Future of Journalism
*G.N. Ray
I am happy to join this august gathering on the occasion of
the release of Golden Jubilee Souvenir of ‘Jan Morcha’ and
address the conference on the subject which is most relevant today
in its true spirit and form i.e., ‘Future of Journalism’. Journalism
today is passing through a phase which can lead it to great heights
or mar the spirit of the mission. I would not like to call it
Jan Morcha set up in 1958, to the envy of many, occupies a
unique and unparalleled position as the only newspaper
successfully run by its employees for the last fifty years. That Jan
Morcha is constantly marching ahead on its journey overcoming
all the obstacles on the path of positive journalism of truth, fearless
reporting and secular principles stands testimony to the power of
the people.
India is a vast country with different shades of language,
religion & culture etc. and a shining example of unity in diversity.2
*Address by Mr. Justice G.N. Ray, Chairman, Press Council of India at the conference on ‘Future of Journalism on
18 January, 2008 at ‘Jan Morcha’, Faizabad.
So is reflected in the press and media. It is a truism that media is
the mirror of society and reflects the contemporary needs, mores
and aspirations. But equally it is also a trend-setter and has its own
impact on all the above. Press in India is fast growing ahead of its
counterparts in several western and developed countries. Here
comes the responsibility on the shoulders of journalists to ensure
that while marching on the road to growth it preserves its values
and heritage that have given our country a unique place in the
world.
The power of the media has been recognized since time
immemorial. Thomas Carlyle described the Press as the ‘Fourth
Estate’ ranking it with the State, the church and the Parliament.
Today it is acknowledged as the fourth pillar of democratic society
alongwith the executive, legislature and the judiciary. But the
undisputed fact is that press today is more powerful than the other
three organs of the state with its enormous power to make or
destroy any individual or institution.
Media is a powerful weapon to change the society but
journalism today is in danger. Market forces would like to change
the role of the journalist from that of guide and soul of the society
to that of one serving the interests of the market.
In the wake of technology revolution it is becoming difficult
to cope up with the speed but the most spectacular achievements
are there in the field of information technology.
With the advent of twenty four hour satellite news channels,
internet and blogs etc. the task before today’s media person is more
demanding. Apart from the task of resisting media imperialism and
thereby the colonialism in ideas and ideologies, thoughts and
culture, particularly of developing world, journalists today are
expected to guard against the attempt of the media monopolists, to
shift the focus on marketism. Journalists who have the power to
mould public opinion and motivate the society should be pioneers
of change and development.
Statistical Growth:
The number of newspapers and their circulation has declined
the world over except in India and China. The world is becoming
growing digital but technology has helped newspapers as much as
the electronic media. Journalists are grasping the opportunities
offered by online publishing to write more freely.
According to World Association of Newspapers (WAN)
press release, an online poll covering six western countries
including Australia has found that “online news and information
will supplant television network news as the leading news source
over the next five years, but newspapers will remain a vital source
on their own, and can become dominant if they successfully
integrate online delivery as a part of what they offer the public.
As per WAN’s ‘World Press Trends’ released in June 2007 at
the 60th World Newspaper Congress, the total
circulation(515+million) of paid for dailies the world over in the
year 2006 rose by 2.30 per cent over the previous year. Further 70
of the world’s 100 best selling dailies are published in Asia and 60
of then in China, Japan and India. The world’s two top countries in 5
daily newspaper circulation are China (98.70 million) followed by
India (88.90 million).
In the world of advertising also in developing Asia Chinese
dailies top with 16 per cent and 58 per cent increases in ad
revenues in 2006 and over five years followed by India with 23.18
per cent and 85 per cent.
In the national scenario, the growth of Indian press is quite
evident. According to National Readership survey 2006 there are
an estimated 204 readers of daily newspapers and a jump from 216
million to 222 millions readers of all kind of publications in India.
Encouraging is the rise in ‘rural’ readers who constitute 50
per cent of all daily newspaper readers in striking contrast to the
composition of newspaper readership in India twenty years ago.
Another feature highlighted by NRS is that all the top ten
most read dailies in India were Indian language newspapers with
their estimated readership ranging from 8.41 million to 21.17
million.
The 2007 annual report by Price Waterhous coopers (PWC)
on the Indian Entertainment and Media Industry (E &M) titled ‘A
Growth Story Unfolds’ projects that the print media will grow at a
13 per cent compound annual growth each from 85 billion to 232
billion in 2011 at a compound growth rate of 18 per cent.
The figures reflect the achievements of the Indian press
especially during the last two decades.
As the new media shapes the newspapers and journalism in
India, the journalists need to introspect and choose how they want
to contribute to national and human development. It is true that
with technological advance and break-neck competition among
newspapers, the operation of a modern newspaper with different
functions each one requiring skillful planning and execution by
knowledgeable and experienced people is not an easy job. The
importance of their contribution for the success of the paper must
be duly recognized. Care has also to be taken to see that the
proprietor’s interest in the economic success of his venture does
not unduly suffer due to the way the paper is conducted editorially. 7
However, commercial interests cannot be allowed to override the
editorial considerations. The editorial freedom must come first.
As the Second Press Commission has observed, the journalistic
freedom is the heart of the freedom of the press and the exercise of
this freedom depends largely on the editor. “The freedom and
independence of the editor is the crux of the matter” said the
Commission.
