Challenges before political journalism

Challenges before political journalism Dr. Ved Prakash Bhardwaj Political journalism is a significant fraction of overall journalism. In this, political journalists always focused on the political activities of the ruling party as well as the opposition parties and informed about them, citizens. Political journalists not only give information to the citizens but also the findings of that information. A political journalist analyzes the policies and schemes of the government, keeps an eye on their implementation, and analyzes the final result. The work of political journalism is also to educate and spread the knowledge of politics to the citizens. Political journalism often contains opinion journalism, as present political events can be prejudiced in their reporting. The information provided includes facts; its perspective is subjective and leans towards one viewpoint. Political journalism is available through different mediums, like Print, TV, Radio, Digital, or online reporting. Digital media use has improved and it provides instant coverage of the political campaign, news, and analysis. The New York Times and the Washington Post are known for their political approach and practice. The goal of political journalism is to allow the public to remain involved with journalists and news sources, reestablish democratic ethics, and reconstruct the public's faith in journalists. There is a big challenge in front of political journalism is that how to counter fake news which is increasing very fast. The perception of fake news ascended because it is so easy to influence or twist information these days. It is easy to create a certain narrative that might be entirely incorrect. This has led to an overall decrease in the credibility that people have for journalists and media sources. Some media sources regularly come under a lot of heat for some stories or narratives which are built upon fallacies. People discuss participatory democracy, but politics now is largely considered a fame contest and consists of politicians making verdicts to ensure their reelection. Political journalism is no longer the same. There was a time when political journalists, including political editors, writers, and reporters, used to specialize in politics. He was expected that whatever he would write, he would have a conscience, facts, and arguments and he would guide the people. That is why news analysis and political observations were of big importance in the newspapers. To cover political news in the newspapers, such senior journalists were selected who had understood political parties, government process, constitutional provisions, administration, etc. Similarly, on political subjects, such authors used to connect with newspapers and TV radios, who could analyze immediate analysis on any subject. Now the party spokespersons have taken place instead of journalists and writers. In the debate on TV, we notice that political parties spoke persons present as experts. Not only have that, but many leaders also have written articles in newspapers. It is no doubt that they are capable to write, as a citizen they have right to express their thoughts, but they are not a journalist and they always write on their party's line. This is the reason that today there are more and difficult challenges in front of political journalism. This challenge has been increased rapidly day by day. Since the expansion of digital media, the challenge before political journalism and journalists has increased. Today, every citizen becomes a journalist because he or she has digital platforms like blogs, websites, and more convenient and powerful social media. Every citizen has the freedom of expression, so in any context, whether it is political or social or economic, they write and post their viewpoints on social media. As citizen journalism, they all accepted whether they are right or wrong. It is increasingly growing in the name of political journalism; people suffer from wrong notes to spread from malicious and often malicious. This kind of journalism, which is proudly called Jan Journalism and is considered compulsory for democracy, people often do not see-understand. Media now runs such analyzes as vulnerable. That is why it is never worried about seeing the good or bad consequences of which is happening in the name of independence of public journalism or expression. With the owners and management of media houses, the changes coming in the approach and behavior of the editors and journalists have also changed the character of political journalism. His reliability is ending. Receiving your identity and reliability is a big challenge in front of political journalism. Journalism is considered the fourth pillar of democracy. For centuries, this fourth pillar has been giving power to the system of democratic countries. He has also worked as a controlling factor in the power struggle within government and between political parties. All this has happened because the status of political journalism was always strong. But now the conditions are changing. In the last few decades, there has been a change in the relationship between politics and journalism all over the world. Sometimes political parties, who are afraid of journalism, especially the governments have tried to control political journalism at any cost. Today Journalism has been controlled by large businesses and industrial houses. A kind of corporate culture has come into the media. Due to business interests, there is a shortage of space for values like before. Many political parties are their publication today; they owned print media as well as TV channels and radios, websites, digital