Media and Politics in India
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MEDIA & POLITICAL CARNAGE
"Let the people know the facts, and the country will be safe", remarked Abraham Lincoln.
In contemporary democracies, the media plays a critical role in providing information and a range of opinions. The role of media can be seen as affecting individuals by encouraging mobility, freedom of thought and imagination; and by bringing into contact different viewpoints and experiences of life among many differences of race, class, and ethnicity. It can affect public life by exposing repressive forces, as in totalitarian states; political/legislative powers and actions; economic forces (i.e. economic control, market forces, the power of advertisers and interest groups); and hegemonic (ideological) forces.
George Krimsky, the former head of news of the Associated Press World Services in his article, 'The Role of the Media in a Democracy', writes: "The 'press' is supposed to be a serious member of the Media family, focusing on real life instead of fantasy and serving the widest possible audience."
A case to illustrate where the Media proved its mettle runs as follows:
In March 2001, Internet journalism and Investigative Journalism came of age in India in the most unexpected of ways. A Web-based news site specializing in sensational scoops from the worlds of politics and showbiz dramatically disclosed the results of a sting operation it had been conducting over the previous seven months. Two of its journalists had approached a variety of Indian politicians,
bureaucrats and military officers purporting to be representatives of an arms-dealing firm called West End International, based in London...