 to 1.57 per cent space in front pages of threelargest circulated newspapers were occupied bydevelopment news. Were the development issuesdiscussed in the editorial pages? Yes, but the spaceoccupied just 0.47 to 1.45 per cent of the space.7

The trend is similar in newspapers of otherlanguages, and other media like television.Increasingly more space and time is devoted totrivia, to non-issues. For example, the LakmeIndia Fashion Week 2008 edition produced, inone count, some 4,00,000 words in print. Over1, 000 minutes in television coverage. Some 800hours of TV and video footage were shot. Closeto 10,000 rolls of film exposed. Consider thatthis was the main media event in a country whereless than 0.2 per cent of people sport designerclothes, where per capita consumption of textilesin 2002 at 19 meters, was way below the worldaverage.

In its eagerness to cover non-issues,media is not focusing on real pressing issues. Whenhundreds of journalists and photographers werecovering Lakme India Fashion Show or similar‘show’s, scores of farmers were committingsuicide in various places in the countryside. It did

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not get the kind of coverage, it deserved. Growinghunger amongst the poorer sections in India shouldhave been a matter of urgent concern anywherein the world. With well over 300 million hungrypeople, India alone has more undernourishedhuman beings than all of sub-Saharan Africacombined. But this does not seem a mater of graveconcern within the media. There are a number ofpressing issues that concern millions of people,like non availability of basic services- health,education, roads, which are not addressed bymedia. Non availability of drinking water in manyparts of the country is a major issue. So isdisplacement. So is labour migration. The list isendless. Inequality between the rich and poor isgrowing. In fact it has grown more in the last 5-10 years than it had in the last 50 years afterindependence. Social tension is on the rise. So isviolence. But mainstream media seems not to bebothered. There seems to be a disconnect withthe ground reality. P. Sainath writes in anguish,“But how do we address problems whoseexistence we barely acknowledged in the firstplace? So forget about the agrarian crisis, andthe 1,82,000 farm suicides associated with it overthe past decade. And when was hunger andjoblessness an issue (in the media), any way? Mostpublications have given zero space to India’sdismal show in the global Hunger Index.”8

Causes of the disconnect

Now onto the causes. There are two setsof causes really, one from the media angle, onefrom the media-users angle. First from the mediaangle:

(i) After 60 plus years of independence, themissionary zeal of pre-independence mediahas lost its steam. Media is a business now,infotainment business with a bit of socialresponsibility thrown in. Since it is businessit has to cater to the want and need of itsconsumers; more to want than to need.

Hence it gradually aims at lowest commondenominator. Entire approach changes.Serious issues are gradually pushed out. The‘dumbing down’ process is in place.

(ii) Advertisement is becoming more important.With media becoming more capital intensive,and the product selling at less than theproduction cost, advertisement revenue isbecoming more crucial for survival. The stakeis becoming higher. Gradually what medianeeds is not readers or viewers; they needconsumers for the products advertised. Thisrole reversal determines the content. Mediano longer needs people who would think,they require zombies, who would onlyconsume.

(iii) The media have, as P. Sainath puts it, “losttheir compass, and with it, their compassion.What Prabhat Pattnaik, one of our foremosteconomists, calls, ‘the moral universe’ of themedia has changed a lot for the worse. Alltheir technical advances can not hide this.Indian journals of the freedom struggle haddiffering perspectives, angry debates. Therewas richness and variety. Today you haveMcmedia. It tastes the same everywhere.9"There has been, as P. Sainath puts it, ‘arecession of the intellect’ in the media.10

From the media-users angle:

(i) The most cogent explanation for whyjournalism in the public interest has lostleverage was offered by Polk Laffoon IV,the corporate spokesman of Knight Ridder.“I wish there were an identifiable and strongcorrelation between quality journalism …and newspaper sales,” he said. “It isn’t…that simple.”11 Why does it happen? We,the media users seek entertainment in allforms, shapes and sizes and information thatwe can use for our personal gain.

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(ii) Serious issues bore us. We do not want todelve deep into the issue. It is easy not to beinvolved. We want light reading material,pretty picture to ogle at. And then get onwith our mundane life.

(iii) We need idols. And we now want them welldressed and well heeled. We need idols likeinstant coffee. Page3 personalities with theirshallow but colourful persona fulfil this need.

But, what is the problem?

Many ask: what is the problem if mediais bypassing serious, basic issues? That is whatpeople want. And what is the problem yaar ?Apparently there is none. But look closely. Theprocess is changing the way we look at coreissues. Serious issues. There is less space forserious issues and even lesser for its analysis.Media is supposed to set agenda, and in this waya totally skewed agenda is being set. As B.G.Verghese says, “Serious journalism must remainpart of the democratic dharma. A true democracyis inseparable from an informed people exposedto diverse views and ideas.” Gradual trivialisationdenies people this exposure. It is a threat to healthydemocracy.

There is something more serious than this.This trivialisation process is eating into the vitalsof healthy socialization process. Further it isstunting the humanizing process and triggering asinister dehumanising process. It is promoting ‘I...me’ culture. It is promoting a shallow, ‘all body- no soul’ kind of existence. It is a negation ofwhat human civilization stands for. And we don’tseem to understand. There lies the big problem.As Prasannarajan writes in India Today, “Thelegitimisation of trivia as a cause only magnifiesthe pornography of protest, not the debatable badtaste of the act itself. It is a pretence born out ofparanoia.”12

Consider what P. Sainath says. “If wewere to look back at Indian journalism of the last15 years—how relevant would it be? There werehuge technological advances. Major gains in reachand technique. But how did the media connectwith, say, the giant processes gripping the Indiancountryside? Did it achieve greatness? Evengoodness? Perhaps its mediocrity was toopronounced for it to gain even notoriety. (Thougha few did manage that.)”

Is there a solution?

Yes there is. It lies in two levels: at themedia consumers’ and at the media contentproducers’. Both media consumers and contentproducers can and ought to play their role to helpmitigate poverty. However, I shall concentrate onlyon the role media can and should play.

What roles media can play?

Media can play five roles. There can beconsiderable overlapping in the roles.

• Media as a Watchdog: It is said that sunshineis the best disinfectant. That somebody iswatching me- is the best deterrent to lot ofsocial maladies like corruption.

• Media as an Enabler: Media increasespeople’s access to information. Informationbrings them power and to some extentprosperity. If we take a look at the mediaconsumption and development matrix ofKerala and Bihar or Odisha, we shall find thatthere is a clear relation between access anduse of media and development.

• Media as a Public sphere: People can air andshare their ideas through mass media. Issuescan be discussed. Suggestions for solutionsof problems can be aired and discussed. Forexample media can help discuss thesuggestions M S Swaminathan offered tomitigate hunger and ensuring food security inthe ‘Food Security Atlas’.13 Socially

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responsible journalism is a struggle to gainpublic space within the private sphere.

• Media as an Informer: Media can informpeople about various problems of society,and what causes them, and what is being doneor not done about them. This helps fixaccountability.

• Media as a Platform: Media can provide aplatform, where people can air theirgrievances, put forth their views, andparticipate in governance.

Conclusion

“At the end of the day, the media remainsa public trust, which alone justifies itscharacterisation as the Fourth Estate. Its primeasset is credibility. The maintenance ofprofessional standards of fairness, balance andpublic interest is critical to its place in society.”Forget this, and media will lose its credibility, andfor media, especially news media credibility is thefountainhead of its power. One word for thecontent creators in media: development is not a‘dry’ and ‘boring’ area. It can be made interestingreading/viewing. It is possible to present thestories in a way to shake people out of theirstupor, to stir their collective conscience. All ittakes is skill and application.

It is possible to meet the developmentchallenges. We can, collectively and individually,participate in making that change happen.

Footnotes :1. h t tp : / /p lann ingcommiss ion .n ic . in /news /

prmar07.pdf Poverty estimates based on a uniformrecall period suggest that poverty rates have fallenfrom 36% in 1993-94 to 27.5 in 2004.

2. National Family Health Surveys (2005-06) FactSheet – Odisha.

3. Odisha has one of the lowest population densitiesamong Indian states.

4. India Labour Report, 2008

5. Medha Patkar and Amit Bhaduri, The State andits Stepchildren, Tehelka, April 11, 2009, p-44

6. Verghese, B.G. in an article titled, “Newspapers asa Public Trust”, published in The Hindu, 29thJanuary, 2006. B.G.Verghese is a columnist and aRamon Magsaysay Award winner. He is currentlyVisiting Professor at the Centre for PoliticalResearch, NewDelhi.

7. The content analysis was done by the studentsof Indian Institute of Mass Communication,Dhenkanal between August and October, 2008.The newspapers taken for analysis were Sambad,Dharitri and Samaj.

8. P. Sainath in an edit page article : ‘A recession ofIntellect’ published in the Hindu, April 20, 2009.

9. Excerpted from P. Sainath’s book, The IndianMedia: Illusion, Delusion and Reality’, a collectionof essays in honour of Prem Bhatia, Rupa and Co,New Delhi, January 2006.

10. P. Sainath in an edit page article : ‘A recession ofIntellect’ published in the Hindu, April20, 2009.

11. State of the News Media 2006 report presentedby the Project for Excellence in Journalism, aresearch institute affilia ted with the ColumbiaUniversity Graduate School of Journalism andfunded by the Pew Charitable Trusts. Details atwww. newswatch.com.

12. S. Prasannarajan, India Today/The Kiss of Death/May 14, 2007. Vol. XXXII Number 19. Page 32.

13. The Atlas concludes with a “Sustainable FoodSecurity Compact,” a nine-point action plan forevery State and Union Territory. The action pointsrefer to stabilizing population, conserving andenhancing land resources, ensuring watersecurity, conserving and restoring forests withcommunity participation, strengtheningbiodiversity, improving the atmosphere, managingcommon property resources, intensifying crop andanimal production in a sustainable way, andforming a Coalition for Sustainable Food Securityin every State. Details in : http://www.mssrf.org/fs/atlas/atlas.htm

Dr. Mrinal Chatterjee, Professor in Indian Institute ofMass Communication (IIMC), Sanchar Marg,Dhenkanal 759 001, Odisha.

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1. INTRODUCTION

The last two decades have witnessed a rapidtransformation of traditional media into new mediathat encompasses digital, computerized, andnetworked information and communicationtechnologies. This shift has raised concerns anddiscussions around the positive and negativeimplications of the new media, and other issuessuch as: control of information, volume and speedof communication. Social networking sites, video-sharing sites, wikis, blogs, among many others,have evolved as a result of web concepts andnew media technologies. Millions of peoplearound the globe, through social networking likeinternal, external, or mobile are recently buildingonline local, regional, and global communities tocommunicate their shared interests and activities,disseminate information, and interact through avariety of web-based tools. The use of new mediaand social networks (e.g. Myspace, Facebook,LinkedIn, Twitter,) has implications for society,culture, and politics that has encouragedresearchers to investigate a variety of relatedissues such as: social identity, privacy, distancelearning, social capital, sociopsychological effectsof the web, misuse of cyberspace, diaspora, socialstatus, and access to information.

Ethics and Social Media

Dr. Spandita Kar

2. ETHICS, DISCLOSURE AND THE MORALITY

OF TECHNOLOGY

Social media unlike traditional media areusually interactive in nature, so users can commenton and edit published material, making it difficultto control content. Social media blurs private/public boundaries when personal information andopinions enter the public domain. The boundariesbetween personal and work life also becomeblurred as companies make use of social media,designed primarily for personal use, for businesspurposes, and likewise employees accesspersonal sites while at work.

