The Media Effect or Media trial

Dec 21 • Opinion • 2173 Views • 16 Comments on The Media Effect or Media trial

The Media Effect or Media trial

Hello everyone…It is impossible to look at 26/11 and not discuss the role of the Media – especially TV news channels. As important as discussing the role of broadcast news, is also to ask if they have really learnt the lessons from the way they covered the news then.

effect of media on society

what media says is a mystery

No matter what news channels say, to justify the way they covered and presented news, the fact remains they were, at best, irresponsible. To know the extent of damage caused by the media during the 26/11 operations, one has to just read the Supreme Court of India verdict on Kasab. The verdict quotes extensively from the transcripts between the terrorists and their handlers across the border.

“Jis taraf aap mude ho aapka munh samudr ke paas hua. Wahan mod ke road ke upar ek building hai civil logon ki. Woh asal mein Navy ki hai. Woh civil ko di hai. Uskey taraf do jagah police waale khade hain. Woh position lekar aapke upar shisht lekar firing kar rahe hain. Jis tarah aap gaye hain. Uske peechey se aakar aapko fire karna padhega. Theek hai.”

The way you have turned, you should be facing the sea. There, at the corner of the road, there is a building of civilian people. In reality that belongs to the Navy. It is given to the civilians. Over there, policemen are standing at two places. They have taken position and, taking aim at you, they are firing at you. The way you have gone you would have to come from behind and fire at them. You understand?

“Aapki building ke upar fauji apni position bahut mazboot kar rahi hain. Number ek.
On the top of your building the soldiers are making their position very strong. Number one .”

The reason why the handlers, sitting in another country, were able to pinpoint accurately – the position of policemen and soldiers sent to flush out the terrorists was because they were watching it live on Television. Indian News Television Channels.

The Honourable judges took cognisance of this. In their judgement they have a separate section that looks at the role of the news media. They list a number of occasions, in the verdict, and state that there are several more.
The reckless coverage of the terrorist attack by the channels thus gave rise to a situation where on the one hand the terrorists were completely hidden from the security forces and they had no means to know their exact position or even the kind of firearms and explosives they possessed and on the other hand the positions of the security forces, their weapons and all their operational movements were being watched by the collaborators across the border on TV screens and being communicated to the terrorists.

The judges state that they cannot say whether the security forces actually suffered any casualty or injuries on account of the way their operations were being displayed on the TV screen. But it is beyond doubt that the way their operations were freely shown made the task of the security forces not only exceedingly difficult but also dangerous and risky.

This was an event that took place four years ago. The SC verdict was delivered in August of this year. Kasab has been hanged. But, the question that remains is what of the media? What of their sense of responsibility & discretion. Be it the Guwahati molestation, or the Mantralaya fire, or indeed, the coverage of Balasaheb Thackeray‘s death and live transmission of his funeral across channels, the media seems to have once again traded responsibility for ratings.

media impact on society

effect of media on our society

Self regulation is a promise that has been dangled for almost a decade. But, it is not working. While Government intervention is avoidable, there may be a via media. Since the media tends to be fond of Ombudsmen, let us have an independent one that is not made up of people who are currently engaged in the production and monetization of news. And let us do this, before media coverage ends up causing a riot, or costing lives…!

Tell us Your Queries, Suggestions and Feedback

Your email address will not be published.

16 Responses to The Media Effect or Media trial

  1. sakshi chaudhary says:

    i think media is the powerful source information its has its effect is mainly all fields….and its only possible because growing technology……..the level of crime is decreased up-to a greater extent….

  2. Arpita Sardar says:

    I think media is a most pwerfull tool from which we come to know each nd every information of evry field… though it has some negetive side bt it is also an effective way to convey our prespective to other people and know their openion also nd all this effect of media turns all the negetive side into positive..

  3. vandana asnani says:

    Media.. a most powerful tool in present scenario, this is an effective way to convey your perspective to other people and know the others point of view also. This is the medium by which we can connect with the government, with the different aspects of life. We can know what is happening in our country or nation. Media can be in two forms-online media or offline media. with the advancement of technology the online media is becoming very popular, the people who don’t get time to read newspapers and watch the news channels, its a better source of information and updates for them.
    With the help of online news channels or online newspapers or social networking sites, we can keep ourselves updated. Today media has a very vast impact on individuals life, it connects individual with rest of the world. Today, media is the need of people.

  4. nupur tripathi says:

    Media is a very powerful source of information and can also lead to new revolutions.the voice of people for people to make them aware of their society,their rights,communicate their view. though at times the news are hyped and exaggerated but ultimately leads to some result. this exaggeration is needed to pull audience but it must not be like in case of India tv which is just about exaggeration and no news.
    Media should provide a transparent view of the scenario so that the people get to know the truth.
    now the media can be writing media or tele media but there should be clear representation of facts and it should be such that weak gain voice and strong support them.

  5. abhishek kulshrestha says:

    yes it is a fact that MEDIA IS A FOURTH PILLAR OF OUR COUNTRY and it has -ve and a +ve side but the word which is the most important is the RESPONSIBILITY. I think MEDIA should have to present everything responsibily so that every -ve side of media will convert into +ve.