platforms, directly or indirectly. Today all political parties have a team for social media. In such a situation, challenges have increased in front of political journalism. Some of them are: Paid news According to the Press Council of India’s report, paid news is “any news or analysis appearing in any media (print & electronic) for a price in cash or kind as a consideration”.: by Krishn Kaushik, July 18, 2017, Indian Express, New Delhi Paid news in India is the run-through of cash payment or equal to reporters and media groups by political leaders and parties. The rise of Media Corporation, through mounting cross-media proprietorship is having their effect on media's public service promises. In recent times, the Indian media and its journalistic practices have been criticized for breaking the trust of the public. Indian media have successfully succeeded in growing their economy through cross-ownership and advertorials. Under the influence of profit-making, commercial interests are controlling the news content, as editorial contents are being sold like other commodities. This commercialization of the media content is evident in phenomena like paid news. News is meant to be unprejudiced, reasonable, and impartial. This is the only difference between news and views, event news, and advertisements. Today sometimes we consider advertisements like a piece of news also But with some limitations. Recently, the lines between news and advertisements are distorting because paid advertisements are deceived in the form of news. The media organizations misguide the readers by providing no true information to them. By doing this, the media questions its credibility and is fast losing the trust of society. The readers/viewers cannot extricate the difference between a news report and advertorials. Type of paid news Brand Journalism: A new form of writing is one that’s twisted by a political party or leader tailored to project his point of view. Political parties and leaders employ expert journalists to produce these polished reports so that the ordinary reader is unable to see them as PR plugs. Churnalism: This is the method where PR agencies create efficiently formed content that is released directly to people through social media, YouTube, etc., as news. Interestingly, loss-making mainstream media is often happy to ‘embed’ these videos and photographs in their reports, making it a win-win for corporate PR. Native Advertising: Advertisements made to look like an honest news story or video where the reader cannot know the difference. This is called native advertising and is rampant in India, too, having been pioneered by our biggest media house. Owned Media: The whole gamut of direct corporate communication through social media, Twitter, blogs, or direct-speak by celebrity business corporate honchos, such as Richard Branson, who have millions of followers on social media. These CEOs don’t need mainstream media to get their message out anymore. Prime minister Narendra Modi used this brilliantly to craft a thumping election victory. Reasons for the rise in paid news: The Department-Related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology in its 47th report on the “Issues Related to Paid News” has identified corporatization of media, desegregation of ownership and editorial roles, the decline in the autonomy of editors/journalists due to the emergence of the contract system and poor wage levels of journalists as key reasons for the rise in the incidence of paid news. Besides these, lack of adequate powers available with regulators, lack of effective penal action against those who violate the rules, and inaction by the government in cases related to paid news are also important reasons for the rise in incidents of paid news. 1 builds image This is the main objective of paid news. Every political party and leader today resort to paid news to build and protect his image. The general public trusts the media very much. Common man believes his words to be true. Based on media, people established their opinion towards the government. As for public opinion, the direction and condition of politics are also similar to that. Politics is public life. The decision to lose and win in public life depends on the image. The party and leader whose image is good in the public wins and the one in front loses. Therefore, every political party and leader tries to create his image in some way. Media is an effective way to create an image in public life. For this, political parties and leaders use paid news on newspapers, TV channels, social media, digital media, etc. The news is published in paid news in such a way that it looks genuine. They should not be overshadowed by advertisements. If the readers or the audience felt that there is a piece of news paid then they will not believe it and it will have the opposite result. Paid news is prepared in many ways to create this image. Many times the indirect style is used to prepare paid news i.e. to speak out of someone else's mouth rather than directly speaking on behalf of the concerned party or leader. Such as presenting the views of a player or film star about a policy or plan of the government as news. There was a time when players and film stars usually stayed away from politics, but now it is not so. Today many film actors are in politics. Many are not directly in politics but are seen standing with or against the government. Praising government schemes in TV serials and films is also a changed form of paid news. A form on which the public does not have any kind of doubt. 