There has been a transformation incommunication because of social media. Hereare some changes that have occured in the processof the flow of information.Ø People have now become both the producer

and consumer of information.Ø News can be shared instantly online before it

even reaches the television.Ø The judgment of communication is both

positively and negatively affected.� It is up to the reader to decide whether

or not the information is true and credible.The reader must carefully look at thecontext, channel, and author of theinformation.

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Ø Because more people communicate online,the value of face-to-face communication islost. This has multiple effects on the way amessage is received and interpreted.

Ø People have the scope to filter out and choosethe types of messages they need and thosethey do not.

3. CONTEMPORARY ETHICAL CONCERNS

ABOUT SOCIAL NETWORKING SERVICES

While the social and natural sciencesfocus on the impact of Social NetworkingServices(SNS) on psychosocial markers ofhappiness/well-being, psychosocial adjustment,social capital, or feelings of life satisfaction,philosophical concerns about social networkingand ethics have generally centered on topics lessamenable to empirical measurement, e.g., privacy,identity, friendship, the good life and democraticfreedom. More so than ‘social capital’ or feelingsof ‘life satisfaction,’ these topics are closely tiedto traditional concerns of ethical theory, e.g.,virtues, rights, duties, motivations andconsequences.3.1 SO C I A L NETWORKING SERVICES AND

PRIVACY

Technologies of social networking haveadded a new sense of urgency and new layers ofcomplexity. Some fundamental practices ofconcern include: the potential availability of users’data to third parties for commercial, surveillanceor data mining purposes; the capacity of facial-recognition software to automatically identifypersons in uploaded photos; the ability of third-party applications to collect and publish user datawithout their permission or awareness; thefrequent use by SNS of automatic ‘opt-in’ privacycontrols; the use of ‘cookies’ to track online useractivities after they have left a SNS; the potentialuse of location-based social networking forstalking or other illicit monitoring of users’ physicalmovements; the sharing of user information or

patterns of activity with government entities; and,last but not least, the potential of SNS to encourageusers to adopt voluntary but imprudent, ill-informed or unethical information sharingpractices, either with respect to sharing their ownpersonal data or sharing data related to otherpersons and entities.3.2. THE ETHICS OF IDENTITY AND COMMUNITY

ON SOCIAL NETWORKING SERVICES

Technologies social networking open upa new type of ethical space in which personalidentities and communities, both ‘real’ and virtual,are constructed, presented, negotiated, managedand performed. SNS such as Facebook can alsobe viewed as enabling authenticity in importantways. While the ‘Timeline’ feature displaying myentire online personal history can prompt me to‘edit’ my past, it can also prompt me to face upto and assimilate into my thoughts and actions thatmight otherwise be conveniently forgotten.3.3. FRIENDSHIP, VIRTUE AND THE GOOD LIFE

ON SOCIAL NETWORKING SERVICES

SNS can facilitate many types of relationalconnections: LinkedIn encourages social relationsorganized around our professional lives, Twitteris useful for creating lines of communicationbetween ordinary individuals and figures of publicinterest, MySpace was for a time a popular wayfor musicians to promote themselves andcommunicate with their fans, and Facebook,which began as a way to link university cohortsand now connects people across the globe, hasrecently seen a surge in business profiles aimedat establishing links to existing and futurecustomers. These sorts of questions about howonline friendships measure up to offline ones, alongwith questions about whether or to what extentonline friendships encroach upon users’commitments to embodied, ‘real-world’ relationswith friends, family members and communities,defined the ethical problem-space of onlinefriendship as SNS began to emerge.

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3.4 DEMOCRACY, FREEDOM AND SOCIAL

NETWORKING SERVICES IN THE PUBLIC

SPHERE

As is the case with privacy, identity,community and friendship on SNS, ethicaldebates on the impact of SNS on civil discourse,freedom and democracy in the public sphere mustbe seen as extensions of a broader discussionabout the political implications of the Internet. Arelated topic of concern is the potential of theInternet to fragment the public sphere byencouraging the formation of a plurality of ‘echochambers,’ informational silos for like-mindedindividuals who deliberately shield themselvesfrom exposure to alternative views. The worry isthat such insularity will promote extremism andthe reinforcement of ill-founded opinions, whilealso preventing citizens of a democracy fromrecognizing their shared interests and experiences.Finally, there is the question of the extent to whichSNS can facilitate political activism, civildisobedience and popular revolutions resulting inthe overthrow of authoritarian regimes.3.5 SOCIAL NETWORKING SERVICES AND

CYBERCRIME

SNS have been targeted, especially inmass media, as potential hosts for a broadspectrum of ‘cybercrimes,’ including but notlimited to: cyberbullying, cyberstalking, childexploitation, illegal surveillance, identity theft,intellectual property and copyright violations.Cybercrime is an enduring topic of philosophicalinterest for the broader field of computer ethics,and the migration to and evolution of such crimeon SNS platforms may raise new and distinctiveethical issues in the coming decades.4. SOCIAL NETWORKING SERVICES AND

METAETHICAL ISSUES

A host of meta-ethical questions areraised by the rapid emergence of SNS as adominant medium of interpersonal connection.

SNS and other emerging information technologiesdo not reliably confine themselves to national orcultural boundaries, and this creates a particularchallenge for applied ethicists. For example, SNSpractices in different countries must be analyzedagainst a conceptual background that recognizesand accommodates complex differences in moralnorms and practices concerning, for example,privacy. Other SNS phenomena that one mightexpect to benefit from intercultural analysis andthat are relevant to the ethical considerationsinclude : varied cultural patterns and preference/tolerance for affective display, argument anddebate, personal exposure, expressions ofpolitical, interfamilial or cultural criticism, religiousexpression and sharing of intellectual property.Alternatively, the very possibility of a coherentinformation ethics may juxtapose challenge, forexample, from a constructivist view that emergingsocio-technological practices like SNS continuallyredefine ethical norms—such that our analysesof SNS and related technologies are not onlyceased to operate from shifting ground, but fromground that is being shifted by the intended objectof our ethical adjudgement.

There are, thus, pressing practicalconcerns about whether and how philosopherscan actually have an impact on the ethical profileof emerging technologies such as SNS. Ifphilosophers direct their ethical analyses only toother philosophers, then it is likely such analyseswill function simply as ethical postmortems ofhuman-technology relations, with no opportunityto actually pre-empt, reform or redirect unethicaltechnological practices.

Dr. Spandita Kar, S-73, Maitri Vihar, Bhubaneswar.

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A successful democratic country rests over fourpillars democracy and the press or media isknown as the fourth pillar. Ordinarily the freedomof press means and includes the right to print andpublish without interference of the state or anypublic authority except such interference isauthorized by the Constitution.

Primarily the freedom of press originatedin England. In the exposition of famous statementof MELTON “give me the liberty to know, toutter and to argue freely according to conscienceabove all authorities.” It was a remark in 1662.The ambit of reasonable expectation in publishingmatters subjudiced requires thought, conscience,legal approach, reformatory idea peeping into thedeeper requirements of freedom and individualfreedom of speech and expression. The prevailingprofile cases like in voltage manner such as 2Gcases of Telecom Deptt., Coalgate scam, MiningScam and other highlighted corruption casescoupled with Criminal cases like Arushi murdercase, Haryana Gang Rape Case, Bank Scamsand other cases are burning issues in the presentsociety. Electronic media, especially the T.V.Channels are requiring reasonable restrictions intheir live telecast.

Art.19(2) of our Constitution empowersthe state to impose by law reasonably restrictionon the right conferred by the Constitution in the

Ethics and MediaReasonable Restrictions on reporting matter subjudiced in Electronic Media

N.K. Behera

above cited circumstances, it is well known thatany right under the Constitution is limited to citizensand also cannot be claimed by non-citizen – theabove observation made by the Hon’bleSupreme Court in AIR 1959 SC 395, 402, inSharma vrs. Srikrishna. It is here to say thatrestrictions would become unreasonable if itimposes a permanent ban on entry of each suchnewspaper. Similarly if it empowers administrativeauthority to impose ban without giving the personto be affected an opportunity of being-heard, thenalso it is unreasonable. Moreover the restrictionto be valid must relate considerations mentionedas observed by Hon’ble Supreme Court in AIR1958 SC 89 Virendra vrs. State of Punjab.Again the discussion of reasonable expectationof the media come up before the Apex Court inAIR 1973 SC 106 Bennett Coleman vrs.Union of India and also explained in AIR 1960SC 633 Superintendent of Central Prison vrs.Rama Mohan Lohia.

ARTICLE – 14

Article 14 of the Constitution of Indiaprovides – “The State shall not deny to any personof laws within the territory of India. It implies thatan individual citizen, Govt. press or anyorganization enjoys equal fundamental rights in theeyes of law and no one has a right to transgressthe rights of the others and the state has to protectit.

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DAMAGES TO PEOPLE

Let us take an birds eye view in respectof a matter published and telecast live and itsdamages on people and society and above all thecountry at large. In this respect their lordship inManshi Ram vrs. Mela Ram, AIR 1936, Lah23, their Lordship quoted “what has been printed”may fall into many “heads”. Moreover a printedmatters is generally the most permanent characterand people are disposed to believe “what theygenerally see in print. Hence, where a libel ispublished in a newspaper the person defamed isentitled to substandard damages. The mere factthe proprietor of the paper had no knowledge ofthe publication of libel in his paper can not absolvehim from civil liability.

Article 19(1) of the Indian Constitutiondeclares that all citizens shall have the right tofreedom of speech and expression. Thoughfreedom of press is not explicitly guaranteed asfundamental right it is no longer in doubt that it isimplicit in the freedom of speech and expressionwhich have been stated by Dr. Ambedkar in theConstituent Assembly, and it has been pointedout in Express Newspaper vrs. Union of India,AIR 1958 SC 578 and in Ramesh Thaper vrs.State of Madras, AIR 1950 SC 124 (Para – 10).

ELECTRONICS MEDIA / T.V.COVERAGE

Recently the Supreme Court in its landmark Judgment on August 30, 2012 whileupholding Terrorist AJMAL KASAB hang for26/11, attacks the Hon’ble Bench, was critical ofthe manner in which T.V. channels put theircommercial interest and jeopardized nationalsecurity by 24x7 live telecast of the operationsthat helped terrorists in planning and holding onto their hideouts.

The Supreme Court which is the HighestCourt of our country in a stinging rebuke to the

electronic media said driven by commercialinterests, T.V. Channels, Telecast operationsagainst 10 terrorists during 26/11 attacks onMumbai. The Bench held “The shots and visualsthat were shown live by T.V. channels could havealso been shown after all the terrorists wereneutralized and the security operations were over.But in that case the T.V. programmes would nothave had the same shrill, scintillating and chillingeffects and would not have shot up the TRPratings of the channel”, a bench of justices AftabAlam and C.K. Prasad said –

“It must, therefore be held that bycovering live terrorist attack on Mumbai in theway it was done, Indian T.V. channels were notserving any National interest or social cause. Onthe contrary, they were acting in their owncommercial interest, putting National security injeopardy, it said.

After upholding death penalty to the lonesurviving Pakistani Terrorist Ajmal Kasab, theBench said the manner in which TV channelscompeted with each other in showing gory detailsof the mayhem and operations of security forcesgreatly harmed their argument that there shouldbe self-regulations and no external censorship.

The Apex Court said that the characterand credibility of the institution were tested in thetimes of emergency. “The coverage of MumbaiTerrorist attacks by the Mainstream ElectronicsMedia has done much harm to the argument thatany regulatory mechanism for the media must fromwithin”.

