Media is regarded as the fourth pillar of democracy; it plays a vital role in the society by making people aware about the major incidents occurring in the city and nation. No doubt media unveils reality in front of the masses but what happens if it starts reporting those news which will provide financial benefits to corporate firms? Frankly speaking, the common man believes in the news reported by the media and if false report is published it will mislead citizens.
Several media houses exist in our nation whose report create major impact in the society and transform it. Network 18 is considered as one of the renowned media houses. The credibility of this company has declined after it was taken over by Reliance Industries Limited.
Journalists employed with Network 18 which owns CNN IBN, IBN7, Firstpost etc are considered as renowned and hardworking. After the takeover many eminent journalists and editors have left the organization which has dented the image of the company. Media stalwarts like Rajdeep Sardesai, Sagarika Ghosh have quit the company. This only goes to show that they don’t want to work with an organisation which will only focus on the commercialisation of news instead of bringing out the truth.
Everyone is aware that Reliance was mired in several corruption cases. According to me, Reliance will use media as a tool to shield themselves from corruption cases. What happens when media misuses the right to Freedom of speech and expression granted to it by our constitution? Thus India’s richest man Mukesh Ambani is formally the head of the country’s biggest media conglomerate. The channels owned by him cannot report about his corruption activities. If the Indian’s largest corporate conglomerate owns India’s biggest media company then it will influence what is published, what is read and heard by people.
Several media houses are struggling to survive due to dwindling advertising revenues. The firms which are surviving is due to good political support and strong financial backing. If yes then we should stop following the network conglomerate CNBC-TV18, CNN-IBN, CNBC Awaaz, IBN7, IBN Lokmat and Colors, websites like Moneycontrol.com, Firstpost.com, In.com, IBNLive.Com, Bookmyshow.com and Homeshop18 (a television cum internet venture), besides printed magazines such as Forbes India and Overdrive, among other brands.
Time will only tell whether Ambani might use the company as tool for pursuing his selfish interests of grant some autonomy to editors to publish unbiased stories which are in the interest of the nation.