2 damaging your opponent's image One objective of paid news is to damage the image of its opponents. In politics, it is common to destroy your opponents' image as well as build your image. Every party, whether in power or opposition, leaves no effort to destroy the image of its opponents. In this work, he also takes the help of newspapers. Under this, such things are propagated about the opponents, which spoils their image in public. The shortcomings of the government's schemes, the corruption of its leaders, the policy of benefiting particular people, etc. are targeted by the opposition parties. On the other hand, the ruling party spreads the shortcomings of the opposition among the public through newspapers. There is also truth in such paid news, but sometimes the facts are presented in the wrong context. Not only this but the character of opposing leaders is also attacked. 3 Responding to the propaganda of opponents Accusations and counter-allegations are nothing new in politics. Opposition political parties and leaders campaign against the ruling party. Similarly, the ruling parties campaign against their opponents. Such political activity increases at the time of elections. Through paid news, all political parties and leaders respond to the propaganda of their opponents. By the way, it is the job of political journalists to review the personal and public life of political parties and leaders and present the right picture to the public. 4 agree and unite people in own favor Through paid news, various political parties work to create an atmosphere in their favor. For political success, it is necessary to get public favors. For this, such information and ideas must be conveyed to the public by which the public can be in their favor. It is not easy. No newspaper needs to work in the interest of any party or leader. That is why paid news is often resorted to. To get the public favor, many such news stories are also planted, which can create public opinion against the opposition. In politics, apart from creating an atmosphere in your favor, it is also necessary to create an atmosphere against the opponents. Paid news is a very effective weapon in this work. Election Commission Guidelines to Curb Paid News All state Chief Electoral Officers will have to obtain a list of all TV and radio channels and newspapers in the state as well as their standard advertisement rate cards six months before the term of the Lok Sabha or the State Legislative Assembly expires. Setting up of Media Certification and Monitoring Committee (MCMC) at district and state level which will have to monitor all political advertisements about candidates. The committee will intimate the Returning Officer for the issue of notices to candidates for inclusion of notional expenditure based on standard rate cards in their election expenses account, “even if they do not pay any amount to the channel/newspaper, that is otherwise the case with paid news.” The expenditure will also include publicity for a candidate by a “star campaigner” or others, to impact his electoral prospects. Challenges in dealing with paid news There is circumstantial evidence, but little proof. Establishing transaction of cash or kind is indeed not very easy, as it is usually done without any record and promptly denied by both sides when enquired. Identifying the cases is a herculean task. Media violations, surrogate advertisements, and unreported advertisements are often mistaken as Paid News sometimes in true cases. It is difficult to identify and solve the cases within a set time limit. The cases keep on pending for a long period before the courts. The independence of the media and its ability to bring about transparency in society by playing an adversarial role against the establishment get compromised because of corruption within the folds of the media itself and it is usually difficult to fix the accountability in such cases. Party Spirited Newspaper Party Spirited Newspaper means newspapers that work following the ideology of a particular political party. It is a fact of our times that today all political parties have their supporting newspapers. There was a time when many leaders were the owners of newspapers and magazines. Later this situation changed with the advent of corporate houses in the print media. Publishing a newspaper or magazine was not easy. More capital was required for that. Hence corporate houses started coming to the media. Leaders and political parties also had a stake in newspapers, due to which they continued to work under political influence. Vice president of India Mr. M Venkaiah Naidu said that by starting their newspapers, political parties and business groups are promoting their vested interests and compromising the values of journalism. Highlighting the perils of fake news, he said maybe it is time for media bodies to come up with a code of conduct for journalists. Addressing a program organizing by the press council of India, he said that with business groups and even political parties setting up newspapers and TV channels to further their interests, the core values of journalism are getting eroded. Political parties and politicians started their newspapers. They are called newspapers but they should be (called) newsletters. He said. The media was introduced in India to contribute to the freedom struggle. Mahatma Gandhi, Lokmanya Tilak, and many other leaders published newspapers and magazines at that time. Gandhiji also used journalism to expand social consciousness among the people. Political journalism in India began in the 1950s after independence. At that time many newspapers and magazines were pro-Congress. The statement was the newspaper of the Nehru-Gandhi family from the very beginning. The Hindustan Times and its other publications also leaned towards the Congress. The