The Bench said it was not possible to findout whether the security forces actually sufferedany casualities or injury on account of the waytheir operation were telecast alive”. But it isbeyond doubt that the way the operations werefreely shown not only exceeding difficult but alsodangerous and risky” it said.

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“The reckless coverage of terroristattacks by channels thus gives rise to situationwhere on the one hand, the terrorists werecompletely hidden from the security forces andthey had no means to know their exact positionor even the kind of fire arms and explosives theypossessed and on the other hand, the position ofsecurity forces; their weapons and their operationmovements were being watched by thecollaborators across the border on T.V. screensand being communicated to the terrorists” it said.

The court further found from thetranscripts of conversation between terrorists holdup in Taj Hotel, Oberoi Hotel and Nariman Houseand their handlers in Pakistan that the terror masterminds were watching the live telecast and gotimportant inputs about the positioning of securityforces.

The Bench further said that there werecountless instances to show that the collaboratorswere watching practically every movement ofsecurity forces which were trying to tackle theterrorist under relentless gunfire and throwing ofgrenades. Apart from the transcripts, we can takejudicial notice on the fact that terrorist attacks atall the places in goriest details, were shown liveon Indian TV from beginning to the end almostnon-stop. All these channels were competing witheach other in showing the latest development ona minute-to-minute basis; including the positionand movement of security forces engaged influshing out the terrorists” the court said.

The Hon’ble Supreme Court said noamount of justification citing right to freedom ofexpression could be acceptable as the manner ofcoverage was totally wrong.

Freedom of expression, like otherfreedoms under Article 19 of the Constitution issubject to reasonable restrictions. An action

tending to violate another person's right to lifeguaranteed under Art.21 of the Constitution orputting national security in jeopardy can never bejustified by taking the plea of freedom of specchand expression.

It is pertinent to mention here that 10channels which are working are for paid coverageand to promote a particular political party’s causeand the worst in public debate in the T.V. Channelsare of lower, un-experienced and vested interestpersons participating and some are paid coverage.The crime files are not be coverage as it is doneand mostly it could be called as a Media Trialwhen the matter in subjudiced before the Courtsor under trial. It is critical as observed by goodcitizens of Odisha that if anything is live on thechannels about public interest, then the T.V.channels invite un-experienced people for adiscussion whose who have no profoundknowledge in the said field or the subjectdiscussed and only to pose for their personalcoverage to achieve a Hippocratic public imageand it is felt that they loose no time to appearbefore the coverage and it is needless to sum uphere that they had a vested interest.

Lastly the Hon’ble Supreme Court in AIR2007 SC 493 Ajay Goswami vrs. Union ofIndia and others directed for amendments in PressCouncil Act, 1978 as follows:

“Mandamus for legislation againstobscenity.

No guidelines can be issued by court tonewspapers regarding matter which may not besuitable for reading of minors.

Sufficient safeguards in terms of variouslegislature norms, regulations to protect the societyin general and children in particular from obsceneand prurient contents are available under PressCouncil Act.

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Justice A.R. Lakshmanan observed –“One of the most controversial issue is balancingthe need to protect society against the potentialharm that may flow from obscene material andthe need to ensure respect for freedom ofexpression and preserve a free flow informationand idea in AIR 1973 SC 1461. His HolinessKeshabananda Bharati vrs. State of Kerala& others – “The fundamental rights and directiveprinciples constitute the conscience of ourConstitution to have balanced – The dignity ofindividual can be achieved. Thus the existingposition in the Press Council Act, 1978 must beamended in view of above rulings.

The Press Council Act, 1978 providesobjects and functions of the council U/s.13, 14& 15 and there is a Press Council (procedureand enquiry) Regulations 1979 two acts andRegulations amendment is essential or else thesociety and its citizens will bear irreparable lossand agony. There are ample powers conferred

by Article 32 read with Article 142 to make orderswhich have effect of law by virtue of Art.141 andthere is mandate to all authorities to act in aid ofthe orders of this court as provided in 144 of theConstitution.

That why, “where there is inaction bylegislature it is duty of executive to fill the vacuumand where there is inaction even by Executive forwhatever reasons the judiciary must step in asdirected by the Apex Court in AIR 1998 SC 889,Vineet Narayan vrs. Union of India.

There must be reasonable restrictions inTV coverage for public good and social cause.

Narendra Kumar Behera, Sr. Advocate, Plot No.508,Bayababa Math Lane, Bhoi Nagar, Bhubaneswar-751022

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Twenty first century is the century of knowledge.In the present world order, modern democraticnations are undergoing a state of knowledgerevolution where media play a vital role. EdmundBurke, the best British Parliamentarian, rightlyhighlighted media as the ‘fourth estate of ademocracy’. In a democratic state, eliminationof social evils is the principal objective of a freeand independent media. It contains publicgrievances and reflects public opinion.

Education is the key which unlocks thedoor of development and modernization. Mediaplay an instrumental role in promoting educationin society. It creates social consciousness inestablishing a healthy social order. A democraticset up calls for informed citizenry in which mediaplay a significant role in ensuring good governancethrough transparency and accountability in thesystem of governance.

Where media remain silent, a totalitarianstate of order emerges and continues to exist aslong as people in that state of order live with astate of uncertainty, mal-administration, and mis-governance and autocratic administration wherecitizens are denied to enjoy their freedom andliberty. To arrest the menace of this state of order,democracy is the ultimate solution. Democracy,is the form of government, in which sovereign

Media in Democratic Governanceand Social Development

Santi Swarup Misra

power rests in the hand of the people and isexercised by them either directly or indirectlythrough their representatives. Democracy is thesurest guaranty against arbitrary rule, despotism,unbridled and autocratic power; it is mostdependable assurance of justice and individualfreedom.

Development is the legitimate expectationof the citizens in a democratic set up. It is alsothe responsibility of the state to promotedevelopment for the well-being of the people.Most particularly, it is the responsibility of thewelfare state to ensure basic survival amenities tothe people such as food, clothing, shelter, healthcare and primary education for ensuring a goodcivic life to the citizen.

The media can be considered acombination of content-music, films, T.V., radio,publishing advertisements and electronic gamesalong with the associated technological devices.Media, in common parlance, have been dividedinto two types such as print and electronic.

Both play a vital role in a democratic setup which resulted in establishing a technologicallyand intellectually advanced civilization. Socio-structural transformation in any society indicatesthe predominance of media and its contributionto development.

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The 20th century witnessed thedevelopment of mass media and the foundationof global media. In the 21st century thetransformation of the media is accelerating as aconsequence of digitalization of the content andits global distribution over digital platform to digitaldevices. Traditional Radio and T.V. will continueto be the most effective ways of delivering highquality information on issues such as health careand education and of debating issues of generalinterest and promoting a culture of peace. (WorldElectronic Media of Forum 2005).

The creation and dissemination ofknowledge are the key factors in the developmentprocess where the media have been instrumentalas the means of storing and sharing knowledge.For instance, U.K Department for InternationalDevelopment (DFID) cites the effectiveness ofradio in promoting development in a wide rage ofdisparate countries including Afganisthan,Moldava and Kiribati (DFID, 2006). The wellrecognized functions of media are to educate,inform and entertain where the social andeconomic contributions of media to developmentdepend on the nature of the content delivered.Direct benefits of development flow fromeducating and informing with entertainmentpossibly acting as a book, ‘Edutainment’ is acommon component of development projects.The media act as a significant driver of growth inmany economies. Increased access to knowledgespurs higher levels of literacy, which strengthenshuman capital for higher productivity. The mediaserve as an important contributors to social andcultural life and key components of democraticstructures. These contributions to developmentare often deliberately embodied in the mediasystem. For example, Article 2 of South Africa’s1999 Broadcasting Act lists 18 goals for the Act,the first 2 of which involve:

� Strengthening democracy, socialdevelopment, gender equality, nationbuilding, education provision, and the spiritualand moral fiber of society.

� Safeguarding, enriching and strengthening thecountry’s cultural, political, social andeconomic fabric.

In the contest of current orientation onmedia revolution, IEC (Information, Educationand Communication) has been accorded thehighest priority. Communication can be effectivethrough media both electronic and print for‘edutainment’ (Education through Entertainment)and ‘infotainment’ (Information throughEntertainment). Both ‘edutainment’ and‘infotainment’ are vital for behavioral change ofthe society.

It creates the conditions for goodgovernance in which transparency andaccountability are two important pillars ofadministration which can ensure transformationaldevelopment of the society. Good governance isalso vital for economic development and thedevelopment dividend that it generates isconsiderable (World Bank 2008). Plurality andtransparency influence should be both top downand bottom up and media should reach the poorestand disadvantaged sections of the society andshould play a catalyst role to accord the basicsurvival amenities to the poorest section of thesociety and to minister the most immediate needsof the people who are by-passed fromdevelopmental intervention. Media as thepromoter of public opinion help create conduciveatmosphere for healthy democratic order.

In India, newspapers have undeniably avital role to play and an important duty to performboth as ‘vox pupili'. (Voice of the people) and abuilder of the public opinion. The media can beused for disseminating information and imparting

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education to illiterate masses. The Press canperform its true role as a guardian of the publicinterest, a watchdog and a source of all kinds ofinformation.

With the dawn of 21st century, humansociety has witnessed the emergence of an era ofhigh-tech multi revolution and globalization ofeconomic activities. We have tremendous progressin the fields of science, technology, education,commerce, industries and related fields. In thiscontext, we can observe that the contribution ofmedia to development has not yet achieved thedegree of recognition that it deserves. However,this intellectual off spring in highlighting its role willassist in rising awareness, understanding andvisible contribution of media to governance anddevelopment. Media show the way how to protectthe society from all types of evils, discriminationand malpractices. A corruption free transparentsocial order will pave the way to development.Both print and electronic media in modern societyensures good governance where citizen’s rightsare well protected and documented.

Media as a vigilant checks inordinatedelays in redressing people’s grievances and findout the source of delay, unrest and corruption. Itis the linking point between the government and

the public in eliciting public opining regardingfunctional efficiency of the organs such as theexecutive, legislature and judiciary of the state. Itshould be involved in constructive criticisms tobring reformation by checking irregularities anddiscrepancies of any type. Its role in performanceauditing of the governing institutions and also inshaping the public opinion is highly remarkable.However, it has the moral responsibility of beingunbiased. The Press Council in India was set upunder Act 37 of 1978 to safeguard the freedomof press to maintain and improve the standard ofnewspapers and news agencies.

The significance of media in democraticgovernance can be judged for its impartial andunbiased character which accords foremostpriority on individual freedom and liberty. At thesame time, it is also the high time for the media toundergo an assessment of its specialized functionin democracy of H J Laski’s famous dictum that‘eternal vigilance is the price of liberty’.

Santi Swarup Misra, CBT- Monitoring & EvaluationSpecialist, Odisha Rural Livelihood Project, Govt. ofOdisha, O/o Project Director, Watersheds, Kandhamal.

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Media means the press, radio, TV, Internet basedand wireless communication. Media are for thelarger part seen as a tool for communication fordisseminating information, opinion, ideas, andcultural expressions. There are also culturalexpressions that are media oriented, such as TVdocumentaries, soap operas and news reports.When referring to media as a business sector, theterm media industry is used. The media ispopularly viewed as the fourth pillar of democracy.

