With more than 70,000
newspapers and over 500 satellite channels and 80 news channels, India is
already the biggest media market in the world; but such robust growth has come
at the cost of accuracy, journalistic ethics and probity. The mainstream media
has been shallow, inaccurate and sometimes damagingly obtrusive.
Dr. Amartya Sen, quoted wrongly by media twice, has strongly condemned the Indian media for its professional laxity which leads to inaccuracies and mistakes, and the class bias in its choice. Most seriously, there is the scourge called paid news, which mainly involves politicians and corporate firms – paying for positive coverage in the run-up to the elections and corporate benefits.
This commonplace situation applies to the mainstream media
across the world. Recently, the media in the US has been condemned for under-reporting the number of
family members and friends that joined the Obamas on the extravagant VIP tour
to Africa which was rather a sightseeing trip than a philanthropic visit.
As common men, we have
long heard the journalists through different media. But only a few of us
thought of responding to the situation. Thinking can be done on chair; but to
act, now with the advent of the Citizen Media, you simply have to come to your
fingers on the mouse, follow the technocrati tag of your choice and voice your
opinions.
Desi Pundit is one
such group blog that covers India related topics and is authored by mostly
Indian bloggers who live around the world. Kubana.net is another group blog
written by Zimbabwean activists who demand an end to the Mugabe dictatorship. Chinese
blogger Roland Soong has become an important bridge between China and the West -
thanks to his blog where he translates various newspaper articles and blog
posts from Chinese to English. Like these groups, You, I or anyone can write the
pages of history of our nation and also the entire world.
We are living in the
best of times to realize the long dreamt empowerment of citizens through media.
Though there are different interest groups, like literature, arts, music or
technology, the global rise of citizen media is in fact attributed to the
social renaissance brought about it through thousands of activist bloggers
across the world. Let this democratic media be on the rise to realize the dream
called democracy to the fullest!