Times of India was second to none in this case. Due to the strengthening of the communist movement in Bengal, such newspapers and magazines were published from there which supported the leftist politics. The RSS and the BJP (formerly Jana Sangh) have their publications. Apart from being at the center of the Congress rule, it has been around for a long time in many states as well. This is the reason why many of its leaders have been such that they have published newspapers and magazines. Leaders and pro-intellectuals of the socialist and leftist political parties who competed with the Congress also published and edited newspapers and magazines. The only goal of such newspapers and magazines is to strengthen the image of its party and leader. For this, newspapers work on the one hand to create an atmosphere in favor of their party, and on the other hand, they also create an atmosphere against the opponents. Pro-party newspapers also include newspapers whose editors are supporters of a particular political party. Every journalist has his political ideology as a human being. When the editor has his political commitment, he can paint the entire publication in the same color. Business houses always keep in mind that the editor of their newspaper should be someone who has or can form good relations with the ruling party. In the last few decades, the commitment to a particular political party has been seen more in the newspapers. Well, this is a permanent trend. With the change of government, the commitment of newspapers also changes. Newspapers in India are extremely influenced by political parties. This fact became apparent after the Radia tapes controversy came into the limelight. It was November 2010 when some media persons exposed the relationship between political leaders and some famous media persons. Nira Radia, a political and business lobbyist, was found to be part of a wide nexus among politicians, businessmen, and journalists through which news was manipulated. Names of senior and celebrated journalists Barkha Dutt, Prabhu Chawla, and Vir Sanghvi did crop up in this controversy but with media ethics of maintaining high journalistic standards lying in shreds, all of them continue to hold high positions even as the public trust in a partisan media erodes fast. The trade of news has entirely taken over the public amenity part of the news. Paid news is not a secluded event that happens now and then, but rather it has become the norm. When political news is just paid to advertise, it is no different in business, Bollywood, and sports news as well. As it is most news channels, newspapers, media houses, and publishing houses are owned or controlled by politicians of different parties. Here we take a look at some newspapers known to favor specific political parties in India. Some of them are national-level newspapers. National Harold The National Harold newspaper is published by Jawahar Lal Nehru, so naturally, it is a mouthpiece of the congress party. National Harold is not a popular newspaper today but once upon a time it is well circulated. Times of India The Times of India is the prominent English newspaper in India. In the earlier period, it has an image of bias towards the congress but after independence newspaper established a new relationship with congress. Most readers understand that it is a congress pro newspaper but during the Lokpal movement by Anna Hazare its act like an anti congress newspaper. The Tribune The Tribune has always been a centrist newspaper covering the regions of North India such as Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, and J&K. It’s been known to have an attitude to support the congress. It is rumored that Manmohan Singh only reads The Tribune and so doesn’t know what all is wrong with the government. Hindustan Times This newspaper is a case of partisan media. It has an image of pro congress newspaper. It has roots in the Indian freedom movement and since then it has been a partner for the Congress party. It has a good stronghold in Delhi. It is managed by Shobhana Bhartiya who is the daughter of industrialist KK Birla and was a Rajya Sabha member of the Congress Party till 2012. The Pioneer The Pioneer is the second oldest English newspaper to be printed in India. It has always shown a pro-BJP, right-wing, nationalist ideology. Chandan Mitra, owner and editor in chief of The Pioneer is a BJP member of Rajya Sabha from Madhya Pradesh. The Pioneer has focused on pro-right movements emerging out of the urban middle classes. The Statesman The statesman has always been a left-wing, anti-establishment newspaper. The only saving grace is that it has never pretended to be anything other than that. It has long been the newspaper of the left-wing communists out of Kolkata. In recent times it is circulation and power have seen a decline but there is no denying where it takes its ideological stand. The Hindu The Hindu too has been open about its ideologies and doesn’t shy away from being declared an organized left newspaper. It is controlled by the Kasturi family which has been sympathetic to the CPM. N Ram, the editor in chief of The Hindu till January 2012, is known to be a card-carrying communist. The newspaper has attempted to hold a high level of journalism and maintained its cerebral nature, but it has not stopped readerships in recent years from falling dramatically. Indian Express The curious case of the Indian Express is really interesting. Ramnath Goenka, who founded the Indian Express Group, was a member of the RSS and so the newspaper was always right-wing in its nature. After his death, the group has split in two and now there are two newspapers with opposite loyalties. While