WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO MEDIA? IS IT POVERTY OF FREEDOM OR FREEDOM FOR RICH? To put such a title definitely would be unappreciable to many. We teach in the class room that media is the fourth pillar of democracy. The assignment of role ‘‘watch dog” of democracy demands the constant educating the people that ‘the eternal vigilance is the price of liberty” is not fall prey to anti-democratic forces. The ongoing discussion and coverage over some weeks does not reflect a healthy trend in mind of the media.It is not understood why so much propaganda overnight is spread on Prime ministerial candidate? Do media need to be educated that election in India is not conducted for the post of Prime Minister? With due excuse I see most of the print and electronic media are over engaged on the issue of probable best Prime Minister of the country and astonishingly their choice is also conspicuously confined to two major political parties of big bourgeois choice, Knowing it well that coalition government is the only alternative at the given political polarization. Already one poster boy of corporate lobby is chosen from BJP. What then prompted press to start self-styled dialogue on different angles of Prime ministerial nominee and that led to obvious non-serious journalism to buzz on Congress choice. Thanks that the interest of media is not hidden. Instead of educating people on vital issues livelihood and national interest to exercise their wisdom more effectively what appears the mainstream media is engaged in manufacturing Messiah. The attempt is to reduce democracy to the politics of Messiahs. Their notorious forms are already dominant in our socio-political life: criminalization of politics, big merchant of black money, identity politics, and politics of familydom. Messiah is master of all such evil crafts who is elevated to such height that for common masses he is projected as an icon, an ideal and protector as self styled God-man. They have a calculus: spread of falsehood, disunity and hatred, undermining of exploitive and oppressive social system, worship of individual heroism. The giant transnational corporations and the global information and communication industries as well as the powerful nations pursue the strategy of and encourage “transnationalization" of power against their own liberal democratic principles and violation of basic human rights and popular sovereignty. They induce the same in third world and developing countries. This is quite visible in our country also. The press and media must ask themselves that how many of them are true inheritor of anti-colonial legacy. The picture is different in post independent period. Conglomeration of different economic interest in few hands: political power, business, industry, entertainment, media. The centralization and concentration of capital requires a bipolar politics where concentration political hegemony would facilitate uninterrupted loot and plunder of national resource and assets. The uneven developments of states are byproduct of capitalist path of development that no Messiah could be able to alter it. In the process of developing Messianic politics in the present scenario Modi or Rahul or any body from Congress are natural choice of transnationals and regional political parties are more favoured by the bourgeois interests more often beyond regional interest. Ultimately the victims are people of our country. As a single transnational structure can have a dominant influence over many national governments and the escalating rivalry among the superpowers for supremacy leads to their ever stronger control over the third world nations. The same sequence and application we find here when the politics of people is replaced by politics of Messiahnism, the wisdom of people is undermined by hero-worship, the united resistance of working people against global capital is foiled by caste, communal and ethnic riots. The poverty, hunger and deprivation are concentrated at other pole, where common masses live and languish. I ask press and media to stop this propaganda of hero worship. Discuss Peoples politics and ask the political parties where they stand in respect of neo-liberal policy, communalism, secular society, in terms of rising price, unemployment, commercialization of education and health, dismantling of social security and public distribution system etc. Media is for masses not for mess.
Posted on: Mon, 16 Sep 2013 20:58:22 +0000
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