Media Should Uncover Truth

Media has been widely recognised as a credible agency to inform, entertain, educate and empower the citizens. Unquestionably, it is an influential instrument in forming public opinions and nudging the general public for the cause of crucial societal changes. During the party-less Panchayat system, the weekly newspapers were on the frontline to carry out ‘mission’ journalism that sought to restore multiparty democracy, press freedom and civil rights. However, under the liberal order, the mainstream media has largely served or been mobilised to execute what the political scientist call the ‘civilising mission’ in which Western ideas, especially the  rights agenda are aggressively promoted, depicting the native values as irrelevant and unscientific. 

In the digital era, the media role has undergone seismic changes in terms of its form and impact on the masses. Barring many a downside, the digital and social media has not only expanded the scope of democracy but it has also truly given a birth of what we call ‘mass media.’ Internet brought media from the newsrooms of publication houses to the reach of commoners. This visibly broke the monopoly of businessmen on media to some extent. The traditional mass media has been often criticised for its elitist approach to the real issues of the nation. 

Phenomenal growth 

The country witnessed phenomenal media growth under the new political environment that guaranteed unhindered operations of media outlets. Currently, there are over 4,000 registered newspapers that include dailies, weeklies and magazines but only 200 dailies are running. The number of radios and televisions stands at 900 and 98 respectively.   The way the media sector got proliferated, there was not matching competent human resources, investment and other infrastructure to back it. However, the media spread people's political, social and economic awareness unprecedentedly.

The expansion of media industry gave rise to dailies, causing decline of weeklies. Today the financial health of papers, radios and television channels are not sound because the advertisement markets have not increased in proportion to the media growth. Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic dealt a lethal blow to the entire media sector, forcing many newspapers to fold and TV stations to shut down their operations.

On the other hand, the emergence of online news portals has changed the media landscape where the media popularity is determined by the minute-by-minute news coverage. As of December 2023, a total of 3500 online media outlets have been registered at the Press Council. However, only a handful of online news portals are in good shape. Nonetheless, they have become effective tools to disseminate information and propagate ideas or swing public views in favour of certain issues and agenda - domestic and foreign.  

The advent of social media, especially YouTube channels has led to the significant drop in the number of the television viewers. YouTube has provided a favourable choice for the people to get information and share videos instantly and with easy access. The public figures, who were shunned by the mainstream media, found YouTube channels a viable medium to ventilate their views. A YouTube channel can broadcast interviews of around six persons in a day, with greater impact on the public compared to the televisions. This is an unbelievable change triggered by information revolution. 

The media institutions must not by swayed by commercial and partisan interest, which can deprive it of fulfilling it sacrosanct goal – to give true information to the public. Similarly, it is not ethical to let any media house exercise monopoly by granting right to it to run newspapers, radio, television and online news portals simultaneously. If such a media house publish and air news and views having vested interest through all its outlets repeatedly, readers/audience tend to believe them, which may not be true.  This provides undue advantage to the given media organisation that can abuse this privilege for the business benefit and scuttle the development of rival institutions. Similarly, the media is a cultural industry that promotes soft power and projects national identity so it must keep away the foreign funding and manipulation.

  Neo-Marxists insist that journalists working in the corporate media are inclined to spread the dominant ideology irrespective of their political leaning. They share the same world view as the owners and ruling class due to the cultural hegemony. This occurs through the processes of gatekeeping and agenda setting. In gatekeeping, journalists choose which contents are fit for publication and transmission and which are not. On the other hand, agenda setting involves how contents are framed, who should be invited for the talk show and what kinds of questions should be put up before the guests. 

Alternative media 

These two processes filter the news items and newsmakers in a way they do not offend the establishment and elite class in the society. There are examples galore. During the endorsement of MCC (Millennium Challenge Cooperation), a US multi-million project, from Nepal’s parliament, the mainstream TV channels refused to entertain the interviews of those critical of MCC project. It is YouTube and other television channels that gave space them to present their opinions and perspective on it. In this way, social media acted as an alternative to raise the issues directly impacting the life of people and nation.  On the negative side, the social media has become effective conduit of misinformation, fake news and hatred. Unlike traditional media, they do not go through rigorous fact-checking process. 

Noam Chomsky argue that corporate media outlets are involved in ‘consent-manufacturing’ in the favour of political establishment and business people behind the façade press freedom and democracy. An independent media should be a truth teller, offering a real picture of the society. It must keep vested interests of all sorts – be it political or economic – at bay. Thus, Marx, a stanch advocate of free press, says: “The free press is the ubiquitous vigilant eye of a people's soul, the embodiment of a people's faith in itself, the eloquent link that connects the individual with the state and the world."

(The author is Deputy Executive Editor of this daily.)