The Indian Express now supports congress, The New Indian Express continues to support NDA and right-wing ideologies. many major newspapers in Hindi, which is a supporter of some political party or ideology. Of these, Navbharat Times is part of Times of India. Hindustan Times and Jansatta are part of the Indian Express. Apart from these some more newspapers, Amar Ujala, Jagran, Punjab Kesari, Lokmat, Dainik Bhaskar, Rajasthan Patrika, etc. are the main Hindi newspapers. The effects of these newspapers are Hindi and central India. Apart from these, some of these are published in many non-Hindi states also. Jagaran is one of the oldest newspapers of Hindi. Initially, it was published from Uttar Pradesh but it is being publicized today with many states including Delhi, Madhya Pradesh. The inclination of this newspaper was not initially towards a particular political party. Kamleshwar has been an editor. Its owner and editor Narendra Mohan was leaned towards the BJP. Due to this, Jagaran became the BJP's favorite newspaper. Amar Ujala's inclination was from the beginning to the Congress. By the way, Amar Ujala Management kept it from making a group of newspapers. Usually, even after a collaborative attitude with the government, it did not change its critical character. Amar Ujala has always been seen as a supporter of progressive ideas. It has many versions. Dainik Bhaskar is a major newspaper of Hindi which is published in many states. In the beginning, Bhaskar remained close to Congress, but he did not ever blind the power while following the ideals of journalism. Later, its editorial policy has changed and it seemed to be seen in favor of the BJP newspaper. Punjab Kesari is a major newspaper of North India. This is a nationalist ideology newspaper. Its editors fight terrorism in Punjab and sacrifice life. Due to nationalist ideology, its inclination has been seen towards the BJP. Rajasthan Patrika is the main daily of Rajasthan. This newspaper can also be called near the BJP at the ideological level, although it does not support any political party. Commercialization Journalism has been considered a form of public service in India. The economic landscape began to change in the 1990s. With the economic liberalization, the world of journalism also started changing. The use of new printing technology in newspapers was under increasing pressure. The publication of the newspaper was no longer easy. The expansion of electronic media was challenging the newspapers. In these situations, it became necessary for newspapers to commercialize themselves and adopt professional character. Now the owners of newspapers had changed. Corporate culture had arrived. Big industrialists and business houses had come into the media. The purpose of publishing the newspaper was no longer politically educating the public and protecting democracy. Now the owners had to fulfill their business interests through them. For this, the politicization of the newspaper was accepted. Along with joining hands with the ruling party, the work of keeping the opposition parties happy also started. Newspapers became a source of indirect profit. Commercialization means profit, no matter how it is received. At one time, newspapers were accepted as public service all over the world. That is why it was called the fourth pillar of democracy. In the last two three decades, there has been a change in all spheres of public life all over the world. Business pressure has increased in every sector. The economic crisis has increased despite the increasing number of readers for newspapers. Today many editions of big newspapers are coming out, they are also getting advertisements. Even after this, they have to make compromises at many levels. Newspapers today have to compete with the power to broadcast the news of TV channels instantly. Not only this, but newspapers are also having to compete with digital media. Today all newspapers are releasing their digital editions. All this is proof that newspapers are now becoming more commercial. Cooperation with the government or commitment with political parties is a form of this professionalism. The quality of news has been affected due to this growing business trend. His credibility with readers has decreased. All the small newspapers in India have died; many have come in digital form. Today it is the first condition for newspapers to be commercially successful. Commercial success means that there is so much revenue from the circulation and advertising of the newspaper that the newspaper can make a profit. There was a time when newspapers were published even after incurring losses, but today newspaper owners cannot expect it. Journalism is no longer a mission, and the first and only purpose of business is to make a profit. That is why the trend of paid news and political commitment has increased in the newspapers. Newspaper owners and journalists find it easier to save newspapers from the economic crisis. Anyway, in journalism like in the old times, no one talks about morality and values today. The measure of success today is economic. Nobody talks about popularity and prestige anymore. Media saturation It is not easy to calculate the position of media. In the last few years, we heard so many times that media reached saturation. In any field there comes a time when it seems that it has reached the highest position. Something similar seems to be the case with the media and especially newspapers. Has the media reached its peak? And if so, is it going to start falling now? When anything reaches the top then it starts falling. When there is complete satisfaction with something, the mind gets bored with it. Has the media reached that