The media plays a pivotal role in thesocial, cultural, political, spiritual, economic,academic as well as the literary life of a nation.As it disseminates knowledge and informationamong the public and thereby making publicaware, informative as well as vigilant about theirrights, duties and the role they have to play in thesociety. The media not only brings out the plans,policies, programmes and the agenda forgovernance of the Govt. but also it makes thepublic aware of the failure in administration as wellas the lacunae in governance. Media play a veryactive role in the process of national regenerationand resurgence. It creates a sense of renaissanceand reformation in the minds of the public bydemolishing the age old inertia and morbidity andthereby lifting the society into new heights ofachievement and development.

The role of media in the literary andscholastic achievements and pursuits of acommunity is a matter to be reckoned with.

Media and Development

Dr. Pramodini Jena

Above all media has become one of the mostessential and indispensable part of modern life.We are living in an age where “knowledge isconsidered as power” and “media have becomethe social space where power is decided”.

It is rightly said that media use is an indexof development. There is a proverb “Aseconomics is to wealth, as political science topower, so media is to enlightenment; mediadevelopment should be treated like economicdevelopment or political development”. Thegreater the use, the higher will be the level ofeducation. As social beings, humans are sustainedby mutual interactions, exchange of ideas,information and views with the fellow beings.Illiteracy, which is nothing but absence ofeducation and information is a stumbling blockfor any aspect of development—social,economic, political, cultural and even spiritual.Media has become the harbinger of developmentthrough the removal of these roadblocks and theprovision of information and knowledge.

Central to this argument are three of thepillars that form the central support structure forthe current development consensus, a consensusto which most bilateral and multilateraldevelopment actors are explicitly committed.

The first of these pillars is thatdevelopment strategies should be “owned” by thesocieties implementing them; in other words, theyare the product of debate within these countries,

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not the product of processes forced on themexternally by donor organizations.

The second pillar is “accountability,” thenotion that governments should be principally heldto account by their citizens rather than to donorgovernments.

A third main pillar of current developmentpolicy—the eight Millennium Development Goals,the achievement of which frames most currentinternational development efforts—could providearguments in either direction. On the one hand,MDGs can be seen as a set of technical targets,largely free of political complexity, requiring themass mobilisation of financial, technological andhuman resources that can be safely delivered byelected governments with little need for substantialpublic debate. Or they can be seen as a set oftargets the meeting of which depends on a set ofdeeply political policy choices—such as costrecovery in education, health or water services,privatisation or otherwise of national utilities. Inthe latter case, the need for public understanding,the quality of spaces for public debate and thecapacity of people most affected to have theirperspectives legitimised in public debate becomefar more acute.

If citizens are to hold governments toaccount, they need access to information ongovernment policy and on how and where fundingallocated to benefit them is being spent. Thepoorer people need more such information. Theyalso need the capacity to articulate theirperspectives on these issues. The media provideone of the very few mechanisms available to fulfillthese functions.

The development policy was increasinglydependent on media informing citizens—particularly poor citizens—on the issues thatshape their lives, and dependent on themproviding spaces and channels for people tocommunicate their perspectives. The questionthen becomes why on earth should the media fulfill

these functions?One answer is that mostjournalists have historically always defined theirmission as speaking truth to power—in otherwords playing precisely the role that developmentactors interested in citizens holding governmentsto account would have them play. Another answeris the fact that the enabling environment both forspeaking truth to power and for broader publicdebate has arguably increased immensely overthe last two decades.

Covering development is not a glamorousor high status beat. This, ultimately, is whydevelopment actors should take a more activeinterest in the role of media and development andin sustaining democracy. There is a clearassumption in current development policy thatmedia will play a certain role in society, holdinggovernments to account and enabling informedpublic debate. Unless they play that role, currentdevelopment strategies are likely to beundermined just as earlier development strategies(such as poverty reduction strategies) were.Democracies will exist in name, but not insubstance, and are unlikely to prove sustainableor successful.

Development discourse over many yearshas been increasingly focused on notions ofempowerment and participation. The logic of anew focus on ownership and accountabilityaccentuates the need for such a focus. Itcomplements and reinforces existing debatesaround rights based approaches to developmentand suggests a far more intensive interest in therole of media and communication in development.The net result may be a looming crisis indevelopment assistance, where the essential mediamechanisms that can ensure greater ownershipand accountability. That development strategiesneed to be underpinned by are assumed to exist,but where in reality, those roles are under.Development policy arguably needs this role tobe played, but development actors show limitedstrategic engagement in understanding or

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supporting such a role. The media themselves maybe too distracted by their own problems toengage substantively in such a debate. Thealarming, and potentially highly damaging resultfor development efforts, is a vacuum of debate,action and leadership.

A third wave further arguing thatdevelopment (in the all round sense) could onlysucceed if the developers themselves participatedin it. Rather than being objects of media, as in thefirst two perspectives, the people should besubjects. This meant a praxis that wasrevolutionary - and which aimed at conscientisingpeople to overthrow local agents of imperialismwho were seen as the immediate stumbling blockto development.

From the Modernization approach, onecan take the point that it is indeed evident that thedissemination of media technology is an importantquestion in development. Participation is part ofensuring that the global public sphere includes theinterests of the underdeveloped. This is acontribution towards liberation. As a whole mediahas a critical bridging role to play—not only toreinforce dominance and dependency betweenexploited relation of first world and the actualintegration of Third World economy but also beganto critique the notion of “development”, sayingthat it had to incorporate a level of equity, else itwas mere growth to the extent that change wasenvisaged.

In matters of freedom of religion or belief,media presents fair and balanced coverage.However, that is not always what happens. Mediais essential for some kind of global mediaobservatory for news coverage andrepresentations of religion and religious affairs.

Mass and community media canunthinkingly reinforce stigmatisation anddiscrimination against people living with HIV andAIDS.

Peace journalism falls squarely within theright to communicate - strengthening the ability ofpeople and communities to make known theireconomic, political, social, and cultural aspirationsin order to resolve tensions and reach peacefulsolutions to conflict.

All new technologies of communicationbring advantages and disadvantages. All suchtechnologies have democratic potential. With newsocial media, there remain significant questionsof accountability, affordable access, digitaldivides, surveillance, privacy, exploitation, andcultural transformation.

Today’s many borders - physical andpsychological, political and social, cultural andideological - are no longer fixed or impermeable.Overcoming them is mainly about overcoming thesocially constructed limitations of belonging to acertain place and going beyond what is apparentlysure and secure. Media is highly essential for safepassage in Borderlands, the places of negotiation.

However, the role of media in general,and new media in particular, is a limited, albeitimportant, one. In short, it can play a supportiverole, but is unlikely to be the driving force orcatalyst - that is the place of wider, and overdetermining, political and economic processes.There is no “magic” that will be wrought. Theycan widen horizons, focus attention, raiseaspirations and create a climate for development.They can help only indirectly to change stronglyheld attitudes or valued practices, but they canaffect attitudes lightly held and channelize strongerbeliefs. They can feed richer material into theinterpersonal dialogue that must carry much ofthe informational flow in less technicallydeveloped areas. However, effective use of newmedia can still be of great value.

Dr. Pramodini Jena, Andhia sahi, Nimapara, Puri-752106.

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In the present scenario of development, no doubt,media works as the important factor. It refers tomore indirect efforts at using existing media toconvey messages about specific developmentissues. While disseminating information has beenconsidered the primary function of media, now itis functioning as a check post in the fields ofeducation, healthcare, business, disastermitigation, corruption, minority empowerment andcommunity development.

The media is now considered acombination of music, films, TV, radio, publishing,advertisements, and electronic games with allother associated technological devices. It is notonly a question of time bound development in thesocial developmental sector, rather it is ourintention to bring the media to front line to give aperfect shape to the development process. Andwhat we get now is the expanded and proliferatedform of media. This is because the media havebeen closely twisted together with technologicalchanges—the consequences of which haveaffected content, platforms, and devices on acenturies-long virtuous circle. Thesedevelopments have provided wider scope forvarious opportunities and new social, political,economical and ethical ideas.

The 19th century met many advances withthe inventions of the telegraph, telephone,phonograph, jukebox, cinematography, wireless


Satyabrata Behura

telegraph, and loudspeaker, each of whichseparately added new media. Many of theseinventions converged in the 20th century totransform the media. The transformation hascreated major social activities that show the directcontributions of the media to development.

Every new development in the field ofmedia has extended the reach ability by changingthe format of the media. The 20th centurywitnessed the development of mass media andthe foundations of a global media. Both in the fieldof content production and distribution, the massmedia are essentially a one-way phenomenon. Thetransformation of the media in the 21st century ismoving quickly as a consequence of thedigitalization of content and its global distributionover digital platforms to digital devices. Itsupplements as well as by-passes traditionalmethods by introducing two-way system ofdistribution and production with new devices.New media do not displace old. Rather, they sitside by side. Hardcopy newspapers and booksare still published, but can also be accessedthrough the Internet. The news can be receivedon radios, watched on TVs, and accessed throughcomputers and mobile handsets. In the developingworld, especially in rural areas, radio (alsocommunity radio(s)) and TV play the primaryroles, particularly where literacy is low. Traditionalradio and TV is still there to be the most effective

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ways of delivering high-quality information onissues such as healthcare and education, and ofdebating issues of general interest and promotinga culture of peace. In the development process,the creation and dissemination of knowledge arekey factors where the media has been acting asthe important means of storing and sharingknowledge.

For the sake of development media hasnot confined its limitations. With its well-knownfunctions of educating, informing, and entertaining;the social and economic contributions of the mediato development has polished its nature of thecontent delivered. Where ‘Edutainment’ is acommon component of development projects, itsfunctions of educating and informing is acting as ahook.

Increased access to knowledge throughmedia has given rise to higher levels of literacythat strengthens human capital for higherproductivity. The media are also successful incontributing to social and cultural life for theupbringing of democratic structures. Thesecontributions to development are naturallyembodied in the media system.

Some of the important functions of media inthe development are –

1. Safeguarding & strengthening thecountry’s cultural, political, social andeconomic fabric : The relevance of mediabroadly depends on the content delivered. Thedevelopment impact of media content likeeducation, information, entertainment andedutainment is related to the relevance of thecontent delivered. It is the content that can beread accessible and meaningful to broad segmentsof society and that the information delivered beadapted and disseminated in formats andlanguages that diverse social groups canunderstand and act on.

2. Plurality and transparency : As the societyis confronting newer changes every time andpeople are in touch with foreign media agents, anautomated change has taken place. Mediaenvironment has reached its height in creating suchenvironment which ensures good governance,transparency, and the functioning of economic,social and political situations which can beconsidered as the media’s political economy role.Plurality and transparency has the overarchingimpact on the development process and individualdevelopment initiatives. A plural mediaenvironment creates wider scope to access toinformation and diffusion of knowledge within acountry. Plural media support informed decisionmaking, increased accountability, responsivenessand contribute to anti-corruption efforts.

3. Behavioral : The functioning limitation ofmedia is no more handled by few. It acts withmore proficiency when individuals, groups andorganizations work together for themselves in aninspiring way to enable all for a behavioral change.Media’s ability to influence behavior can beevident from the budget spent on advertising. Ina simple way it can be said that media’sparticipation has brought a great change from thegrass root level to the upper level of bureaucracyand judicial system.

4. Infrastructure and platform :Transformational development is the demand ofthis age where opinions are not motivated bypressurized groups or by any means of influence,rather media itself takes a form to capture thetruth and go with that, whatever the situation maybe.

5. Economic : Talking of media and economy inone hand was considered to be useless but themodern industrialisation policy, budgeting,minutely changes in world financial situationsstrengthen the media. Everything in accordanceto your need is there on the mediabook like anyother social sites.