  6. Deepesh Rehi says:

    MEDIA has both -ve and a +ve side ……..its just US who chooses which so ever side…………its a boon and also a curse……..but they says:” even beauty comes with a cost”….so where there are lots of good dimensions of it ,there are bads as well its just what actually we want to see,but as a whole media has change the role of society and people….we have become more responsible and many new dimensions of improvement has be gained from media………for me MEDIA is 100% THE REAL “ROBIN HOOD PANDAY”..
    life without media is like jam bina bread…….tamatar bina soup and more over bat bina cricket!!!!!!!!

  7. gaurav dusad says:

    the media effect on our society is good.media help our people to introduce new effect and introduce people to whats going on.media also help for raise people voice.media also help to show corruption cases and then government take a legal action.media also help in various cases like recent case delhi rape case.if media not present then not a big coverage find and all people not thinks whats going on.so media helps us a lot in our development.but it should have a legal limit to courage of media because some times it would be dangerous for us.so media is good foe us.and it would be great helfull for our people

  8. Ankit Mehta says:

    media is considered as a forth pillar of democracy.so it held a very big responsibility.sometimes media effect should be helpful for our society like in dehli rape case ,anna hzzare movement ,coal gate scandal,2g scandal and etc in each case due to pressure which provide by media all the accused get their punishment.but sometime it leaks some important information like in case 26/11,sometime it broadcast some unreal program so media has all right to take out the “BALL KI KHAL” but also understand his responsibility

  9. deepak sharma says:

    i think media plays a crucial role in making something boom or mane.
    like currently mr. mody become such a topic of concern only because of media.

    what is being served to us on t.v. we directly learn from it. like earlier our parents used to get
    our culture shows like Bhagwan based shows. and they are well cultured.
    but today we are more learning foreign culture through t.v.

    some time it makes troublesome conditions. example is 26/11 terror attack.

  10. JYOTI JAIN says:

    WE ALL ARE KNOW THAT MEDIA IS A FOURTH PILLAR OF OUR COUNTRY. WE GETS ALL THE INFORMATION OF EVERY THING ON TV WITH THE HELP OF MEDIA . IF MEDIA IS NOT THERE THAN WE NOT GETTNG KNOWLEDGE . WE KNOW THAT WE GET KNOWLEDGE FRON BOOKS ,FROM GOOGLE. BUT WE HAVE TO WAIT FOR ALOT OF TIME FOR GETTING KNOWLEDGE .BUT SOMETIMES ITS TOO LATE , WHEN MEDIA IS THERE THAN WE GET ALL KNOWLEDGE OF OUR COUNTRY, OUR WORLDS, AND MANY MORE INFORMATIOMS WHICH IS HELPFUL FOR US

  11. Mayank Sharma says:

    IN OUR WORLD MEDIA HAVE A POWER , IT IS A VOICE OF A COMMON MAN. MEDIA HAVE A POWER TO POPULATE A THING LIKE A ISSUE.BECAUSE IT IS EASY TO APPROACH EVERY ONE BY NEWSPAPER, ELECTRONIC MEDIA OR INTERNET.IF OUR MEDIA IS GOOD OR WORK IN PROPER HONEST NO ONE CAN CHEAT A COMMON PEOPLE

  12. mukesh sharma says:

    media work with pure intelligency it always gives informations to the all peoples . in india media works with pure honesty . if the media is not then there is not quick knowlege of information . so media roles a legands .

  13. Surbhi Kabra says:

    media is the very effective tool for dispersion the news..i think the basic social networking root is media..in my opinion when some crime are happen so media is the best idea to achieve the basic reasion for that crime..media is popular in many ways and thase days the media are very very popular for increase the whole knowledge of people..
    media is also the powertful tool for people bcoz this gives the awareness for people..that how the people protect themselves..their is no media so their will be no networking between people and crime..the basic idea of media is stop the crimes..

  14. Divya Acharya says:

    media is becoming so popular nowdays that,the efect of media on people increasing.
    whatever hapend in any corner of the world we are able so know about that wheather by social media or e-media.cases like delhi case,26/11 case we are able to know about it by media,which is increasing the social awareness in peoples,they protest against corruption and other issues which is covered by media so that more people knows about it and join it.

  15. disha sharma says:

    Media is tv new channels and it is a broadcast services.media is a very helpfull for every person …but it is not a networking site

  16. Suchi Maheshwari says:

    I think media has a great effect in every aspect. As above my friend said its true that in 26/11 media was responsible for the loss. In the Delhi rape case also i would say that media has affected the people. Before this case their had been about 600 cases but no one was taking initiative to oppose them. Everyone was ok with the rules and laws of our country. But as media is involved and told about the case everyone got aware and aroused and are protesting. Media make people aware but sometimes it also exploit as said above in 26/11 case where our army got killed due to them. Media make the thinking of the people. What they say everyone get affected by it and assume it correct. Media effect in both positive and negative way.

« »