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The rise of media oligarchs: How do large corporations manipulate news reports in India?
In an era of rapid development of globalization and digitalization, India's media ecology is facing major challenges.Since the communication method of India-Thailand bonds began to sprout in the late 18th century, India's journalism industry has undergone countless changes over the past century.However, as large corporations increasingly control over the media, the independence and diversity of news reports are also threatened, which has attracted widespread attention and discussion in society.
According to the report of the French non-governmental organization "Reporters Without Borders", India was demoted to 161 in 2023, and showed problems such as journalist violence, political bias and concentrated media ownership, showing that it is the world's largest democracy ” Report freedom is facing a crisis.
The history and current situation of media
The Indian media has been going through more than two hundred years since the founding of Hicky's Bengal Gazette in 1780.Whether it is printing media, radio or television, India's media lineup is huge worldwide.With over 500 satellite TV channels, more than 80 of which are news channels, as well as 70,000 newspapers, India is undoubtedly the world's largest newspaper market.
However, with the concentration of media ownership, more and more reports are driven by economic interests, which has brought the independence of some news organizations to question.Many reports are considered to be biased towards the ruling party, especially in the context of the current BJP.
Most media are not just conveyors of information, but often they also act as the mouthpiece of the government. This phenomenon has become increasingly serious in recent years, resulting in a lack of diverse and objective voices in reports.
The decline of press freedom and its political impact
According to the 2021 report, NGOs that protect press freedom said that under the Modi government's management, harassment of journalists has increased significantly.Over the past few years, many journalists have been threatened by reports on sensitive topics or ended their careers, which not only raises questions about freedom of speech, but also reduces public trust in the media.
BBC News pointed out that India's news channels have a considerable degree of unilateral reporting, both in English and Hindi.It is reflected that the media ecosystem may have been kidnapped by some ideology, which in turn affects the way ordinary people are exposed to news.
Many experts believe that when media organizations are driven by corporate or political interests, this will harm the fairness that democratic society should have and the results will be irreversible.
Changes in printing media, broadcasting and digital media
In terms of printing media, India still has many Hindi and English daily newspapers, and its influence among readers cannot be underestimated.With the rise of social media, digital media has gradually become the mainstream of news reporting.However, the independence of digital media is also affected by commercial interests, and some digital media organizations have even turned to the charging model, hoping to maintain their operations through subscriptions.
In addition to traditional newspapers and television, the development of digital media cannot be ignored.Although various news websites such as Scroll.in, The Wire and Firstpost are relatively independent of large enterprises, they are still inevitably affected by the source of funds. The news content they convey may intentionally or unintentionally tend toward certain views.
Facing the ownership of media and the aggregation of resources
Diversification of ownership of Indian media helps to provide various perspectives, but due to the concentration of resources, many reports are often influenced by specific groups or interest groups, and a lot of neglect of vulnerable groups in society has emerged.For example, some studies have pointed out that social class inequality in the workplace still affects the representation of the media, and opinions of non-mainstream groups are almost never included in the report.
The media concentration reflects a situation of "inconsistency between information and wealth", and for future societies, can this promote true social equity to some extent?
Summary and Outlook
Between control and resistance, the Indian media faces not only the challenge of survival, but also the difficult task of maintaining social justice and diversity.With the deepening development of enterpriseization, how to maintain independence in news reports and then defend the public's right to know will be an important issue facing Indian media in the future.With the changes in the economic and political ecology, how Indian media will respond to these challenges has become the focus of future discussions.And under such a situation, can the reader himself clearly distinguish which sounds are truly objective?