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6. Trade : Trade in media, mainly audio-visualproducts is substantial but asymmetric; certaintrade barriers restrain investments and limitopportunities for developing country exports, andso the media’s potential contribution todevelopment.

In our increasingly digital geopoliticalenvironment, social and mobile media have beenan all-pervasive subject, spreading fast from thedaily use of millions of people all over the worldthrough to newsrooms, media reports andacademic study.

Media at present serves twofold purposeas an agent of extension and elaborator of hurdles

which stands on the way of development. Thematerial and moral development of a nationdepends a lot on information of scientific, socialand political knowhows and eradication ofsuperstitions, negative traditional practices,succumbing to corrupt practices both social,bureaucratic and political. Media is now not onlyan entertainer nor a teacher but it acts as guide,friend and philosopher of citizens, who are brickunits of our nation.

Satyabrata Behura, News Reader cum Translator, AIR,Cuttack, QN – F/7, Jobra Municipality Colony, Po –College Square, Cuttack - 3.

“Media has been spotting every person. Be it thecelebrity or the common man.” “Newspapersalways excite curiosity. No one ever lays downone without a feeling of disappointment”-saidCharles Lamb.

It is this art of generating curiosity thatcompels its readers to read on. Hence, the mostordinary of news can be so presented to catchthe immediate attention of the readers or listeners.It is the most important and effective media ofmass communication. Not only news, but eversince its birth it has played a pivotal role in formingand moulding public opinion. During our strugglefor independence, newspapers played a stellarrole in acting as mouthpiece of national leaders toform a favourable public opinion. Even afterIndependence, it has on many occasions actedas a crusader to raise issues that are continuous,but nevertheless requires public debate. It has alsohelped to keep the democratic traditions alive,by offering a forceful voice of dissent, which isthe lifeline for any true democracy to flourish. Afree press works like a watchdog in democracy.

Media and DevelopmentShweta Padhi

Media has been growing vigorouslywithout looking back. Media has been honouredas the most powerful and prestigious post. Justnot the newspaper that appeals the man today,Television, radio has also been found influencingpeople. On the other hand, media doesn’t seemto spread at every part of the city or place. Theseare places where media or mode ofcommunication doesn’t reach. There are a lot ofplaces where media has to reach or the mode ofcommunication has to improve. English, being themost suitable language is not understood by a lotof commoners, neither, Hindi being the nationallanguage is understood. A lot of common peopleare still unaware of things going around the globe.Media is a very challenging area, where truthstands at its place and the mask of lie is revealed.

Shweta Padhi, Class-XI, Delhi Public School, Kalinga,Cuttack.

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Freedom of Speech is recognized as a Right toFreedom in our Constitution. It is most preciousgift of democracy which emerged during theEuropean Enlightenment. After Independence thewriters of our Drafting Committee included thisas a Fundamental Right in our Constitution.Freedom of speech is a powerful instrument forall civilized and democratic nations of the world.Now-a-days we are living in a world dominatedby mass media. Sometimes media becomespartial and coloured. A free press can help toremove the evils of the society. The power of theelectronic media is immense in our society. NGOsare also playing crucial role in spreadingawareness of democratic rights. But his freedomof speech is not absolute, it is limited by our socialduties and obligations.

One wonders as to what would have beenthe course of history of many countries in theworld, had freedom of speech been completelydenied to their inhabitants. One celebratedinstance of freedom of speech and its historicaloutcome is forcefully described by Shakespearein his drama “Julius Caesar”. After the murder ofJulius Caesar, some leading lights of Romeassembled at a place to offer justification forassassination of Caesar. Caesar, according tothem, had become a threat to the freedom ofRomans. Antony, a friend of Caesar begs for one

Freedom of Speech

Sanat Mishra

opportunity to go to the stage and pay his tributeto the dead Caesar. Once he gets the permissionto speak, he makes the fullest use of his freedomof speech and explains to the audience howCaesar had undergone hardships to serve thepeople. Bit by bit, he builds up a highlysympathetic opinion among the crowd of listenersand they are converted from being haters ofCaesar to lovers of Caesar. Not only that, mostof the Romans thereafter started hating Brutus forhis dastardly act of killing Caesar. Antony, throughthe clever exercise of his freedom of speech isable to turn the table on the conspirators andmobilize pro-Caesar forces to defeat Brutus andhis co-conspirators.

Towards the first half of the twentiethcentury most colonized countries of the worldwere swept by freedom movements aimed atrestoring freedom of speech and other basicfreedoms which only self governing nations canensure. India, too witnessed growing agitation offreedom fighters against the British Regime. Whileleaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehruand Sardar Vallabhabhai Patel traversed the lengthand breadth of the country criticizing the despotismand repression of the British Rulers, NetajeeSubhash Chandra Bose organized Indians, mostlyprisoners of war, outside India into Azad HindFauj ( Indian National Army) to fight the British

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and free our country from the foreign yoke. Hethundered, “Offer me your blood and I will ensurethe freedom of India”. His fiery speeches inspiredthousands of men and women who foughtvaliantly and even freed some parts of India fromthe British Rulers before they were overwhelmedby the superior might of the British. After theconclusion of 2nd World War, most of the colonialpowers felt that they could no longer deny halfthe population of the world democratic freedom,and they granted freedom to many Asian andAfrican countries.

The spirit of the age at the turn of thetwentieth century is characterized by free enquiryand freedom of expression. The last two decadeshave witnessed the collapse of totalitarian regimesin the communist countries of Eastern Europe andprogressive democratization in China. Gorbachevbrought in “Perestroika” (Restructuring) andGlasnost (Openness) and Russia bade good byeto seven decades of regimentation and iron-curtains. Thorough-going reforms wereintroduced to usher in a multi-party democracy,freedom of speech and transparency in thefunctioning of the government. Gorbachev’sinitiative was hailed by Chinese students too whogathered in large numbers at Beijing’s TiananmenSquare in April-May 1989 to protest against the

corrupt one party rule and to demand democraticrights. On 4 th June, 1989, the Chinesegovernment used army with tanks and guns andkilled students in hundreds and curbed theuprising. After this protest, however, state controlover business, industrial and educational spherewas loosened and greater freedom of expressionwas allowed in China. A new kind of free marketeconomy has been introduced in China promotingprosperity and civil liberties in the country.

With the crumbling of the last majorbastion of totalitarianism in Russia and Chine,most of the world has accepted liberal democraticsystem. Experience of civil liberties has whettedthe appetite for greater freedom and transparency.Wherever people are taking initiative to liberatethemselves from repressive political order, theyare getting moral support of the people of freecountries. It is hoped that proliferation of humanrights and freedom of speech will reinforce theliberty of man throughout the world.

Sanat Mishra, General Secretary, National JournalistWelfare Board.

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Media is the mirror of the times and the societywe live in. It reflects the happenings and eventsof the society that has been witnessing constantchanges over the time.It brings to us a world fullof happenings, and helps connect with the worldwe live in.Thanks to a plethora of media that livingin one corner of the globe doesn’t hamper ourdesire to enlighten ourselves with the happeningson the other corner.Rather it widens our horizonand nourishes our ideas and thoughts. Media thushas a tremendous impact on the way a societyconducts itself in the present, as well as the shapeit would take in the future.

The media should be more responsibleand accountable for they have the power toinfluence the public psyche. But it seems like everyindustry, media too is governed by one principle:SELLING. Media which started as a mission hasgradually turned into an industry which like anyother business works for profit. And in this ratrace of making profit i.e competing for increasedTRP ratings and circulation numbers, it has somewhere somehow chosen to either ignore the ethicsof the profession or has actually forgotten to draw the line.

Some of the areas where the media seemsto have compromised with ethics are:

1. Paid News

Since the days of India’s freedomstruggle,the media has been recognised assensitive,patriotic and a very influential tool in thesocio-political sphere.The Father of the Nation,Mahatama Gandhi initiated his movement with themoral power of active journalism.However, acancer in the form of paid news that has beendignosed with the Indian media in the recent pasthas tarnished Media’s image. A report on paidnews by the Press Council of India has indictedmany publishers and broadcasters oftaking money for reporting on state assemblyelections in 2004 and 2009; praising onecandidate while maligning others; which had asignificant effect on the voting results.

The report says, “It is widely believed thatmany media companies, irrespective of thevolume of their businesses and their profitability,were ‘selling’ news space after arriving at an‘understanding’ with politicians andrepresentatives of corporate entities that wereadvertisers. Space in publications and airtime wereoccupied by advertisements that were disguisedas ‘news’.”

This raises serious questions on the moralconduct of the Indian journalists who are, by andlarge, honoured and accepted as the torch bearers

Ethics and Media

Shovna Muduli

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in the society and considered as the fourth pillarof democracy. And why only the journalists,people at the editorial and management level tooseem to be equal partners or may be thecommanding force in the job.

2. Reporting crime and police investigation

Bringing crime stories and policeinvestigation to the forefront definitely keeps thecitizens aware and alert about the ills and evils ofthe society, and reinforces their faith in the police.However, reports containing details of the crimeand the police investigation alerts the criminals too.They become cautious of the steps taken by thepolice and accordingly plan an intelligent escapeadding challenges to the police, and posing a gravethreat to the public.

3. Sensationalism

The trend of blowing up theinconsequential or sensationalising has becomequite a handy tactic for most of the media housesto grab the circulation numbers and TRP ratings.Now be it an off-political argument between twopoliticians, be it a gay couple sharing a room orslip-off of a fashion model from the ramp, thestory scripted for these ‘not so newsy’ storiestakes them to a different level all together.Compelled to drive viewership, channels are evengoing to the extent of hirring stand-up comedians,inviting astrologers to the studio for viewer phone-ins and putting up dance,music and sometimeseven reality based shows. In such a case, mediais not only losing its credibility but also seems tohave been distorting its very purpose in the society.

4. Undue attention to celebrities and popular figures

Though film stars and sports icons havebeen constant source of inspiration for all of us insome or the other way, media seems to have goneway beyond it. The treatment of stories of

unnecessary details of these celebrities is so oftenthat sometimes even the plight or the success storyof a common man goes unnoticed or unreported.News is not about what beauty regime does anactress follow or how often does a sports starvisit his favourite restaurant,news is how a citizenfights for his rights and exposes the governmentneglect. Unfortunately, bitten by the bug of TRPand circulation, media is chasing and overcoveringthese issues.

5. Exaggeration and losing credibility

Be it a simple story of a conflict in acollege campus or a sensitive story of a conflictbetween the government and the red rebels, orsay a communal conflict, media tends to take sidesinstead of reporting both the sides in equal light.As a result, this aggravates the situation and leadsto a series of more conflicts which, however, againfalls to media’s advantage. Moreover,India havingquite a delicate social fabric comprising of multireligious, multilingual and multi ethnicdenominations, the journalists should stopshowing favouritism and stop exaggerating as well,or else it will disturb the equilibrium of the societyand lose public faith and confidence.

6. Privacy

According to the guidelines of the PressCouncil of India, intrusion or invasion in theprivacy of the individuals is not permissible unlessoutweighed by genuine overriding public interest,not being a prurient or morbid curiosity. However,the journalists too often run over people’s privatelives. The paparazzi follows the celebritieswherever they go and are too hungry to capturetheir moments and movements. It is true thatcelebrities are public figures and their privatemoments interest people, but like any other humanbeing they too have the right to privacy and leadlife with dignity. But this becomes difficult whenintimate details of a person’s life, his or her

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innermost thoughts, fears and desires are exposedto public gaze by the media, despite knowingthat they are not of legitimate public concern.Media may gain monetary benefits out of storiessuch as newly married star couple’s honeymoonbut in the long run it loses public confidence andrespect.