position? When we talk of media, the main media is in the center. The main media means newspapers, radio, and TV. We will keep social media or digital media out of it for now. Digital media has not had a very long life yet and it has a lot of potentials. If you look at the situation of media saturation in the context of newspapers, then it seems that no such situation has come. In the last several years, due to television and then digital media, it was said that the time of newspapers has passed. It is another matter that in the meantime, the circulation and readership of newspapers have increased more than that of TV. Similarly, the number of TV channels and their viewership has expanded even after the influence of digital media has increased. Here, the number and popularity of entertainment platforms have increased after news and views in digital media. The scope of social media is constantly increasing. In this era of the Corona crisis, digital media has proved to be very beneficial for the people. In this way, all forms of media are still developing continuously. A big reason for this is that they have started changing themselves over time. Today's newspaper is not like the old times. They are now focusing more on information and entertainment than thought. With attractive printing and local editions, they have succeeded in keeping the readers engaged with him. Even after this, it is being said that the media has reached a state of saturation. There are some solid reasons behind this. It is a big question that when all type of media has expended, why we talk about media saturation? The circulation of newspapers is continuously increasing. The number of readers is also increasing. New TV channels are starting. The number of users using social media is increasing. The number of digital TV, radio, and newspapers is also increasing. Even after this, there is talk of media saturation, there are some solid reasons behind it. On one hand, the media is expanding but on the other hand, its credibility is decreasing. That is the real problem with media. The lack of credibility proves that the media has reached the point where it starts falling after saturation. Once upon a time, people had the highest confidence in the media. They believed everything was printed or shown in it. People believed that the media always showed them the truth. The media protects their interests. The general public felt safe due to the media. Printing someone's name in a newspaper used to cause his fame or infamy. If the media called someone a criminal, it would not have been easy for him to prove himself innocent. But now it is not so. Today, if something is printed in the newspaper or shown on TV, people do not believe it easily. In any case, if the name of the celebrities comes up, then the media does not delay in terming it as a criminal. This is what happened in the case of the death of film actor Sushant Singh Rajput. Such cases keep coming up. This has damaged the credibility of the media. The result is even if the media shows the truth, then people do not believe it. There have been cases of printing or not printing any news by big journalists with money. Fake and paid news is increasing in the media. That is why no one wants to believe the media like before. People still have some faith in newspapers, but it is becoming difficult to believe TV channels. Saying anything out loud and shouting is not proof of being true. Today on TV, the experts who participate in his debates, from the anchor, are seen screaming. They attack each other with words. Seeing them (TV is the only thing to be seen, there is nothing on it to listen to) People have started changing channels or shutting down. This is evidence that TV media is on the slope after saturation. News is becoming insignificant for newspapers and TV media. The trend of finding the news behind the news has stopped. Now no one needs to get to the root of any matter. Follow-up news is no longer there. Follow-up of news occurs only when the news is related to a famous person. The scale of fame has also changed. The news of the encounter of an innocent is published in a day or two, but the news of an encounter or murder of a gangster is published in detail for several days. The media tells enthusiastically about how the gangster spent his night in jail, what he ate, what his hobbies are. It seems that all this is necessary information for the development of society. There is no place for human sentiments in the news anymore. If one channel runs particular news, then other channels also start giving importance to that. The funny thing is that that news is breaking news on all channels. In this breaking news affair, anchors forget that human tragedies cannot be show business. But no, he also tells breaking news about any accident or other news with such enthusiasm that it is good news. If there is a big accident in which many people have lost their lives, then the media people are happy that they have got big news. The media always gives an argument that their job is to give news. It is not the job of journalists to pay attention to the influence or sensations of news. The news for him is that he can sell to as many people as possible. Journalists, whether from newspapers or television, have become news merchants today. Journalism is no longer a social service. It is a profession, a business whose only goal is to make profits. However, there should be profits. This is why people no longer trust the media. And that is the reason we can accept that there is saturation comes in media. And now, it is a time to think about what can do media persons to achieve their lost confidence and reputation in public.