I would like to emphasize that steps are necessary for a
secure future of the media itself. Primarily these may be
encouraging accountability of the press through social audit;
plurality of functional structure of a newspaper; establishment of
internal Ombudsman to lend an ear to the readers; encouraging
better flow of information and news between the urban and rural
areas; encouraging small and medium newspapers in this multiregional, multi-lingual country like ours and most of all the
establishment of a media commission to examine the matter in a new perspective.
I would like to remind you that having the enormous power
of pen in your hands, you can illuminate the future of not only your
own country but that of the whole of the world.
Remember if you want bright future, you have to sow the
healthy seeds today.
Future is not something you await! It is something you must
create.
Press Council of India
A Brief Biography of Contribution to Defence/Promotion
of Freedom of the Press
The Constitution of India gives its people a government which is of
the people, for the people and by the people. It ensures for its citizens as a
fundamental right, inter alia, the total freedom of speech and expression
subject only to reasonable restrictions specified in Article 19(2) of the
Constitution.
Post-independence, a Press Commission was set up to take stock of
the functioning of the press – its standards, its freedom and its further
growth.
The Press Council in India was born in 1966 out of the
Recommendations of this First Press Commission that examined in-depth
the role and responsibilities of the press in the new democratic set up. The
Parliament of India debated for long on the mode and modalities of the
constitution of the regulatory body of the print media and by enactment of
1965, formally brought the Press Council of India into existence. The
founding fathers had clearly legislated that the body, despite being a creation
of the statute will function totally free of government interference and
thereby even though a large part of the funds of the Council is sanctioned by 10
the Parliament through the nodal Ministry of Information & Broadcasting of
the Indian Government, there has been no effort by the state to interfere in
its functioning. In the past eventful 40 years with a break of three years
between 1975 to 1978, the Council has worked with as much force for the
freedom of the press as its standards. The Press Council of India now
functions under the Press Council Act of 1978.
The Council has by convention being headed by a sitting or retired
Judge of the Supreme Court of India and who is selected by an independent
Committee of three members consisting of the Vice-President of India, the
Speaker of the Lok Sabha and one member nominated by the twenty eight
members of the Council from among themselves. He is ably supported by
20 members of different categories nominated by the press organizations and
eight members nominated by the Parliament and the country’s apex literary
and legal bodies to represent the readers’ interest.
The unique feature of our Press Council, unlike many others, is that it
enjoys the statutory status with compulsive jurisdiction on all newspapers
while retaining its character as essentially an internal self-regulatory
mechanism of the Press. This is abundantly clear from its objects, its
composition and its actual functioning. It has been entrusted with the task,
among others, of promoting the freedom of the press and independence of11
the newspapers and the news agencies, of raising the standards of
journalism, of keeping under review any development which may interfere
with the free flow and dissemination of information, of monitoring
developments such as concentration of ownership of newspapers and news
agencies which may affect the independence of the press and at the same
time, of building up a code of ethics in accordance with high standards of
journalism and of fostering a sense of responsibility and public service
among all these engaged in the profession of journalism. Its composition
makes it completely independent of any outside authority including the
government.
The Press Council of India functions like a Court of Honour, guiding
the print media along the path of ethical conduct through its adjudications
and other pronouncements building up simultaneously a code of conduct for
the press, the emphasis being on ‘building up’ to allow it the flexibility
against laying down of a rigid code.
The Press Council of India is required under the statute not only to
promote the standards of the press but also to protect it from any onslaught
or threats to its freedom. Such threats may emanate from the authorities of
the governments, the public or even from within the press itself. The statute
empowers the Council to make observations against the conduct of any12
authority including the government. These have at times fallen from the
Council in discharge of its adjudicatory functions vis-a-vis complaints made
against public or governmental authorities by press for curtailing the
freedom or in its advisory capacity in giving out opinion or action on matters
impacting press freedom. In the course of the above, it has laid down
important principles and guidelines for the authorities in their dealings with
the press.
The Press Council as advisory body to the government on matters
affecting press freedom has rendered valuable advise on several legislations
proposed or in force. These cover the areas of libel, invasion of Privacy,
Right to Information, Parliamentary Privileges, Prevention of Terrorist
Activities, Official Secrets Act, and many more. Lately, the Press Council
had advised the Parliament on ‘Truth’ being accepted as a defence in
contempt of court proceedings, and the enactment incorporating these
provisions in Contempt of Court Act has recently been passed.
The Council believes that the press and the authorities are not
adversaries in the task of nation building but partners in trying to promote a
better society and give a better administration to the citizenry which is the
ultimate sovereign in a democracy. To this end, it has organized workshops
and created platforms to sensitize the authorities on their relationships with13
the members of the press in the interest of free and unrestricted flow of
information.
The Council is quick to take cognizance of and launch immediate
inquiry into incidents which could pose threats to the free functioning of the
press, prominent among them being its assessment of the situations in
Punjab, J&K and Ayodhaya at the hands of separatist forces or in times
communal tensions.
Of vital importance have been Council’s attempts to raise awareness
against the inroads into editorial freedom by managements of the paper.
Thus, while the Press Council of India has, as a Court of Honour
guided the press into the path of ethical rectitude, it has successfully stood
up against any attempts that tended to make inroads into its free and
independent functioning.
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