Although the period after Independencehas witnessed a considerable degradation of ethicsin media, the basic values adhered to by the Indianmedia over the ages, still continue to inspire.Themedia has always risen to the situation wheneverthere is a crisis.

However, in this era of new journalismthat is booming with information and mindbogglingentertainment, with global invasion andcompetition becoming too inevitable, the need ofthe hour is sober introspection by the journalistsand not losing the focus on the paramount duty ofthe media to be the fourth estate without makingany compromise with vested interest.

Quoting the words of reaction of AshishBagga, President of Indian Newspaper Society

in the context of the Press Council of India’s moveto bring the electronic media under its control,“Press in India is time-tested and self- regulatedwith enough maturity to continue to play the crucialrole of the fourth estate of our vibrant democracyresponsibly.” But with the media giving instancesof intentionaly compromising with the ethics to itsadvantage, and the Press Council of India claimingself-regulation to be oxymoron, it is high time themedia realises its social and moral responsibilty,and stops quenching its thirst for the ugly and theunwanted, that may elevate them to an illusionaryheight but in the long run pose a question on itscredibility.

So let us hope that the Media acts as amirror that reflects the society, and not a lens thatmagnifies certain things and minimizes others,although both reflect images.

Shovna Muduli, Plot No.-N1/296,IRC Village, Nayapalli,Bhubaneswar-751015.

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CONCEPT OF DEVELOPMENT

Development is not purely an economicphenomenon but rather a multi-dimensionalprocess involving recognition and reorientation ofentire economic and social system. Since muchwritings and definitions often start with economicdevelopment or per capita income, the realdevelopment process involves not only changesin the economic structure, but is interlinked withthe entire social, political and cultural fabric ofthe society. It is necessary to note thatdevelopment does not mean mere increase in theper capita income or mere industrialization but aprocess involving a number of qualitative changes,nothing less than the upward movement of theentire social system. Development may beinterpreted as attainment of a number ofmodernization ideas, such as rise in productivity,social and economic equalization, modernknowledge and improved institutions andattitudes. Proper and adequate development isnot done by dislodging people from their roots,culture and environments. Proper developmentalways helps people to self-sufficient and self –reliant.

According to some renownedeconomists development works as a process ofexpanding the real freedom that people enjoy.Growth of GNP ( Gross National Product ) or ofindividual income can of course, be very important


Prof. Anurag Sahu

as means to expanding the freedoms enjoyed bythe members of the society. Development requiresthe removal of major sources of bondage : povertyas well as tyranny, poor economic opportunitiesas well as systematic social deprivation neglectof public facilities as well as intolerance overactivity of repressive states.

Some social activists and renownedcommunication experts defines that developmentis removal of poverty, lessening of disparitybetween regions and classes, building up of thetechnological infrastructure, modernization ofsociety through shedding feudalism, tribalism andsuperstition, of the gradual achievement, economicreliance. Development is measured in theimprovement of the lives of the people and thestrengthening of the family’s or the individual’scapacity to deal with the rest of the society andof the nation’s capacity to deal with the world.

Another concept of developmentsuggests an index of physical quality of life asevidenced by the sate of literacy, life expectancy,infant mortality etc. Yet another notion ofdevelopment emphasizes freedoms, capabilitiesand entitlement for better life, which could beexpressed in term of a scale, similar to thoseconsidered under quality of life. One of the recententries in the alternative development prospectiveis sustainable development. It draws attention tothe need to conserve resources so that the process

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of development would be sustainable withoutendangering the resources for the futuregeneration.

According to the Dag HammarskjoldFoundation Report development would meandifferent things to different people in differentcountries depending on the national priorities ; onechild family in China, decreased pesticide use inPhilippines, Corruption in India and so on.

The concept and definition ofdevelopment is ever changing and variousobjectives are given importance at different timeperiod. But in order to keep the process on, mediahas been playing a very significant role in enhancingpublic activism and in drawing attention to thedeprivation of the socially and economicallybackward section of the society. Role of mediain the process of development has beenrecognized as crucial. The fact that people’sparticipation is an essential condition for thesuccess of any developmental programmes. Themedia can act as an effective catalyst giving wayto social transformation.

MASS MEDIA IN BRIEF :

The media can be considered acombination of content – music, films, TV, radio,publishing, advertisements and electronic games– along with associated technological devices.Over time what constitutes ‘the media’ has bothexpanded and proliferated. This became themedia which have been closely entwined withtechnological changes – the consequences ofwhich have affected content, platforms anddevices as a whole. These developments havealso provided for ownership opportunities andnew business models. Each new developmentextends the reach and changes the format of themedia.

We live in a society that depends oninformation and communication to keep movingin the right direction and do our daily activities

like work, entertainment, health care, education,personal relationships, traveling and anything elsethat we have to do. In the world of today, mediahas become almost as necessary as food andclothing. It is true that media is playing anoutstanding role in strengthening the society; it’sa mirror of the society. Its duty is to inform, educateand entertain the people. It is partly because ofthem that awareness is spreading in the society. Itis the media which shape our lives. Our lives wouldbe incomplete without the media. Our decisionsare based on the information that we get fromour co workers, news, friends, family, etc. Whatwe need to be aware is that most of our decisions,beliefs and values are based on what we knowfor a fact, our assumptions and our ownexperience. In our work we usually know whatwe have to do on our experience and studies,however on our daily lives we rely on the mediato get the current news and facts about what isimportant and what we should be aware of. Wehave put our trust on the media as an authority togive us news, entertainment and education.However, the influence of mass media on our kids,teenagers and society is so big that we shouldknow how it really works.

The 20th century witnessed thedevelopment of mass media and foundation of aglobal media. In the 21st century the transformationof the mass media is accelerating as aconsequences of the digitalization of content andit’s global distribution over digital platforms todigital devices. Both the print and electronicmedia houses just doubled their numbers in thelast few years. With the pace and rhythm ofindustrial development and signing of MoUs theregional print and electronic media becamehealthier day by day. New media do not displaceold. Rather they sit side by side. The number ofhardcopy newspapers and books publishing areincreasing day by day. The same content of thosebooks and newspapers can be accessed on the

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internet. Launching of number of 24 hours satellitenews channels and publishing number of newspapers and extending number of editions will notcertainly make a state developed. All the mediaorganizations should bear a strong sense ofobjective and media policy and everybody’s goalshould be centered towards the development ofthe society. Developmental stories don’t have anyclear cut definition. It depends on countries, statesand sometimes for the whole mankind’srequirement. Almost all the media organizationswant to be the forward player in the media racefor getting highest TRP or getting a favor of ABC.But it is the high time to re-valuate all mediaentrepreneurs about how much space they aresparing for developmental stories and in case ofnews channels how much time they are sparingfor developmental stories round the clock.

The media scenario has undergonespectacular change since independence. India hasbeen witnessing a revolution in communicationtechnology. But in the Indian context, the yardstickof development is entirely different. The level ofprogress we have achieved is not adequatebecause of the deviating from the real objective.In the last few decades another new trend ofJournalism is introduced that is DevelopmentJournalism. Particularly in a developing countrylike India, development journalism must concernitself with the people. It must show them how toimprove their bargaining power with the society.It must make them realize that their future is intheir hands. It must describe the process ofbackbone building. This new trend of journalismmust concern itself with the people. It must showthem how to improve the bargaining power withthe society. It must describe the process of changeand modernization, the new discoveries and theproducts. In the last two decades the world haswitnessed tremendous growth in the mediaindustry. Both the print and electronic mediahouses just doubled . With the pace and rhythm

of industrial development print and electronicmedia became healthier day by day. Severaltrends are apparent in the media – most of whichhave a long history, some of which are new andall of which are experiencing the impact ofdigitization. As these trends unfold and intertwinethey will impact the contribution of the media todevelopment.

A characteristic feature of our country isthat it is predominantly rural in its economy. Therole of mass media for the holistic developmentof the people has not received much attention.This is more so in India, where 80 per cent of thepeople live in villages. Mass media have beenconsidered as potential agencies for thedevelopment of people primarily because theirreach is wide. Mass media are very suitableinstrument for rapid development of developingcountries like India. Media has important role infostering National Unity, literacy, educationaltechnology, distance education, environmentalreporting for sustainable development and womenempowerment. Developing the theme of NationalUnity and elaborating the concept likeNationalism, National identity, sub-nationalism isa delightful and inspiring experience. Instancesfrom China where media could be harnessed forenhanced national awareness and Nigeria wheremedia are viewed as National Unifier areparticularly noteworthy. The Indian experienceshas been different where as the electronic media– so far under the control of Government – aremended to uphold the unity of the country. It hasbeen widely felt in practice that Delhi-centric viewhas been projected neglecting other parts of thecountry. There seems to be some validity in theperception that at times enough sensitivity has notalways been shown to the cultures, customs andlanguages from states .

The creation and dissemination ofknowledge are key factors in the developmentprocess – where the media have been instrumental

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as a means of storing and sharing knowledge. Thewell recognized functions of the media are toeducate, inform and entertain where the social andeconomic contributions of the media todevelopment depend on the nature of the contentdelivered. Direct development benefits flow fromeducating and informing, with entertainmentpossibly a ‘hook’. “Edutainment” is a commoncomponent of development project.

The development impact of mediacontent- education, information, entertainment andedutainment is related to the relevance of thecontent delivered. Relevance requires that theinformation delivered be adapted anddisseminated in formats and languages thatdiverse social groups can understand and act on.Quite often the most relevant content is local,though the concept of “local” operates at differentlevels – from national to community.

CHARACTERISTICS OF CONTENTPRODUCTION :

We all are experiencing the continuouslyexpansion and evolvement of mass media. Tounderstand these trends, it is necessary to considersome important characteristics of the industrialeconomics of content production :

v The irrelevant factor : A wide range ofcontent is offered, but individuals sample aminute fraction of these offerings.

v The packaging factor : For publishing andaggregators it makes sound business senseto assemble an array of relevant and irrelevantmaterials in one offering to attract massaudience. Newspapers illustrates irrelevanceand packaging, offering numerous sections,supplements and pullouts on sports, business,travel, food, health, society and other topics.Some of which are thrown away by readersat the point of sale.

v The venture Capital factor : Similarlyinvestors are encouraged to take a bundledportfolio approach in an environment of bitsand largely misses.

v The fluidity factor : Most media contentcan be repackaged into different formats andfor different platforms and devices. Forinstance, recorded music can be repackagedas a stage musical that is later made into afilm, for which a sound track of recordedmusic and ringtones are sold. A theme ride inan amusement park, a cartoon character, acomic book, a TV serial and even a toy maybecome a film and then a video-game or theprocess may be reversed. Any successfulcontent product (such as best selling book)is a pre-tested candidate product forreformatting is a different medium.

The media are at the cutting edge oftechnological change, where the digitalization ofcontent, Next Generation Networks, falling deviceand distribution costs, ever-increasing abundanceand new business models are overturning the pre-existing order of markets and the media, thoughbroadcasting, particularly radio remain crucial indeveloping countries. This offers newdevelopment opportunities requiring new policyinitiatives, and the realization of this by thedevelopment community. In many instances themedia has yet to attain its appropriate status onthe list of development priorities.

The media are significant driver of growthin many economics. The business of producingcontent generates substantial income flows andjobs that contribute directly to the economy.Increase access to knowledge spurs higher levelof literacy, which strengthens human capital forhigher productivity. The media are also importantcontributors to social and cultural life and keycomponents of democratic structures. These

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contributors to development are often deliberatelyembodied in the media system.

It is clear that the formal media productionsector has a substantial and growing economicpresence, including a high proportion of micro,small and medium enterprises. Digital media is amajor driver of investment in broadbandinfrastructure and e-commerce, both of which cantransfer the development process. The media’scontribution to development occurssimultaneously along five closely intermingledinfluences: plurality and transparency, behavioural,infrastructure and platform, economic, and trade.

v Plurality and transparency : Thecontribution that a plural media environmentmakes good governance, transparency andthe functioning of markets (economic andpolitical) which can be seen as the media’spolitical-economic role.

v Behavioural : - The media’s contributionto inspiring beneficial changes in thebehaviours of individuals, groups andorgansiations.

v Infrastructure and platform : - Compellingcontent is essential for and the main driver ofinvestment in new convergent broadbandinfrastructure and platforms, which hold thepotential for transformational development.

v Economic : - The media provide manyjobs, especially in smaller size enterprises.

v Trade : - Trade in India, mainly audio-visualproducts is substantial but asymmetric, certaintrade barriers restrain investments and limitopportunities for developing country’s exportsand so, the media’s potential contribution todevelopment.

MASS MEDIA AND SOCIAL ISSUES

Poverty

Media and other forms of communicationcan play a vital role in improving the conditions of

life for the world’s poorest people. Some ofpeople who are concerned about developmentissues have been interested in media. They havetried to find ways in which communication andparticularly the mass media like newspapers,radio and television can be used to help countriesdevelop and thus reduce the amount of poverty.Most recently, there has been enormous interestin the potential of the internet to aid indevelopment. Many of those who have tried touse the media for development have been activists– journalists, broadcasters, development workersand politicians – but some have had moretheoretical role. There had been thousands ofbooks and articles dedicated for trying tounderstand what role the media might play indevelopment and to find ways in which might playsuch a role more effectively. Unlike many areasof communication theory, these investigations haveoften been closely tied to practice; Scholars havetheorized about the best way to use the media tohelp development and activists have tried toimplement their findings.

Education

Education and media have beenharnessed to bring about changes in attitude andvalues – so essential for the task of nation building.Although media certainly have the potential to aidthe education system of the country, the successdepends upon ensuring the media technologyfulfills the needs of learners, teachers and society.Media are particularly suited as adjuncts toDistance Education and Open Learning System.The fact remains that Open and Distance LearningSystem would not have created a viable andlasting effect, within the overall traditional systemof classroom teaching and university education,but for the extensive use of media andcommunication technologies. Communication notonly generates an educational environment, itbecomes a vehicle for education. Mediatechnology is being increasingly harnessed toexpand educational opportunities.

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Environment

Since the 1972 Stockholm UNConference on Environment, issues concerningenvironment and development have receivedsustained media attention. Environment reportingfocuses virtually on contemporary crisis ofsurvival. The media coverage of grass rootmovements throughout the country has certainlythe awareness level of environmental issues. Sinceenvironmental problems are assuming globaldimensions and infringe upon decision taken atmulti-lateral levels, the interest generated rangesfrom the local issues of urban sanitation anddeforestation to global warming and green houseeffects. Environmental issues have also generated“rethink” about the aid and funding proceduresof the World Bank, construction of big dams andother environmental projects.

NATIONAL MEDIA POLICY ANDDEVELOPMENT :

The International Commission for theStudy of Communication Problems in its Report(1987) recommended : Communication be nolonger regarded as an incidental service and itsdevelopment left no chance. Recognition of it’spotential warrants the formulation by all nationsand particularly developing countries, ofcomprehensive communication policies linked tooverall social, cultural, economic and politicalgoals. Such policies should be based on inter-ministerial and inter-disciplinary consultants withbroad public participation.

Stressing the importance ofcommunication policies, the report said,communication policies and developmentstrategies have been considered as essentialmeans of solving the major problems. The thenChairman of Press Council of India, A.N. Senhas however, been of the opinion that it may notbe wise to seek to lay down any firm NationalMedia Policy, as the effective implementation of

the policy may create any problem that is likelyto solve; although there may not be any difficultyin arriving at a general consensus as to certainnorms to be observed by the media instead ofseeking to lay down any firm National MediaPolicy. A policy is generally formulated andadopted for achieving a particular object. In theabsence of any such object or fixed goal, therecan be no question of framing any policy. A policyadopted for achieving no particular purpose willindeed be meaningless. To properly understandand appreciate whether any National MediaPolicy is at all necessary at this juncture, we haveto bear in mind two important considerations :1. Whether the same can be adopted withoutinterfering with the independence of media; and2. Exactly what is the object that the media areexpected to achieve and what is the purpose whichthe media seek to serve.

CONCLUSION

The transformation of the media continues apace.In its latest phase to top-down pre-existing orderis being thoroughly shaken-up. More people inmore places can create, distribute, access andapply knowledge in the form of media content –an armed, drive development. For talent richdeveloping countries, there are new opportunitiesfor redefining new media related developmentstructure. At the same time the developmentcommunity has to reset its sights.

Prof. Anurag Sahu, Public Relations Officer, Event in-charge, Department of Journalism & MassCommunication, Rourkela Institute of ManagementStudies, Rourkela - 769 015.

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Mass media, the fourth pillar of democracy playsa pivotal role in upkeeping the socio-politicalsystem of a country sound and healthy. Due tothe advancement of information andcommunication technology (ICT), the role of massmedia has been multiplied to a higher order. Manhas conquered time and space due to this moderntechnology. The print and electronic media remainat the helm of affairs in every nook and corner ofthe world. Media touches the remotest village andunfolds the irony behind the scene. Mass mediareally connects the whole universe with a noblemission to share the sorrows and sufferings, painsand strains, success stories of the society. Italways, if properly managed, takes a vital part inpolitical affairs. As we know the development ofa country depends upon the political will power,it fires not only the spirit of legislature but also theother two pillars of democracy. Analysis of theaffairs of a country is highly essential for smoothprogress. Mass media perform the role of adynamic watchdog and erects its fingers towardsany backlog in a system. It diagnoses the systemand opens the pitfalls and tries to rectify it.

As we know, our country believes in ademocratic way of living and India has completedsixty five years of its independence. It is still in itsyouth stage. Our country has been successfullysurviving as the largest democracy of the world.

Mass Media and Rural Development

Pradipta Ku. Biswal

The political thinkers of our country have provideda new way of functioning for the rural India asseventy percent of the total population reside here.A sizeable number of population consist of tribeswho have their own compartment of culture. It isrightly said ‘the soul of India remains in villages.’In last two decades it is observed that liberalismhas its impact on various dimensions of the humancivilization. Establishment of market economycreates challenge to traditional cultures andvalues. The rich cultural heritage of our countryfaces a setback due to cultural homogenization.It affects the urban population most and graduallycreeps into rural circle. Neoliberal consensusmakes culture simple but it loses its identity. Butdespite of serious blow to the rural India it inheritsthe cultural heritage. As the modern society is theconsumer of mass culture produced by thedeveloped countries like USA, the country likeours now faces challenge in the conservation ofour culture. But the rural India is still shining witha rich cultural outcome. Cultural plurality is foundin its soul though it has some modern touch.

Mass media is a powerful influencer inthe present go of life. Starting from book tointernet it has catalytic action to the widepopulation. It acts as a mass mobilizer irrespectiveof literacy. It distributes message abruptly. Whereadministration can’t reach, mass media touches

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the heart of the darkest spot of the globe. Therewas a time where the rural India had no chanceto think over a daily newspaper, whereupon therewas a wide gap between rural and urban segment.But now rural culture with urban taste prevails inrural India. Still we have to go a long way togenerate awareness among rural people. It doesnot imply that urban people with all modernamenities have nothing to change for enriching ourculture.

Several national programmes have beenlaunched for poverty alleviation, employmentgeneration, food security, abolition of child labour,safeguard of human rights, empowerment ofwomen, ensuring education for all, right toinformation, rural electrification, safe drinkingwater, road connectivity, access to mass media,etc. Prominent among them are Mahatma GandhiNational Rural Employment Guarantee Act(MGNREGA), Swarnajayanti Gram SwarozgarYojana (SGSY), Pradhan Mantri Gram SadakYojana (PMGSY), Indira Awas Yojana (IAY),National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP),National Land Records ModernisationProgramme (NLRMP), Integrated watershedManagement Programme (IWMP), Right ToInformation (RTI), Right To Education (RTE),Rashtriya Madhyamik Sikshya Abhiyan (RMSA),formation of Self Help Groups (SHGs).

All these programmes need special careby the media personnel for smooth arrival of theseprogrammes to the needy people of the country.Television broadcast programme and communityradio service are very helpful in this regard.Newspapers and journals have no less importancein propagating the mission of the government.

Our State Government has initiatedseveral commendable steps for all sections of oursociety. It has launched Biju KBK Yojana, Janani

Suraksha Yojana, Supply of rice at the rate ofrupees two to BPL families. Mo Pokhari Yojana,Mo Kudia Yojana, Biju Rural Electrification Plan,Madhubabu Pension Plan, Bi-cycle Scheme forstudents of tenth standard, bore well to farmers,compensation to the farmers for drought anduntimely rain, several welfare programmes for SC/ST & rural road connecting programme, internetconnectivity, incentives to SHGs etc. For thesuccessful implementation of these programmesmedia has a responsible role to play. In order togenerate awareness there is no other weapon thanmass media. The Rural Development Departmentof Odisha since its inception and Panchayati RajDepartment is thriving ahead for implementingrural welfare plans. Rural works, rural watersupply and sanitation are major thrust areas ofrural programmes. But as we know due toignorance of the people the welfare programmesdonot yield desirable results. Hence mediaespecially electronic media has to play a vital rolein generating awareness among rural people. EveryPanchayat is connected with website and GramRozgar Sebaks are ready to provide up-to-dateknowledge to rural people. ‘Knowledge is thebest vaccine for all maladies’. Mass media canprovide knowledge to each section of people.

Some say mass media is opiate of massesand others say it is a vital aspect of human society.As we know we are living in a globalisedknowledge world we have to change ourselvesto cope up with this changing world. Sometimesmass media is criticized on ethical ground.Sometimes media publishes distorted news whichcreates imbalance in the society. It is theresponsibility of the media persons to go deepinto the matter before publication. They shouldpublish real, judicious, true facts rather thanpolarized stories. It should be free from any bias.It should try to develop four types of citizenshippolitical, economic, social and cultural citizenship.

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Especially the cultural citizenship involves newdemocratic structures of dissemination and controlof information and culture (Mass media and artetc) which allow every member of the communityto take part in the process and at the same timedevelop his/her intellectual and cultural potential.The elite which control them filter out the viewsof reality which they see to be fit to be made public.The press people most of the times feel hardpressed to express freely the real views.Individuals use the press for their benefit and for

favour of their groups and it sometimes mobilizesthe people in a wrong way. Freedom of press ishighly essential for its better performance.Commercialization, politicisation, individualizationof press leads to yellow journalism. Hence pressshould be a regulator and reflector of publicopinion in an unprejudiced and honest manner.

Pradipta Kumar Biswal, Lecturer, R.S. Mahavidyalaya,Odagaon, Dist- Nayagarh.

Media is undoubtedly very fast, vast and powerfulmode of communication. Nor does it only appeala vast audience it has got a tremendous impacton the political run of a country and culture of asociety. Films, TV shows, Journalism (newspapersand news channels) all come under short yet large"Media". By "Ethics and Media" we generallydiscuss the ethics in journalism which influencesthe mindset of people and moulds the society.Starting from weather forecast to "what will beyour future ?" It tells you anything and everything.With such an impact any misconduct orirresponsible act can not only affect but shakethe very base on which we have laid our so muchcomfortable lives. Sadly this is what happening.So much power has come into their hands thatthey have started taking advantage of the faithand liability of people. It has given away its baseto the cheap "money making" business. Falsestories are made huge sensation, money stops thenews of many to create high class business people

and politicians indulged in illegal practices. Cheapnews are made highlight. Flooding of AmitabhBachchan's house is a news but so many villagessmashed by the flood is not covered as news.SRK's protein diet to get 6 packs is a news butthe plight of millions in starvation is not a news.They clearly show what will make people stickto their channels or get a copy of their newspapereveryday. Ethics in media is lacking so much sothat people have now started to question itscredibility. Without claiming of being original, said"with great power comes great responsibility."With more than 7000 newspapers and 80 newschannels running in the country can't a commonman turn to any one of 7080 to get original 'un-made' news, to know exactly how is his life goingto be altered the next day ?

Anwesha Mohanty, D-7/F - Rail Vihar,Chandrasekharpur, Bhubaneswar-23.

Ethics and MediaAnwesha Mohanty

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Media has been rightly considered as the fourthpillar of Indian Democracy. Democracy can thrivenot only under the vigilant eye of it’s legislatures,but also under the care and guidance of publicopinion and the press in “par excellence” is thevehicle through which opinion can be articulated.It’s role is not only limited to reflecting publicopinion but in instructing it and giving it properorientation and guidance. For this reason, mediaacclaim moral right to free expression, which issupposed to be free from deliberately makingirresponsible errors.

In recent years, blended with advancetechnology, media has become more powerfulthan before. It has become a significant driver ofgrowth in Economics, socio-economicdevelopment, strengthening of democracy andalso safeguarding and enriching the cultural,political and social fabrics of the Nation. Lyingon the basis of ethical principles, the mediasometimes forget its social obligation and moralrights. Though the Constitution of India hasconferred the Press the Freedom of Speech orthe Freedom of Expression vide, its Article 19(1),at the same time in Article 19 (2) providesreasonable restrictions on exercise of freedom ofexpression and speech in the interest of(a) sovereignty and integrity of India (b) thesecurity of the State (c) friendly relations with the

Media Responsibilities and Ethics

Puspanjali Paikaray

foreign states (d) public order : decency ormortality (e) contempt of court (f) defamation(g) incitement to an offence. So it is not justifiedto say that absolute rights have been conferred tomedia to right to speak or publish withoutresponsibility whatever one may choose. With allsuch constitutional provisions and side by siderestrictions and with around forty numbers ofnorms and conditions on ethics and principles ofJournalism which is laid by Press Council of India,some sections of media, though not all, devoid ofethics for the growth of their channel / publications.

Some prominent events cannot be omittedwithout citing examples. The event which occurredon the night of July, 9, 2012 in Guwahati,triggered nationwide consciousness. A teenagedgirl after attending a birthday party at a pub in thepopulated area of Guwahati was manhandled andtortured by a group of 20 to 30 youths. A localnews channel “News Live” as its studio wasnearby, recorded the shameless incident andbroadcast it. The video went viral on the internetafter the channel posted it on “Tube” that shockedthe nation. The mob molestated the girl for morethan 30 minutes until passersby and policerescued her. But that channel’s reporter andcamera person failed to carry the human approachand were only interested in ratings. This eventbrought heavy reaction on the behaviour of the

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men who outraged the modesty of the teenagedgirl and also raised an ageold question about themedia, that, should a journalist be a silent observerof such a shameless act ?

Eventhough, News-Live’s crew ofGuwahati helped the police to identify and arrestthe molesters but at the same time failed to informthe police instantly which raised eyebrows on theirmoral duties. Instead, the reporter instigated themob to act such disgraceful act for TRP(Television Rating Point) of their channel. By thattime there was a wide coverage of that event andnews in other media also published out that thelocal channel team interrogated the girl about heridentity which was purely unethical. For the sakeof popularity of the channel, they invitednationwide criticism. As a result of which theeditor-in-chief of that particular channel resignedfrom the job and the reporter quit the job. But itwas unfortunate, that the national media forgot toanalyse this unethical side whereas focusing onarrest of the culprits and failure of law and ordersituation of Assam.

Similar event also happened in Gaya ofBihar, where, out of frustration a woman pouredkerosene on her to set fire and to put herself intoend. Seeing the event, a cameraman availablethere, did not resist her rather took herphotograph for his credit. If it is minutely analysedmany such events take place where media fails tolive up to its human obligation and are onlyinterested in rating.

In print media also, such types of eventshappen, when there is corporate conflicts, politicalrivalry, crime detection, forgetting moralcontention media put them into controversy. Somereporters and editors pose different attitude forthe reputation of their papers, knowingly theydistort the news keeping the truth far behind. Itnot only affects the public also raise questions ontheir credibility.

In this context, eminent journalist, S.S.Agrawal in his publication has quoted, “PublicInterest is the basic principle underlying the wholephilosophy of Press. He said, it is unethical onthe part of the editor to hold back informationwhich gives an insight into the functioning of theGovernment. Citing the Bofors issue decade ago,Agrawal said how Chitra Subramanyam of IndianExpress and N. Ram of The Hindu were the firsttwo media victims where the Editors did notpublish their reports for their convenience, forwhich both the reporters resigned from the job.To be frank to say, news should carry sacrednessand truthfulness, so that the comment would befree. Press Council of India has clearly indicatedwhat should be the moral conduct of media.Council has clarified about distorting and twistingof news, which influence the public mind in anegative way and therefore does not come undermoral responsibility of media.

Accuracy, pre-verification and cautionagainst defamatory writings and refrain fromdeliberately twisting the report are the essentialparts of ethical journalism.

Lastly, media is the mirror of Democracy.The tender plant of Democracy flourishes only inan atmosphere where there is a free interchangeof views and ideas. It has not only a moral rightsbut a moral duty. Prabhu Chawla, the EminentJournalist has said that media should act upon forthe greater interest of the nation like farmers andsoldiers. Moral duty and responsibility never countthe personal interest. Thus coordination betweenthought and expression should be based ontruthfulness, transparency, objectivity and publicaccountability, which are the ethics of media.

Puspanjali Paikaray, Asst. Inf. Officer, I & PRDepartment, Bhubaneswar.

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The word 'Media' carries a lot of weight and isperceived differently by people of different walksat different times. In layman's term, media are allthose entities that offer information, education andentertainment for various purposes. As a fourthpillar of Democracy, media have been playing animportant role for the protection of law and justice.Though it is devoid of any powers to punish thelaw-breakers, it is considered as one of the mostimportant instruments for safeguarding socialjustice in a democracy like India.

"Let noble thoughts come to us fromevery side" is the eternal message of the Rig Vedagiven several millenia ago signifying the freedomof expression.

Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution ofIndia guarantees to the citizen, the right to"Freedom of speech and expression." The mediapurvey public opinion and shape it. Parliamentarydemocracy can flourish only under the watchfuleyes of media.

At a time when the globalisation of Indianeconomy has brought about drastic change in themedia scape and the Indian Press is also goingglobal, the responsibility of press is to safeguardthe interest of the people and the Nation hasincreased manifold. While playing the role ofinformer, the media also take shape of a motivatorand a leader. All pervasive and all powerful ismedia's impact on society. With so much strengthand power, the media can't lose sight of itsprivileges, duties and obligations.

Media is mandated to follow certainethics in collecting and disseminating theinformation viz., ensuring authenticity of the news,use of restrained and socially acceptable languagefor ensuring objectivity and fairness in reportingand keeping in mind, its cascading effect on thesociety and on the individuals and institutionsconcerned.

As Albert Schweitzer, German NoblePeace Prize winning mission doctor and theologianhad remarked "The first step in the evolution ofethic is a sense of solidarity with other humanbeings."

Ethics is a code of values that govern ourlives, and are thus very essential for moral andhealthy life. In context of the press, "Ethics" maybe described as a set of moral principles andvalues, which guide the conduct of journalism. Theethics are essentially self restraint to be practisedby the journalists voluntarily, to preserve andpromote the trust of the people and to maintaintheir own credibility and not betray the faith andconfidence of the people.

The media all over the world haveaccepted that code of ethics should cover at leastthe following areas of conduct; i.e. honesty andfaireness, duty to provide an opportunity to replyto critical opinions as well as to critical factualreportage, appearance as well as reality ofobjectivity, respect for privacy, duty to distinguishbetween facts and opinion, duty not to usedishonest means to obtain information, duty notto endanger people and the duty not to prejudge

Ethics and Media

Salini Mahapatra

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the guilt of an accused and to publish the dismissalof charges against or acquittal of any one aboutwhom the paper previously had reported thatcharges had been filed or that a trial hadcommenced.

The freedom of press has to be preservedand protected not only from outside interferencebut equally from those within. These measuresnot only ensure the accountability of media andact as a brake on the arbitrary and unabridleduse of power but also help to enhance thecredibility of press. These ethics are not in thenature of control on the press but are necessaryfor fair and objective use of the press formaintaining freedom of speech and expression intrue spirit. It is to be appreciated that ourlegislation very wisely did not entrust on thecouncil the task of 'laying down' a code of

Media is the path through which development ispossible. Media is the voice of public. It is playinga vital role in daily life. It is impossible to developthe society without the involvement of Media. Itprovides so many things to the public. It is aninstrument through which helpless gets its right.The dirty corruption behind the people comes tothe lime light only through Media. Media not onlyprovide the information but also encourage thepeople to raise their voice against injustice, to fightagainst corruption. Generally people are thinkingthat if their children watch any programme, serialor movie in television they will go to the wrongpath but this concept is wrong because at the endof every programme there must be a lesson. Infact it not only teaches lesson but also givesmessage to the audience/viewers/readers that bealert, be aware, because reality is more dangerousthan this programme. Media is the key todevelopment. Through media we are getting all

information which is directly or indirectlyencourage the society to put step towardsdevelopment. The bond between Media anddevelopment is inseparable. In fact it will notwrong if I say Media is the key that fits the lockof any development. Media is the eye of thesociety. Day or night media is keeping eye onsociety. Any development without media isimpossible. My words are insufficient to writeabout the advantages of Media. Media is like atree. Like tree every branches of media, everyroot, every leaf, every fruit are serving the public.While rendering its valuable service towardssociety the media should be impartial and it shouldbe courageous enough to bring out the truthwithout any sort of influence from any corner.

Punam Seth, C2M-161, Chhend, Rourkela.

conduct. For ethics cannot be mined down a straitpacket. These broad principles are flexible,general principles, the range, the reach and terrainof which are wider than those of law.

To conclude, best are the words ofMahatma Gandhi, an eminent journalist, "the soleaim of journalism should be service. Thenewspaper press is a great power; but just asunchained torrent of water submerges the wholecountry side and devastates crops, even so anuncontrolled pen serves but to destroy. If thecontrol is from without, it proves more poisonousthan want of control. It can be profitable onlywhen exercised from within."

Salini Mahapatra, Class-IX (A), Student, D.A.V. PublicSchool, Chandrasekharpur, Bhubaneswar.

Media and DevelopmentPunam Seth

development challenges in odisha: role of media in public

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